Microclimate and Modeled Fire Behavior Differ Between Adjacent Forest Types in Northern Portugal

Pinto, Anita; Fernandes, Paulo M.

doi:10.3390/f5102490

Cited by 16 publications

(16 citation statements)

References 48 publications

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“…Our results suggest that landscape changes favoring fuel continuity and more hazardous fuels, then larger fires may occur which agrees with findings elsewhere in the Mediterranean Europe (Fernandes et al, 2016b;Koutsias et al, 2015;Pausas and Fernández-Muñoz, 2012;Pereira et al, 2013;San-Miguel-Ayanz et al, 2013;Turco et al, 2017). Also, under severe weather conditions, more extreme intensity fire behavior is expected to occur (Palheiro et al, 2006;Taylor et al, 1996), particularly if conifer stands dominate the landscape (Pinto and Fernandes, 2014), which may increase suppression difficulty (Alexander and Lanoville, 1989) and economic losses, resulting in growing vulnerability of people and their livelihoods to wildfire.…”

Section: Management Implicationssupporting

confidence: 89%

“…size, arrangement, load and moisture), the microclimatic conditions or the wind exposure, which largely contributes to define how fire will behave and the effects that it will produce. For instance, fire behavior descriptors (rate of spread, fireline intensity and crown fire potential) may vary depending on vertical and horizontal stand structure characteristics (Fernandes, 2009), and are major factors in determining fire severity (Fernandes et al, 2010); also, the degree at which fire intensity and fire rate of spread may be regulated depends on microclimate conditions (wind speed and fuel moisture) generated by different tree species (Pinto and Fernandes, 2014).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Farmland abandonment decreases the fire regulation capacity and the fire protection ecosystem service in mountain landscapes

et al. 2019

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A B S T R A C TThis study explored and applied the concepts of Fire Regulation Capacity (FRC) and Fire Protection Ecosystem Service (FPES) in the assessment of the effects of landscape change in a mountain fire-prone landscape in Portugal. We adopted a modeling and simulation approach using BFOLDS-FRM with landscape data for years 1990 and 2006 (observed) and with three landscape scenarios for 2020. Proxy indicators for FRC (burned area and fire intensity) and for economic damage by fire (loss of provisioning ES) were used to establish trends in the supply and value of FPES. We found decreased FRC to restrain simulated fires burning over 100 ha from 1990 on and to regulate Very High and Extreme fire intensity levels, particularly under our 2020 scenario of Forest expansion. FPES is also expected to decrease, as indicated by higher fire-related damages, particularly if fuel hazard increases in the landscape. However, there were differences among scenarios, suggesting potential tradeoffs between FPES and the supply of provisioning ES. Planning and management in this and similar areas experiencing farmland abandonment must consider fire trends and patterns, since landscape change is a major driver affecting FRC and FPES, which may further be decreased by future climatic conditions.

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Section: Management Implicationssupporting

confidence: 89%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Farmland abandonment decreases the fire regulation capacity and the fire protection ecosystem service in mountain landscapes

et al. 2019

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“…Usually, litter consisting of larger leaves is more flammable, ignites more quickly and burns faster (giving rise to more heat released and higher flames) than litter comprising fine particles, such as Cupressaceae litter ( de Magalhães and Schwilk, 2012 ). The litter of most conifers is considered highly flammable, with the notable exception of the non- Pinaceae species, which generally produce dense, non-flammable litter beds ( Pinto and Fernandes, 2014 ; Cornwell et al, 2015 ). In fact, as already observed in Della Rocca et al (2015) , the ignitability of litter of Cs was low.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Similar physical properties have been observed in other species of Cupressaceae such as Chamaecyparis sp. ( Pinto and Fernandes, 2014 ), Thuja sp. ( Molina et al, 2017 ), Juniperus phoenicea L. and J. oxycedrus L. The latter two species have also been found to have non-adapted fire traits ( Pausas and Verdú, 2005 ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Flammability of Two Mediterranean Mixed Forests: Study of the Non-additive Effect of Fuel Mixtures in Laboratory

Rocca

Danti

Hernando³

et al. 2018

Front. Plant Sci.

