Effect of a tourist-ignited wildfire on Nothofagus pumilio forests at Torres del Paine biosphere reserve, Chile (Southern Patagonia)

Vidal, Osvaldo; Reif, Albert

doi:10.4067/s0717-92002011000100008

Cited by 33 publications

(49 citation statements)

References 26 publications

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“…Torres del Paine National Park is roughly 55 km from the closest town (Puerto Natales). Virtually all the area burned within the park boundaries in the study period resulted from accidental fires set by park visitors, due to high rates of public visit (e.g., Vidal and Reif 2011). Thus, in this study area where the impact of humans is greatest in parks where settlements are minimal, roads rather than settlements are a better proxy of human activities in this region.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 98%

Habitat distribution modeling reveals vegetation flammability and land use as drivers of wildfire in SW Patagonia

et al. 2013

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Abstract. Despite important recent advances in modeling current and future global fire activity in relation to biophysical predictors there remain important uncertainties about finer-scale spatial heterogeneity of fire and especially about human influences which are typically assessed at coarse-spatial resolutions. The purpose of the current study is to quantify the influence of biophysical and anthropogenic variables on the spatial distribution of wildfire activity between 1984 and 2010 over an extensive southern Patagonian-Andean region from ca. 438 to 538 S extending from coastal rainforests to xeric woodland and steppe.We used satellite imagery to map all detectable fires .5 ha from 1984 to 2010 in four study areas (each of 13,100 to 36,635 km 2 ) and field checked 65 of these burns for accuracy of burned vegetation class and fire perimeters. Then, we used the MaxEnt modeling technique to assess the relationships of wildfire distributions to biophysical and human environmental variables in each of the four regions. The 232 fires .5 ha mapped in the four study areas accounted for an area of 1,314 km 2 indicating that at least 1.8% of the total area burned between 1984 and 2010. In general, areas with intermediate productivity levels (e.g., shrublands) have higher fire probability compared with areas of low and high productivity levels, such as steppe and wet forests, respectively. There is a marked contrast in the flammability of broad vegetation classes in determining fire activity at a regional scale, as well as a strong spatial relationship of wildfires to anthropogenic variables. The juxtaposition of fire-resistant tall forests with fire-prone shrublands and woodlands creates the potential for positive feedbacks from human-set fires to gradually increase the flammability of extensive landscapes through repeated burning. Distance to roads and settlements were also strong predictors, suggesting that fire in all regions is ignition-limited. However, these anthropogenic predictors influenced probability of fire differently among study regions depending on their main land-use practices and their past and present socioeconomic contexts.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 98%

Habitat distribution modeling reveals vegetation flammability and land use as drivers of wildfire in SW Patagonia

et al. 2013

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“…High percentages of Rubiaceae (Galium type; Fig. 4) support the forest disturbance due to fire activity given that they are known as soil-stored seed plants from the forest understory that sprout after frequent fire events (Vidal and Reif, 2011).…”

Section: Vegetation and Fire Dynamicsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Fires break the Nothofagus pumilio forest balance between the canopy and the understory, providing higher light conditions and bare soils to be colonized by soil-stored seed plants belonging to the forest and/or other plants from adjacent communities (Vidal and Reif, 2011). Post-fire Nothofagus pumilio deciduous forest regeneration is really slow (20 to 40 years to flourish and fructify) and restricted to a narrow band at the forest margin where conditions are amenable, with adequate seed sources, shelter and proper soil conditions (Kitzberger et al, 2005;Veblen et al, 1996).…”

Section: Modern Environmental Settingmentioning

confidence: 99%

Environmental and climatic changes in central Chilean Patagonia since the Late Glacial (Mallín El Embudo, 44° S)

