The influence of leaf water content and isoprenoids on flammability of some Mediterranean woody species

Lillis, M. De; Bianco, Pietro Massimiliano; Loreto, Francesco

doi:10.1071/wf07075

Cited by 50 publications

(47 citation statements)

References 21 publications

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“…This study confirms they have rather short fire intervals due to their high flammability and combustibility but low hazard of reburning, indicating that the fuel rebuilding after a fire is rather slow. On the one hand, P. halepensis in AIXM and P. pinaster forests in MAUR are highly flammable due to a heavy fuel load and high amount of fine particles which burn readily (Ganteaume et al, 2011; see also Dimitrakopoulos et al, 2007;Alessio et al, 2008;De Lillis et al, Author-produced version of the article published in Journal of Environmental Management, 2013, 117, 150-161 Original publication available at http://www.sciencedirect.com/ doi : 10. 1016/j.jenvman.2012.12.006 2009).…”

Section: The Interplay Between Landscape Fuels and Firementioning

confidence: 99%

Wildfire frequency varies with the size and shape of fuel types in southeastern France: Implications for environmental management

Curt

Borgniet

Bouillon

2013

Journal of Environmental Management

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Characterizing time intervals between successive fires in the recent history is of main interest for fire hazard prevention and sustainable environmental management as it indicates what the typical fire return interval for each type of ecosystem is. We tested the extent to which fire return intervals (FRI) depend on fuel type and age, and we compared FRI values between two fire-prone areas of south-eastern France (Provence). These areas had similar weather and roughly similar fuel types but fuels occurred in patches with different sizes and shapes in the landscape. We built a fire database and we fitted Weibull distributions of FRI in order to compute the probability density function and the hazard of burning. Our results indicate maximal probability of burning again for shrublands (garrigues and maquis), and minimal values for mixed broadleaf-conifer forests and broadleaved forests. Most fuel types of Provence showed no effect of fuel age on the probability of burning again. Only the unmanaged maquis showed a linear increase of fire hazard in time due to a rapid postfire fuel build up. Rather long fire-free intervals and low age-dependency for most forest fuels of Provence suggest that reducing their biomass may not be sufficient to reduce fire risk. In contrast, the flammable shrublands have rather short fire intervals and represent a high fire hazard for the whole study area. The two areas had statistically significant difference of fire return intervals for a same fuel type (e.g. 18 to 22 years for shrublands, 20 to 24 years for pine forests, and 24 to 27 years for oak forests). This suggested that size, shape and connectivity of fuels play a major role in the probability of burning again and should be taken into account for fire management. The present policy of fire prevention puts efforts into public information and prevention, and preferential management of fuels at risk in the vicinity of roads and wildland-urban interfaces where fires occur preferentially. However, fire suppression may also take advantage of favouring low-flammable fuels with low age-dependency on strategic places in the landscape.

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Section: The Interplay Between Landscape Fuels and Firementioning

confidence: 99%

Wildfire frequency varies with the size and shape of fuel types in southeastern France: Implications for environmental management

Curt

Borgniet

Bouillon

2013

Journal of Environmental Management

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“…Previous laboratory-scale studies identified LFF moisture content as a key flammability variable (Pausas et al 2016), as water slows down the heat transmission to the fuel (plant tissues) and interacts with the terpenoids contained in the leaves (Alessio et al 2008b, De Lillis et al 2009). Nonetheless, our results indicated that FMC did not significantly affect the relative importance of terpenoids on sample flammability.…”

Section: Relationship Between Flammability Terpenoids and Fmcmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Few previous studies focused on the identification of the major terpenoids molecules involved in flammability of vegetation (Owens et al 1998, Ormeño et al 2009, Pausas et al 2016) and investigated the terpenoids-FMC interaction (Alessio et al 2008a, De Lillis et al 2009). During the early steps of this experiment, we tried to correlate the single terpenoids with the measured flammability parameters; we observed that similar molecules belonging to the same terpenoid category produced very different (if not contrasting) effects, without any apparent pattern.…”

