Wildfires Improve Forest Growth Resilience to Drought
In seasonally dry forests, wildfires can reduce competition for soil water among trees and improve forest resilience to drought. We tested this idea by comparing tree-ring growth patterns of <i>Pinus pinea</i> stands subjected to two prescribed burning intensities (H, high; L, low) and c...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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MDPI AG
2023-04-01
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| Series: | Fire |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://www.mdpi.com/2571-6255/6/4/161 |
| _version_ | 1797605501683367936 |
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| author | Jesús Julio Camarero Mercedes Guijarro Rafael Calama Cristina Valeriano Manuel Pizarro Javier Madrigal |
| author_facet | Jesús Julio Camarero Mercedes Guijarro Rafael Calama Cristina Valeriano Manuel Pizarro Javier Madrigal |
| author_sort | Jesús Julio Camarero |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | In seasonally dry forests, wildfires can reduce competition for soil water among trees and improve forest resilience to drought. We tested this idea by comparing tree-ring growth patterns of <i>Pinus pinea</i> stands subjected to two prescribed burning intensities (H, high; L, low) and compared them with unburned (U) control stands in southwestern Spain. Then, we assessed post-growth resilience to two droughts that occurred before (2005) and after (2012) the prescribed burning (2007). Resilience was quantified as changes in radial growth using resilience indices and as changes in cover and greenness using the NDVI. The NDVI sharply dropped after the fire, and minor drops were also observed after the 2005 and 2012 droughts. We found that post-drought growth and resilience were improved in the H stands, where growth also showed the lowest coherence among individual trees and the lowest correlation with water year precipitation. In contrast, trees from the L site showed the highest correlations with precipitation and the drought index. These findings suggest that tree growth recovered better after drought and responded less to water shortage in the H trees. Therefore, high-intensity fires are linked to reduced drought stress in Mediterranean pine forests. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-11T05:02:00Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-523515f10a9241eb8e08c9a35cc703d2 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2571-6255 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-11T05:02:00Z |
| publishDate | 2023-04-01 |
| publisher | MDPI AG |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Fire |
| spelling | doaj.art-523515f10a9241eb8e08c9a35cc703d22023-11-17T19:12:01ZengMDPI AGFire2571-62552023-04-016416110.3390/fire6040161Wildfires Improve Forest Growth Resilience to DroughtJesús Julio Camarero0Mercedes Guijarro1Rafael Calama2Cristina Valeriano3Manuel Pizarro4Javier Madrigal5Instituto Pirenaico de Ecología (IPE-CSIC), Avda. Montañana 1005, 50059 Zaragoza, SpainInstituto de Ciencias Forestales (ICIFOR-INIA), CSIC, Ctra. de La Coruña km 7,5, 28040 Madrid, SpainInstituto de Ciencias Forestales (ICIFOR-INIA), CSIC, Ctra. de La Coruña km 7,5, 28040 Madrid, SpainInstituto Pirenaico de Ecología (IPE-CSIC), Avda. Montañana 1005, 50059 Zaragoza, SpainInstituto Pirenaico de Ecología (IPE-CSIC), Avda. Montañana 1005, 50059 Zaragoza, SpainInstituto de Ciencias Forestales (ICIFOR-INIA), CSIC, Ctra. de La Coruña km 7,5, 28040 Madrid, SpainIn seasonally dry forests, wildfires can reduce competition for soil water among trees and improve forest resilience to drought. We tested this idea by comparing tree-ring growth patterns of <i>Pinus pinea</i> stands subjected to two prescribed burning intensities (H, high; L, low) and compared them with unburned (U) control stands in southwestern Spain. Then, we assessed post-growth resilience to two droughts that occurred before (2005) and after (2012) the prescribed burning (2007). Resilience was quantified as changes in radial growth using resilience indices and as changes in cover and greenness using the NDVI. The NDVI sharply dropped after the fire, and minor drops were also observed after the 2005 and 2012 droughts. We found that post-drought growth and resilience were improved in the H stands, where growth also showed the lowest coherence among individual trees and the lowest correlation with water year precipitation. In contrast, trees from the L site showed the highest correlations with precipitation and the drought index. These findings suggest that tree growth recovered better after drought and responded less to water shortage in the H trees. Therefore, high-intensity fires are linked to reduced drought stress in Mediterranean pine forests.https://www.mdpi.com/2571-6255/6/4/161dendroecologygrowth resilienceMediterranean forests<i>Pinus pinea</i>tree rings |
| spellingShingle | Jesús Julio Camarero Mercedes Guijarro Rafael Calama Cristina Valeriano Manuel Pizarro Javier Madrigal Wildfires Improve Forest Growth Resilience to Drought Fire dendroecology growth resilience Mediterranean forests <i>Pinus pinea</i> tree rings |
| title | Wildfires Improve Forest Growth Resilience to Drought |
| title_full | Wildfires Improve Forest Growth Resilience to Drought |
| title_fullStr | Wildfires Improve Forest Growth Resilience to Drought |
| title_full_unstemmed | Wildfires Improve Forest Growth Resilience to Drought |
| title_short | Wildfires Improve Forest Growth Resilience to Drought |
| title_sort | wildfires improve forest growth resilience to drought |
| topic | dendroecology growth resilience Mediterranean forests <i>Pinus pinea</i> tree rings |
| url | https://www.mdpi.com/2571-6255/6/4/161 |
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