Short- and long-term effects of fire in subtropical cloud forests on an oceanic island
The recurrence of fires has increased considerably due to human activity, affecting even forests where traditionally fire is uncommon. In this study, we verify the effects of degradation caused by fire in the Canarian laurel forests, which is a subtropical forest formation restricted to the humid montane areas of these Macaronesian islands. We evaluated the effect of fire by comparing a series of burned plots corresponding to fires from 1960, 1984, 1995, to 2012 with geographically proximate and comparable unburned plots in the Garajonay National Park (La Gomera Island, Spain). We focused on three aspects that are immediately altered by fire: forest structure, floristic composition, and microclimate. These aspects have been quantified using (a) tree density, the Pielou index using tree height classes, and DBH for the vertical structure of the forest; (b) DCA, the Bray Curtis dissimilarity index, and a species indicator analysis for the floristic composition; and (c) temperature and relative humidity for microclimate under three canopy cover conditions. Our results reveal that, overall, structural complexity and its composition in the burned areas have barely reached 40% and 35%, respectively, when compared with unburned areas, and recovery mainly depends on time since fire. Additionally, burned plots presented more pioneer species, a higher density of trees, and climatic variables tend to have a wider range throughout the day. These data reveal the long time span that this ecosystem needs for recovery to a prefire state and how it may be more prone to subsequent fire events.
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John Wiley & Sons
2019-02-28
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Subjects: | Laurel forest, Forest structure and diversity, Microclimate, Natural regeneration, Postfire succession, |
Online Access: | http://hdl.handle.net/10261/188648 http://dx.doi.org/10.13039/501100000780 http://dx.doi.org/10.13039/501100004336 |
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dig-ipna-es-10261-1886482020-12-11T10:12:47Z Short- and long-term effects of fire in subtropical cloud forests on an oceanic island Bello-Rodríguez, Victor Gómez, Luis A. Fernández López, Ángel Del-Arco-Aguilar, Marcelino J. Hernández-Hernández, Raquel Emerson, Brent C. González-Mancebo, Juana María Ministerio de Agricultura, Alimentación y Medio Ambiente (España) Organismo Autónomo Parques Nacionales (España) European Commission Gobierno de Canarias Laurel forest Forest structure and diversity Microclimate Natural regeneration Postfire succession The recurrence of fires has increased considerably due to human activity, affecting even forests where traditionally fire is uncommon. In this study, we verify the effects of degradation caused by fire in the Canarian laurel forests, which is a subtropical forest formation restricted to the humid montane areas of these Macaronesian islands. We evaluated the effect of fire by comparing a series of burned plots corresponding to fires from 1960, 1984, 1995, to 2012 with geographically proximate and comparable unburned plots in the Garajonay National Park (La Gomera Island, Spain). We focused on three aspects that are immediately altered by fire: forest structure, floristic composition, and microclimate. These aspects have been quantified using (a) tree density, the Pielou index using tree height classes, and DBH for the vertical structure of the forest; (b) DCA, the Bray Curtis dissimilarity index, and a species indicator analysis for the floristic composition; and (c) temperature and relative humidity for microclimate under three canopy cover conditions. Our results reveal that, overall, structural complexity and its composition in the burned areas have barely reached 40% and 35%, respectively, when compared with unburned areas, and recovery mainly depends on time since fire. Additionally, burned plots presented more pioneer species, a higher density of trees, and climatic variables tend to have a wider range throughout the day. These data reveal the long time span that this ecosystem needs for recovery to a prefire state and how it may be more prone to subsequent fire events. We also thank the financial support from the Canary Islands Government through their programme of financial support for researchers co funded in a 85% by the European Social Fund and from the Spanish Ministerio de Agricultura, Alimentación y Pesca and the Organismo Autónomo de Parques Nacionales, which supported the research project titled “Cuantificando la respuesta a los incendios forestales de las comunidades de plantas y artrópodos de los bosques de laurisilva del Parque Nacional de Garajonay>. Peer Reviewed 2019-08-20T12:37:32Z 2019-08-20T12:37:32Z 2019-02-28 2019-08-20T12:37:32Z artículo http://purl.org/coar/resource_type/c_6501 doi: 10.1002/ldr.3237 e-issn: 1099-145X issn: 1085-3278 Land Degradation and Development 30(4): 448-458 (2019) http://hdl.handle.net/10261/188648 10.1002/ldr.3237 http://dx.doi.org/10.13039/501100000780 http://dx.doi.org/10.13039/501100004336 Postprint https://doi.org/10.1002/ldr.3237 Sí none John Wiley & Sons |
