Unraveling the Effect of Fire Seasonality on Fire-Preferred Fuel Types and Dynamics in Alto Minho, Portugal (2000–2018)
Socio-demographic changes in recent decades and fire policies centered on fire suppression have substantially diminished the ability to maintain low fuel loads at the landscape scale in marginal lands. Currently, shepherds face many barriers to the use of fire for restoring pastures in shrub-encroac...
| Main Authors: | , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
MDPI AG
2023-07-01
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| Series: | Fire |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://www.mdpi.com/2571-6255/6/7/267 |
| _version_ | 1797589304705286144 |
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| author | Emanuel Oliveira Paulo M. Fernandes David Barros Nuno Guiomar |
| author_facet | Emanuel Oliveira Paulo M. Fernandes David Barros Nuno Guiomar |
| author_sort | Emanuel Oliveira |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Socio-demographic changes in recent decades and fire policies centered on fire suppression have substantially diminished the ability to maintain low fuel loads at the landscape scale in marginal lands. Currently, shepherds face many barriers to the use of fire for restoring pastures in shrub-encroached communities. The restrictions imposed are based on the lack of knowledge of their impacts on the landscape. We aim to contribute to this clarification. Therefore, we used a dataset of burned areas in the Alto Minho region for seasonal and unseasonal (pastoral) fires. We conducted statistical and spatial analyses to characterize the fire regime (2001–2018), the distribution of fuel types and their dynamics, and the effects of fire on such changes. Unseasonal fires are smaller and spread in different spatial contexts. Fuel types characteristic of maritime pine and eucalypts are selected by seasonal fires and avoided by unseasonal fires which, in turn, showed high preference for heterogeneous mosaics of herbaceous and shrub vegetation. The area covered by fuel types of broadleaved and eucalypt forest stands increased between 2000 and 2018 at the expense of the fuel type corresponding to maritime pine stands. Results emphasize the role of seasonal fires and fire recurrence in these changes, and the weak effect of unseasonal fires. An increase in the maritime pine fuel type was observed only in areas burned by unseasonal fires, after excluding the areas overlapping with seasonal fires. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-11T01:05:41Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-7184f7a2a75642db9e7c604c3fb5722d |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2571-6255 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-11T01:05:41Z |
| publishDate | 2023-07-01 |
| publisher | MDPI AG |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Fire |
| spelling | doaj.art-7184f7a2a75642db9e7c604c3fb5722d2023-11-18T19:17:38ZengMDPI AGFire2571-62552023-07-016726710.3390/fire6070267Unraveling the Effect of Fire Seasonality on Fire-Preferred Fuel Types and Dynamics in Alto Minho, Portugal (2000–2018)Emanuel Oliveira0Paulo M. Fernandes1David Barros2Nuno Guiomar3International PhD School (EDIUS), Department of Agro-Forestry Engineering, University of Santiago de Compostela, Rúa Benigno Ledo, 27002 Lugo, SpainCentre for the Research and Technology of Agro-Environmental and Biological Sciences, CITAB, University of Trás-os-Montes and Alto Douro, Quinta dos Prados, 5000-801 Vila Real, PortugalDepartment of Agro-Forestry Engineering, University of Santiago de Compostela, Rúa Benigno Ledo, 27002 Lugo, SpainMED—Mediterranean Institute for Agriculture, Environment and Development & CHANGE—Global Change and Sustainability, University of Évora-PM, Apartado 94, 7006-554 Évora, PortugalSocio-demographic changes in recent decades and fire policies centered on fire suppression have substantially diminished the ability to maintain low fuel loads at the landscape scale in marginal lands. Currently, shepherds face many barriers to the use of fire for restoring pastures in shrub-encroached communities. The restrictions imposed are based on the lack of knowledge of their impacts on the landscape. We aim to contribute to this clarification. Therefore, we used a dataset of burned areas in the Alto Minho region for seasonal and unseasonal (pastoral) fires. We conducted statistical and spatial analyses to characterize the fire regime (2001–2018), the distribution of fuel types and their dynamics, and the effects of fire on such changes. Unseasonal fires are smaller and spread in different spatial contexts. Fuel types characteristic of maritime pine and eucalypts are selected by seasonal fires and avoided by unseasonal fires which, in turn, showed high preference for heterogeneous mosaics of herbaceous and shrub vegetation. The area covered by fuel types of broadleaved and eucalypt forest stands increased between 2000 and 2018 at the expense of the fuel type corresponding to maritime pine stands. Results emphasize the role of seasonal fires and fire recurrence in these changes, and the weak effect of unseasonal fires. An increase in the maritime pine fuel type was observed only in areas burned by unseasonal fires, after excluding the areas overlapping with seasonal fires.https://www.mdpi.com/2571-6255/6/7/267wildfiresfuel typeslandscapetraditional use of fireseasonalityfire regime |
| spellingShingle | Emanuel Oliveira Paulo M. Fernandes David Barros Nuno Guiomar Unraveling the Effect of Fire Seasonality on Fire-Preferred Fuel Types and Dynamics in Alto Minho, Portugal (2000–2018) Fire wildfires fuel types landscape traditional use of fire seasonality fire regime |
| title | Unraveling the Effect of Fire Seasonality on Fire-Preferred Fuel Types and Dynamics in Alto Minho, Portugal (2000–2018) |
| title_full | Unraveling the Effect of Fire Seasonality on Fire-Preferred Fuel Types and Dynamics in Alto Minho, Portugal (2000–2018) |
| title_fullStr | Unraveling the Effect of Fire Seasonality on Fire-Preferred Fuel Types and Dynamics in Alto Minho, Portugal (2000–2018) |
| title_full_unstemmed | Unraveling the Effect of Fire Seasonality on Fire-Preferred Fuel Types and Dynamics in Alto Minho, Portugal (2000–2018) |
| title_short | Unraveling the Effect of Fire Seasonality on Fire-Preferred Fuel Types and Dynamics in Alto Minho, Portugal (2000–2018) |
| title_sort | unraveling the effect of fire seasonality on fire preferred fuel types and dynamics in alto minho portugal 2000 2018 |
| topic | wildfires fuel types landscape traditional use of fire seasonality fire regime |
| url | https://www.mdpi.com/2571-6255/6/7/267 |
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