Quantitative Assessment of the Relationship between Land Use/Land Cover Changes and Wildfires in Southern Europe
Wildfires are key drivers of land use/land cover (LULC) dynamics by burning vegetation and affecting human infrastructure. On the contrary, LULC changes (LULCCs) may affect the fire regime by influencing vegetation type, burnable areas, fuel loads and continuity. This study investigates the relation...
| Main Authors: | , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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MDPI AG
2023-05-01
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| Series: | Fire |
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| Online Access: | https://www.mdpi.com/2571-6255/6/5/198 |
| _version_ | 1797600190005248000 |
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| author | Joana Parente Marj Tonini Zoi Stamou Nikos Koutsias Mário Pereira |
| author_facet | Joana Parente Marj Tonini Zoi Stamou Nikos Koutsias Mário Pereira |
| author_sort | Joana Parente |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Wildfires are key drivers of land use/land cover (LULC) dynamics by burning vegetation and affecting human infrastructure. On the contrary, LULC changes (LULCCs) may affect the fire regime by influencing vegetation type, burnable areas, fuel loads and continuity. This study investigates the relationship between LULCC and wildfires. We developed a methodology based on different indicators, which allowed us to quantitatively assess and better understand the transitions between LULC classes and burnt area (BA) in Europe in the last two decades (2000–2019). The assessment was performed for the entire European continent and, independently, for each of the five European countries most affected by wildfires: Portugal, Spain, France, Italy and Greece. The main results are the following: (i) LULCC analysis revealed a net loss in forests and arable land and a net gain in shrubs; (ii) most of the BA occurred in forests (42% for the whole of Europe), especially in coniferous forests; (iii) transitions from BA generally were to transitional woodland/shrub or, again, to BA. Overall, our results confirm the existence of a strong relationship between wildfires and LULCCs in Europe, which was quantified in the present study. These findings are of paramount importance in fire and environmental system management and ecology. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-11T03:45:07Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-ccec3ed983b64340b1ffb0c06263cc6f |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2571-6255 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-11T03:45:07Z |
| publishDate | 2023-05-01 |
| publisher | MDPI AG |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Fire |
| spelling | doaj.art-ccec3ed983b64340b1ffb0c06263cc6f2023-11-18T01:19:09ZengMDPI AGFire2571-62552023-05-016519810.3390/fire6050198Quantitative Assessment of the Relationship between Land Use/Land Cover Changes and Wildfires in Southern EuropeJoana Parente0Marj Tonini1Zoi Stamou2Nikos Koutsias3Mário Pereira4cE3c—Center for Ecology, Evolution and Environmental Changes & CHANGE–Global Change and Sustainability Institute, Sciences Faculty, University of Lisbon, 1649-004 Lisboa, PortugalInstitute of Earth Surface Dynamics, Faculty of Geosciences and Environment, University of Lausanne, 1015 Lausanne, SwitzerlandDepartment of Environmental Engineering, University of Patras, G. Seferi 2, GR-30100 Agrinio, GreeceDepartment of Environmental Engineering, University of Patras, G. Seferi 2, GR-30100 Agrinio, GreeceCentre for Research and Technology of Agro-Environmental and Biological Sciences (CITAB), Inov4Agro, University of Trás-os-Montes and Alto Douro (UTAD), Quinta de Prados, 5000-801 Vila Real, PortugalWildfires are key drivers of land use/land cover (LULC) dynamics by burning vegetation and affecting human infrastructure. On the contrary, LULC changes (LULCCs) may affect the fire regime by influencing vegetation type, burnable areas, fuel loads and continuity. This study investigates the relationship between LULCC and wildfires. We developed a methodology based on different indicators, which allowed us to quantitatively assess and better understand the transitions between LULC classes and burnt area (BA) in Europe in the last two decades (2000–2019). The assessment was performed for the entire European continent and, independently, for each of the five European countries most affected by wildfires: Portugal, Spain, France, Italy and Greece. The main results are the following: (i) LULCC analysis revealed a net loss in forests and arable land and a net gain in shrubs; (ii) most of the BA occurred in forests (42% for the whole of Europe), especially in coniferous forests; (iii) transitions from BA generally were to transitional woodland/shrub or, again, to BA. Overall, our results confirm the existence of a strong relationship between wildfires and LULCCs in Europe, which was quantified in the present study. These findings are of paramount importance in fire and environmental system management and ecology.https://www.mdpi.com/2571-6255/6/5/198wildfiresland use/land coverburnt areaLULC changesLULC transitionsSouthern Europe |
| spellingShingle | Joana Parente Marj Tonini Zoi Stamou Nikos Koutsias Mário Pereira Quantitative Assessment of the Relationship between Land Use/Land Cover Changes and Wildfires in Southern Europe Fire wildfires land use/land cover burnt area LULC changes LULC transitions Southern Europe |
| title | Quantitative Assessment of the Relationship between Land Use/Land Cover Changes and Wildfires in Southern Europe |
| title_full | Quantitative Assessment of the Relationship between Land Use/Land Cover Changes and Wildfires in Southern Europe |
| title_fullStr | Quantitative Assessment of the Relationship between Land Use/Land Cover Changes and Wildfires in Southern Europe |
| title_full_unstemmed | Quantitative Assessment of the Relationship between Land Use/Land Cover Changes and Wildfires in Southern Europe |
| title_short | Quantitative Assessment of the Relationship between Land Use/Land Cover Changes and Wildfires in Southern Europe |
| title_sort | quantitative assessment of the relationship between land use land cover changes and wildfires in southern europe |
| topic | wildfires land use/land cover burnt area LULC changes LULC transitions Southern Europe |
| url | https://www.mdpi.com/2571-6255/6/5/198 |
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