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Laurel forest Forest structure and diversity Microclimate Natural regeneration Postfire succession Laurel forest Forest structure and diversity Microclimate Natural regeneration Postfire succession |
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Laurel forest Forest structure and diversity Microclimate Natural regeneration Postfire succession Laurel forest Forest structure and diversity Microclimate Natural regeneration Postfire succession Bello-Rodríguez, Victor Gómez, Luis A. Fernández López, Ángel Del-Arco-Aguilar, Marcelino J. Hernández-Hernández, Raquel Emerson, Brent C. González-Mancebo, Juana María Short- and long-term effects of fire in subtropical cloud forests on an oceanic island |
description |
The recurrence of fires has increased considerably due to human activity, affecting even forests where traditionally fire is uncommon. In this study, we verify the effects of degradation caused by fire in the Canarian laurel forests, which is a subtropical forest formation restricted to the humid montane areas of these Macaronesian islands. We evaluated the effect of fire by comparing a series of burned plots corresponding to fires from 1960, 1984, 1995, to 2012 with geographically proximate and comparable unburned plots in the Garajonay National Park (La Gomera Island, Spain). We focused on three aspects that are immediately altered by fire: forest structure, floristic composition, and microclimate. These aspects have been quantified using (a) tree density, the Pielou index using tree height classes, and DBH for the vertical structure of the forest; (b) DCA, the Bray Curtis dissimilarity index, and a species indicator analysis for the floristic composition; and (c) temperature and relative humidity for microclimate under three canopy cover conditions. Our results reveal that, overall, structural complexity and its composition in the burned areas have barely reached 40% and 35%, respectively, when compared with unburned areas, and recovery mainly depends on time since fire. Additionally, burned plots presented more pioneer species, a higher density of trees, and climatic variables tend to have a wider range throughout the day. These data reveal the long time span that this ecosystem needs for recovery to a prefire state and how it may be more prone to subsequent fire events. |
author2 |
Ministerio de Agricultura, Alimentación y Medio Ambiente (España) |
author_facet |
Ministerio de Agricultura, Alimentación y Medio Ambiente (España) Bello-Rodríguez, Victor Gómez, Luis A. Fernández López, Ángel Del-Arco-Aguilar, Marcelino J. Hernández-Hernández, Raquel Emerson, Brent C. González-Mancebo, Juana María |
format |
artículo |
topic_facet |
Laurel forest Forest structure and diversity Microclimate Natural regeneration Postfire succession |
author |
Bello-Rodríguez, Victor Gómez, Luis A. Fernández López, Ángel Del-Arco-Aguilar, Marcelino J. Hernández-Hernández, Raquel Emerson, Brent C. González-Mancebo, Juana María |
author_sort |
Bello-Rodríguez, Victor |
title |
Short- and long-term effects of fire in subtropical cloud forests on an oceanic island |
title_short |
Short- and long-term effects of fire in subtropical cloud forests on an oceanic island |
title_full |
Short- and long-term effects of fire in subtropical cloud forests on an oceanic island |
title_fullStr |
Short- and long-term effects of fire in subtropical cloud forests on an oceanic island |
title_full_unstemmed |
Short- and long-term effects of fire in subtropical cloud forests on an oceanic island |
title_sort |
short- and long-term effects of fire in subtropical cloud forests on an oceanic island |
publisher |
John Wiley & Sons |
publishDate |
2019-02-28 |
url |
http://hdl.handle.net/10261/188648 http://dx.doi.org/10.13039/501100000780 http://dx.doi.org/10.13039/501100004336 |
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