Porras¹,

Maldonado

Quintana³

et al. 2014

Clim. Past

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Abstract. Multi-millennial environmental and climatic changes in central Chilean Patagonia (44-49 • S) during the Last Glacial-Interglacial cycle have been of particular interest as changes in the position and strength of the southern westerlies are the major forcing factor conditioning the environmental dynamics. Recent attempts to reconstruct regional environmental and climatic signals from central Chilean Patagonia reveal some discrepancies and unclear issues among the records. This paper presents the 13 ka pollen and charcoal records from Mallín El Embudo (44 • 40 S, 71 • 42 W) located in the deciduous Nothofagus forest in the middle Río Cisnes valley. The paper aims to (1) establish the timing and magnitude of local vegetation changes and fire activity since the Late Glacial and (2) integrate these results at the regional scale in order to discuss the discrepancies and depict the environmental and climatic dynamics in central Chilean Patagonia since the Late Glacial. Open landscapes dominated by grasses associated with scattered Nothofagus forest patches dominated the middle Río Cisnes valley between 13 and 11.2 ka suggesting low effective moisture but also indicating that landscape configuration after glacial retreat was still ongoing. At 11.2 ka, the sudden development of an open and quite dynamic Nothofagus forest probably associated with the synchronous high fire activity occurred, suggesting a rise in effective moisture associated with dry summers. Since 9.5 ka, the record reflects the presence of a closed Nothofagus forest related to higher effective moisture conditions than before combined with moderate dry summers that may have triggered a high frequency of low-magnitude crown fires that did not severely affect the forest. The forest experienced a slight canopy opening after 5.7 ka, probably due to slightly drier conditions than before followed by a sudden change to open forest conditions around 4.2 ka associated with fire and volcanic disturbances. Around 2 ka, the recovery of a closed Nothofagus forest related to slightly wetter conditions (similar to present) occurred and persisted under highly variable climatic conditions up to 0

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“…Antes de que el gobierno de Chile adquiriera el parque, colonos europeos quemaron zonas de bosques para aumentar la zona de pastos, que fue sobrepastoreada más tarde (Martinic, 1984). En las últimas tres décadas se han generado tres grandes incendios en los años 1985, 2005 y 2011, que han afectado un área de aproximadamente 50 mil hectáreas y han facilitado dramáticos procesos de invasiones biológicas (Vidal & Reif, 2011).…”

Section: Introductionunclassified

“…La zonificación incluye tres tipos de zonas: las zonas núcleo (verde), dedicada a la preservación estricta, que en la actualidad incluye a los parques nacionales de Agostini y Cabo de Hornos, y en el futuro incluirá, total o parcialmente, al Parque Nacional Yendegaia; las zonas de amortiguación terrestre (rosado intenso) y marinas (rosado pálido) que permiten actividades de bajo impacto, tales como la pesca artesanal y el turismo de intereses especiales; las zonas de transición terrestre (amarillo intenso) y marina (amarillo pálido) donde se permiten actividades de mayor impacto, incluyendo la construcción de infraestructura, tales como la futura infraestructura portuaria para cruceros en Puerto Williams y para el cruce en ferry entre Caleta 2 de Mayo en Yendegaia y Puerto Navarino en isla Navarino. visita y provocación de incendios antropogénicos y consecuente introducción de flora exótica en el Parque Nacional Torres del Paine (Villarroel, 1996, Massardo et al 2001Vidal & Reif, 2011).…”

Section: Introductionunclassified

Primera década de investigación y educación en la Reserva de la Biosfera Cabo de Hornos: El enfoque biocultural del Parque Etnobotánico Omora

Rozzi

Schüttler

2015

Anales Instituto Patagonia (Chile)

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Effect of a tourist-ignited wildfire on Nothofagus pumilio forests at Torres del Paine biosphere reserve, Chile (Southern Patagonia)

Cited by 33 publications

References 26 publications

Habitat distribution modeling reveals vegetation flammability and land use as drivers of wildfire in SW Patagonia

Habitat distribution modeling reveals vegetation flammability and land use as drivers of wildfire in SW Patagonia

Environmental and climatic changes in central Chilean Patagonia since the Late Glacial (Mallín El Embudo, 44° S)

Primera década de investigación y educación en la Reserva de la Biosfera Cabo de Hornos: El enfoque biocultural del Parque Etnobotánico Omora

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