Management of Threatened, High Conservation Value, Forest Hotspots Under Changing Fire Regimes

Αριανούτσου, Μαργαρίτα; Leone, Vittorio; Moya, Daniel; Lovreglio, Raffaella; Delipetrou, Pinelopi; Heras, Jorge de las

doi:10.1007/978-94-007-2208-8_11

Cited by 12 publications

(7 citation statements)

References 64 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…The habitats of many of these species will be affected, during and after the fire, and negative (or positive) impacts can occur on species populations. In Greece, there are numerous endemic flora species (16% of all known species), while 473 species are vulnerable to extinction [39,66]. Regarding alien plant species, some increase fire activity such as Eucalyptus spp., while Opuntia spp., Centaurea maculosa and Acacia saligna reduce fire spread rate and intensity [67].…”

Section: General Environmental Impactsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Evaluating Socioecological Wildfire Effects in Greece with a Novel Numerical Index

Palaiologou

Kalabokidis

Day

et al. 2020

Fire

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Large-scale wildfires have become more frequent in Greece and coupled with the country’s limited economic resources, investments in both pre-fire planning and post-fire rehabilitation for most affected areas are not feasible. From the perspective of forest and fire management agencies, the severity and importance of fire effects are evaluated based only on total area burned, while from a societal standpoint, by the number of fatalities and destroyed houses. A holistic approach to rank wildfires with an inclusive assessment of all their effects is missing. We developed a new evaluation and ranking index based on expert judgment, the study of 50 large-scale fire events in Greece and a detailed review of the literature, to develop a set of categories and criteria to assess ecological and socioeconomic effects of wildfires. The Fire Inventory and Ranking of Effects (FIRE) Index provides a comprehensive and easy-to-use semi-numeric framework that combines scores from seven fire effects categories and 56 criteria through a user-friendly web-platform. The seven categories include fire effects on landscape and vegetation, general environmental impacts, regeneration potential and vegetation recovery, casualties and fatalities, destruction and damages to infrastructure, economic losses, and firefighting and wildfire suppression. Each of the 56 criteria within these categories describes a different anticipated fire effect. The magnitude of each fire effect criterion is estimated by predefined ranked choices by one or more persons/assessors in a multi-level evaluation procedure. We apply the FIRE Index assessment to a significant 5900-ha wildfire that occurred in 2011 in northern Greece, including a sensitivity analysis of how different category weights impact the final index score. More diverse metrics to assess wildfire effects will help address the complex social and biophysical dimensions of the wildfire governance challenge and help guide pre- and post-fire management actions.

show abstract

Section: General Environmental Impactsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Evaluating Socioecological Wildfire Effects in Greece with a Novel Numerical Index

Palaiologou

Kalabokidis

Day

et al. 2020

Fire

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Mediterranean ecoregions are characterized by a winter‐wet summer‐dry climate and known for their endemic biota and designation as biodiversity hot spots. Increasingly, climate change and rapid development are threats to these ecosystems (Arianoutsou et al, ; Olson et al, ; Underwood et al, ). California will be especially vulnerable to anticipated climate change (Bedsworth et al, ), with temperatures projected to continue increasing for the rest of the 21st century Southern California (IPCC, ; Overpeck et al, ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Southern California Vegetation, Wildfire, and Erosion Had Nonlinear Responses to Climatic Forcing During Marine Isotope Stages 5–2 (120–15 ka)

