Display options
Cite
González-De Vega S, De Las Heras J, Moya D. Resilience of Mediterranean terrestrial ecosystems and fire severity in semiarid areas: Responses of Aleppo pine forests in the short, mid and long term. Sci Total Environ. 2016;573:1171-1177doi: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2016.03.115.
González-De Vega, S., De Las Heras, J., & Moya, D. (2016). Resilience of Mediterranean terrestrial ecosystems and fire severity in semiarid areas: Responses of Aleppo pine forests in the short, mid and long term. The Science of the total environment, 5731171-1177. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2016.03.115
González-De Vega, S, et al. "Resilience of Mediterranean terrestrial ecosystems and fire severity in semiarid areas: Responses of Aleppo pine forests in the short, mid and long term." The Science of the total environment vol. 573 (2016): 1171-1177. doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2016.03.115
González-De Vega S, De Las Heras J, Moya D. Resilience of Mediterranean terrestrial ecosystems and fire severity in semiarid areas: Responses of Aleppo pine forests in the short, mid and long term. Sci Total Environ. 2016 Dec 15;573:1171-1177. doi: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2016.03.115. Epub 2016 Apr 29. PMID: 27138742.
Copy Download .nbib Format: NLM
Share it on

Sci Total Environ. 2016 Dec 15;573:1171-1177. doi: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2016.03.115. Epub 2016 Apr 29.

Resilience of Mediterranean terrestrial ecosystems and fire severity in semiarid areas: Responses of Aleppo pine forests in the short, mid and long term.

The Science of the total environment

S González-De Vega, J De Las Heras, D Moya

Affiliations

  1. Escuela Técnica Superior Ingenieros Agrónomos y Montes, Universidad de Castilla-La Mancha, Campus Universitario, 02071 Albacete, Spain.
  2. Escuela Técnica Superior Ingenieros Agrónomos y Montes, Universidad de Castilla-La Mancha, Campus Universitario, 02071 Albacete, Spain. Electronic address: [email protected].

PMID: 27138742 DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2016.03.115

Abstract

In recent decades, the fire regime of the Mediterranean Basin has been disturbed by various factors: climate change; forest management policies; land cover; changed landscape. Size and severity have notably increased, which in turn have increased large fires events with >500ha burned (high severity). In spite of Mediterranean ecosystems' high resilience to fire, these changes have implied more vulnerability and reduced natural recovery with irreparable long-term negative effects. Knowledge of the response of ecosystems to increasing severity, mainly in semiarid areas, is still lacking, which is needed to rehabilitate and restore burned areas. Our approach assessed the resilience concept by focusing on the recovery of ecosystem functions and services, measured as changes in the composition and diversity of plant community vegetation and structure. This will be validated in the long term as a model of ecosystem response. Also, depending on the pre-fire characteristics of vegetation, fire severity and the post-fire management, this approach will lead to tools that can be applied to implement post-fire restoration efforts in order to help decision making in planning activities. Regarding Mediterranean ecosystems' ability to recover after wildfires, this study concludes that pre-fire communities are resilient in these fire-prone areas, but the window for natural recovery in semiarid areas of Aleppo pine forest in SE Iberian Peninsula varied from 3 to 15 post-fire years. Fire severity was also key for effects on the ecosystem: the vegetation types of areas burned with low and medium severity recovered naturally, while those areas with a high-severity burn induced shrublands. We concluded that very strong regeneration activity exists in the short term, and that the negative effects of medium- and high-severity fire are evidenced in the mid and long term, which affect natural recovery. Adaptive forest management to rehabilitate and restore burned Mediterranean ecosystems should be implemented.

Copyright © 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Keywords: Ecosystem response; Natural vegetation recovery; Resilience; Severity

Publication Types