Modelling the long term effect of changes in fire frequency on the total area burnt
Oliveras, Imma (Centre de Recerca Ecològica i d'Aplicacions Forestals)
Piñol i Pascual, Josep (Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona. Departament de Biologia Animal, de Biologia Vegetal i d'Ecologia)
Viegas, Domingos X. (Universidade de Coimbra)

Date:	2005
Abstract:	Wildfires are one of the major problems in Mediterranean countries, and much effort is done by the governments to dissuade people from starting fires. Public campaigns often promote the idea that the more ignitions the larger the surface burnt will be. This reasoning is, however, not so straightforward. This paper addresses the question of how fire frequency relates to the total area burnt by using a model of fire regime that includes variables such as the number of ignitions, fire fighting capacity, fuel accumulation rates, existence of prescribed burning and meteorological variability. This question was addressed by performing three experimental simulations: effect of the number of potential ignitions, the combined effect of the number of ignitions and extinction capacity, and the non random spatial pattern of fire ignitions. Results showed that a larger number ignitions did not have a great effect on the total area burnt but had an effect in the occurrence of large fires, independently of the extinction capacity and of the spatial distribution of ignitions. An explanation for these findings is provided and management implications of these results are briefly discussed.
Rights:	Aquest document està subjecte a una llicència d'ús Creative Commons. Es permet la reproducció total o parcial, la distribució, la comunicació pública de l'obra i la creació d'obres derivades, sempre que no sigui amb finalitats comercials, i sempre que es reconegui l'autoria de l'obra original.
Language:	Anglès
Document:	Article ; recerca ; Versió publicada
Subject:	Annual burnt area ; Behavioural simulations ; Fire ignition ; Fire regime ; Large fires
Published in:	Orsis, V. 20 (2005) p. 73-81, ISSN 2014-9727

Adreça alternativa: https://raco.cat/index.php/Orsis/article/view/51789

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Research literature > UAB research groups literature > Research Centres and Groups (research output) > Experimental sciences > CREAF (Centre de Recerca Ecològica i d'Aplicacions Forestals)
Articles > Published articles > Orsis
Articles > Research articles