Glover

Chaney

Kirby

et al. 2020

Paleoceanog and Paleoclimatol

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

A multiproxy record from Baldwin Lake, San Bernardino Mountains, allowed us to examine variation and relationships between erosion, wildfire, vegetation, and climate in subalpine Southern California from 120 to 15 ka. Bulk organics, biogenic silica, and molar C:N data were generally antiphased with magnetic and trace element data and displayed long‐term (105 year) shifts between autochthonous and allocthonous deposition. This was most pronounced during Marine Isotope Stage (MIS) 5, and we hypothesize that local summer insolation was the primary driver for Baldwin Lake's productive and unproductive lake state alternations. Wildfire history was inferred from charcoal concentrations and vegetation change from pollen. Relationships between these ecological processes, basin deposition, and summer insolation were often nonlinear. Sagebrush expansion, wildfire, and weak basin weathering characterized MIS 4, while during MIS 2, the basin was highly erosive, rarely burned, and the forest was impacted by shifts in Southern Californian hydroclimate. Despite coniferous forest cover throughout MIS 3, submillennial oscillations in charcoal, pollen, and bulk organic content occurred, consistent with pollen records from Eurasia's Mediterranean biome that span multiple glacial‐interglacial cycles. Highly resolved global CO2 records and sea surface temperatures in key regions of the Pacific show no apparent relationship to these landscape conditions, and we suggest submillennial hydroclimatic variability as a potential driver. Highly resolved long pollen records from Southern California are an urgent research need to better understand the finer‐scale (≤103 year) interactions between past vegetation, wildfire, and erosion, given the current natural disaster risks that 21st century climate change poses to both human and ecological communities.

show abstract

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The Mediterranean Basin is one of the most important biodiversity hotspots worldwide, characterized by a large number of endemic species [1,2]. Although marked seasonality and dry summers are distinctive features of the Mediterranean climate, climate model projections predict notably warmer and drier climatic conditions in the Mediterranean region, particularly in its western sector [1,3]. Additionally, extreme climatic events such as droughts and floods are very common in the Mediterranean Basin, with a strong influence on Mediterranean vegetation dynamics and human Quaternary 2019, 2, 35 2 of 19 culture development over time [4][5][6][7].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Toledo Mountains: A Resilient Landscape and a Landscape for Resilience? Hazards and Strategies in a Mid-Elevation Mountain Region in Central Spain

Luelmo-Lautenschlaeger

Pérez-Díaz

Blarquez

et al. 2019

Quaternary

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The Toledo Mountains are a mid-elevation mountain range that separates the Tagus and Guadiana basins in the central area of the Iberian Peninsula. The location of these mountains allows the development of typical Mediterranean vegetation with some Atlantic influence. Consequently, typical broadleaved evergreen Mediterranean vegetation currently dominates the regional landscape, with the remarkable presence of more mesophilous species in sheltered and more humid microsites such as gorges (e.g., Prunus lusitanica, Taxus baccata, Ilex aquifolium) and mires/bogs (e.g., Betula pendula susbp. fontqueri, Erica tetralix, Myrica gale). Palaeoecological studies in these mountains are essential to understand the long-term ecology and original distribution of these valuable communities and are key to assess their resilience. Understanding the hazards and opportunities faced in the past by the plant communities of the Toledo Mountains is necessary to enhance the management and protection of those species currently threatened. This study focuses on El Perro mire, a peatland on the southern Toledo Mountains (central Spain) where climatic variability has played a major role in landscape dynamics at multi-decadal to millennial timescales. Climatic events such as the 4.2 ka cal. Before Present (BP) or the Little Ice Age triggered relevant landscape changes such as the spread and latter decline of birch and hazel forests. Human communities also seemed to be affected by these events, as their resilience was apparently jeopardized by the new climatic conditions and they were forced to find new strategies to cope with the new scenarios.

show abstract

Management of Threatened, High Conservation Value, Forest Hotspots Under Changing Fire Regimes

Cited by 12 publications

References 64 publications

Evaluating Socioecological Wildfire Effects in Greece with a Novel Numerical Index

Evaluating Socioecological Wildfire Effects in Greece with a Novel Numerical Index

Southern California Vegetation, Wildfire, and Erosion Had Nonlinear Responses to Climatic Forcing During Marine Isotope Stages 5–2 (120–15 ka)

The Toledo Mountains: A Resilient Landscape and a Landscape for Resilience? Hazards and Strategies in a Mid-Elevation Mountain Region in Central Spain

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About