Section: Relationship Between Flammability Terpenoids and Fmcmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…On the other hand, the study of Alessio et al (2008b) found the effect of terpenoid content on leaf flammability to be minimal or negligible. The role of volatile terpenoid content in live fuel flammability was investigated taking into consideration mainly their total amount (De Lillis et al 2009) or the their most abundant fraction, the monoterpenoids, while less attention has been paid to the heavier volatile fraction of terpenoids (sesquiterpenoids - Owens et al 1998, Alessio et al 2008a, 2008b, Chetehouna et al 2009). …”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Relevance of terpenoids on flammability of Mediterranean species: an experimental approach at a low radiant heat flux

Rocca¹,

Madrigal²,

Marchi³

et al. 2017

iForest

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One of the major factors influencing forest fuel combustion are terpenoids, a fraction of flammable Biogenic Volatile Organic Compounds (BVOCs) produced and stored by most Mediterranean species. The qualitative and quantitative effect of terpenoids on flammability has been only partially explained. In this study several major terpenoid-storing Mediterranean species (common cypress and three pines) were considered and compared to Holm oak as a reference non-storing species. The terpenoids were quantified via gas chromatography (GC-MS) analysis from both live fine fuel (LFF) and litter samples, and the relations between flammability and the terpenoids content were investigated by categories (Monoterpenoids, oxygenated Monoterpenoids, Sesquiterpenoids). The effect of fuel moisture content and species on ignition probability of LFF was also explored. A very different ignition probability was observed at the same fuel moisture content for the different species (Pinus spp. > C. sempervirens > Q. ilex). The stored terpenoids explained 19% to 50% of the whole flammability of both LFF and litter. Fuel moisture content (FMC) did not substantially change the relative effect of terpenoids on flammability, except in C. sempervirens. Monoterpenoids do not seem to significantly affect flammability, while sesquiterpenoids greatly influenced most flammability components, though their relative effect varied among species. A relation between storing structure of terpenoids and flammability was suggested. The results of this study indicate that isoprenoids should be included in physical models of the prediction and propagation of wildfire in Mediterranean vegetation as significant factors in driving flammability.

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“…Moreover, it is likely that isoprenoids are the fi rst compounds to be ignited and thus could be responsible for the spread of a forest fi re (De Lillis et al 2009 ) . This is mainly related to the emission burst of a considerable amount of these compounds during the fi rst stage of a fi re.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Fire Hazard and Flammability of European Forest Types

Xanthopoulos

Calfapietra

Fernandes

2011

Managing Forest Ecosystems

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Fire danger assesses both fi xed and variable environmental factors that determine the inception and behavior of forest fi res, as well as their diffi culty of suppression and impact (FAO 2006 ) . In this classic approach, fi re hazard is defi ned as "a measure of that part of the fi re danger contributed by the fuels available for burning" (FAO 2006 ) . Fuel type, volume, condition, arrangement and location, determine the degree both of ease of ignition and of fi re suppression diffi culty and characterize the fi re hazard that a fuel complex represents . Fire hazard is directly related to fuel fl ammability . Distinguishing between the two terms is largely a matter of defi nitions as seen below.Flammability of plant biomass is the main parameter considered in order to assess fi re hazard and fi re risk , the latter having been defi ned as "the probability of fi re initiation due to the presence and activity of a causative agent". Flammability is a property of plants readily appreciated in a general sense but diffi cult to defi ne scientifi cally (Gill and Moore 1996 ) .

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The influence of leaf water content and isoprenoids on flammability of some Mediterranean woody species

Cited by 50 publications

References 21 publications

Wildfire frequency varies with the size and shape of fuel types in southeastern France: Implications for environmental management

Wildfire frequency varies with the size and shape of fuel types in southeastern France: Implications for environmental management

Relevance of terpenoids on flammability of Mediterranean species: an experimental approach at a low radiant heat flux

Fire Hazard and Flammability of European Forest Types

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