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In the Mediterranean region, wildfires are a major disturbance, determined by ecosystem and forest species characteristics. Both the flammability and resistance to fire of a mixed forest may vary from those of the individual species. Two mixed Mediterranean woodlands, a Cupressus sempervirens and Quercus ilex stand in Italy; and a Juniperus thurifera and Quercus faginea stand in Spain were investigated. Laboratory flammability tests were conducted on live foliage, litter samples and on litter beds from individual and mixed species to evaluate: (i) the flammability traits of the mixtures of live foliage and litter samples; (ii) whether the flammability of the two-species mixtures are non-additive, i.e., differ from expected flammability based on arithmetic sum of the single effects of each components species in monospecific fuel; (iii) the ignition success and initial fire propagation in litter beds. Flammability tests were also conducted on bark samples to estimate the resistance of the tree species to fire. The ignitibility of live foliage was lower and the combustibility was higher in Cupressaceae than in Quercus. Non-additive effects were observed in some flammability components of live foliage and litter, especially in the mixtures of C. sempervirens and Q. ilex. Ignitability and combustibility were higher and lower than expected, respectively, and tended to be driven by Quercus), while the consumability was lowered more than expected by both Cupressaceae. The ignition success in the litter beds was low, especially for the presence of Cupressaceae that increase the bulk density of the mixtures. Cupressaceae, which have a thinner bark, suffered more damage to the cambium after shorter exposure to the heat source than Quercus species. In all the species studied, time to reach lethal temperatures in the cambium was dependent on thickness rather than on flammability of the bark. The study findings revealed that tree species may influence flammability of mixed fuels disproportionately to their load. The studied species showed to exert a contrasted effect on flammability of the mixtures, increasing ignitability and decreasing combustibility and consumability well out of their proportion in the mixture. This may potentially influence fire dynamics in mixed forests.

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“…By this, the expansion of the fire (heat source) and the amount of smoke generated can be minimized [1][2][3][4]; consequently, safety of life can be secured [5]. A fire in an enclosed space, such as a room in a building, is generally called a compartment fire.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Effects of a Sprinkler on Evacuation Dynamics in Fire

2015

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Abstract:A fire in an enclosed space, such as a room in a building, is generally called a compartment fire. To prevent the compartment fire, a sprinkler for first-aid fire-fighting is installed in rooms. However, it is difficult to determine the degree to which smoke generation and the fire spreading will be inhibited when sprinklers are on. In particular, demonstrating evacuation behavior assuming an actual fire is impossible. In this study, we evaluated an effectiveness of the sprinkler by numerical simulations. To consider evacuation dynamics, a real-coded cellular automata (RCA) was used, where we can freely set the direction and velocity of an evacuee based on a floor field model. To consider the situation in the room fire, we used a simulator called Fire Dynamics Simulator (FDS). Two cases with and without the sprinkler were compared to see the validity of the sprinkler on evacuation dynamics. The effect of smoke and the expansion of the fire-spreading region were discussed. Results show that, since the fire-spreading region disappears when the sprinkler is actuated, the evacuation time decreases. Even though the sprinkler is actuated, the smoke generated at the beginning of a fire diffuses inside the whole room. However, the duration of evacuees being overwhelmed by smoke is less, because the amount of smoke generated by the pyrolysis reaction is much decreased.

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Microclimate and Modeled Fire Behavior Differ Between Adjacent Forest Types in Northern Portugal

Cited by 16 publications

References 48 publications

Farmland abandonment decreases the fire regulation capacity and the fire protection ecosystem service in mountain landscapes

Farmland abandonment decreases the fire regulation capacity and the fire protection ecosystem service in mountain landscapes

Flammability of Two Mediterranean Mixed Forests: Study of the Non-additive Effect of Fuel Mixtures in Laboratory

Effects of a Sprinkler on Evacuation Dynamics in Fire

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