Changes of dominant ground beetles in black pine forests with fire severity and successional age

Forest roads are important transportation equipment through forested areas in the rugged, mountainous terrain of northern Turkey. Forest roads harm forest ecosystems due to both the manner in which they are established and how they are used afterwards. Damage to trees that occur during road construction through forests stresses trees, which facilitates outbreaks of bark beetle populations. Bark beetles are significant risk to the health and productivity of Turkish pine forests and to pine forests worldwide. In particular, Ips sexdentatus (Boerner) (Coleoptera, Curculionidae, Scolytinae) is a particularly destructive species of bark beetle in Turkish forests. Their damage to coniferous trees threatens the sustainability of the forest ecosystems. This study primarily aims to assess the intensity of damage that I. sexdentatus inflicts on Pinus nigra J.F.Arnold stands relative to several parameters: the distance to the nearest forest road, aspect (shady - sunny), slope (0–15% or >15%), and other stand characteristics. In this study, we show how damage by an I. sexdentatus infestation in pure black pine stands varies with distance to forest roads and in situ edaphic factors. We sampled 45 plots (400 m2 each), slope, aspect and distances to the nearest forest road was determined using ArcGIS software and the region’s road network overlays. Results showed that trees located within 100 m from the nearest forest road were the most severely damaged ones. The intensity of I. sexdentatus damage was about 16% in a hectare. Trees that were in 16–20 cm diameter class were damaged more often. I. sexdentatus damage did not show any significant correlation with the slope, aspect or degree of canopy closure.

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Effects of the overstory on the diversity of the herb and shrub layers of Anatolian black pine forests

European Journal of Forest Research ◽

10.1007/s10342-018-1114-3 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 137 (4) ◽

pp. 433-445 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

O. Y. Yılmaz ◽

H. Yılmaz ◽

Y. F. Akyüz

Keyword(s):

Pine Forests ◽

Black Pine ◽

Anatolian Black Pine

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Effect of thinning and prescribed burning on crown fire severity in ponderosa pine forests

International Journal of Wildland Fire ◽

10.1071/wf01045 ◽

2002 ◽

Vol 11 (1) ◽

pp. 1 ◽

Cited By ~ 223

Author(s):

Jolie Pollet ◽

Philip N. Omi

Keyword(s):

Prescribed Fire ◽

Ponderosa Pine ◽

Stand Structure ◽

Fire Severity ◽

Fire Effects ◽

Pine Forests ◽

Crown Fire ◽

Fuel Treatments ◽

Ponderosa Pine Forests ◽

Wildfire Hazard

Fire exclusion policies have affected stand structure and wildfire hazard in north American ponderosa pine forests. Wildfires are becoming more severe in stands where trees are densely stocked with shade-tolerant understory trees. Although forest managers have been employing fuel treatment techniques to reduce wildfire hazard for decades, little scientific evidence documents the success of treatments in reducing fire severity. Our research quantitatively examined fire effects in treated and untreated stands in western United States national forests. Four ponderosa pine sites in Montana, Washington, California and Arizona were selected for study. Fuel treatments studied include: prescribed fire only, whole-tree thinning, and thinning followed by prescribed fire. On-the-ground fire effects were measured in adjacent treated and untreated forests. We developed post facto fire severity and stand structure measurement techniques to complete field data collection. We found that crown fire severity was mitigated in stands that had some type of fuel treatment compared to stands without any treatment. At all four of the sites, the fire severity and crown scorch were significantly lower at the treated sites. Results from this research indicate that fuel treatments, which remove small diameter trees, may be beneficial for reducing crown fire hazard in ponderosa pine sites.

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Spatially modeling wildland fire severity in pine forests of Galicia, Spain

European Journal of Forest Research ◽

10.1007/s10342-016-1012-5 ◽

2016 ◽

Vol 136 (1) ◽

pp. 105-121 ◽

Cited By ~ 7

Author(s):

José M. Fernández-Alonso ◽

José A. Vega ◽

Enrique Jiménez ◽

Ana D. Ruiz-González ◽

Juan G. Álvarez-González

Keyword(s):

Wildland Fire ◽

Fire Severity ◽

Pine Forests

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Hazard rating of coastal pine forests for a black pine bast scale using self-organizing map (SOM) and random forest approaches

Ecological Informatics ◽

10.1016/j.ecoinf.2014.11.001 ◽

2015 ◽

Vol 29 ◽

pp. 206-213 ◽

Cited By ~ 7

Author(s):

Youngwoo Nam ◽

Sang-Hyun Koh ◽

Sung-Jae Jeon ◽

Ho-Joong Youn ◽

Young-Seuk Park ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Random Forest ◽

Pine Forests ◽

Black Pine ◽

Self Organizing Map ◽

Hazard Rating ◽

Self Organizing

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Identifying Post-Fire Recovery Trajectories and Driving Factors Using Landsat Time Series in Fire-Prone Mediterranean Pine Forests

Remote Sensing ◽

10.3390/rs12091499 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 12 (9) ◽

pp. 1499 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

Alba Viana-Soto ◽

Inmaculada Aguado ◽

Javier Salas ◽

Mariano García

Keyword(s):

Time Series ◽

Fire Severity ◽

Driving Factors ◽

Pine Forests ◽

Recovery Rates ◽

Tasseled Cap ◽

Successional Stages ◽

Mediterranean Pine ◽

Recovery Dynamics ◽

In Fire

Wildfires constitute the most important natural disturbance of Mediterranean forests, driving vegetation dynamics. Although Mediterranean species have developed ecological post-fire recovery strategies, the impacts of climate change and changes in fire regimes may endanger their resilience capacity. This study aims at assessing post-fire recovery dynamics at different stages in two large fires that occurred in Mediterranean pine forests (Spain) using temporal segmentation of the Landsat time series (1994–2018). Landsat-based detection of Trends in Disturbance and Recovery (LandTrendr) was used to derive trajectory metrics from Tasseled Cap Wetness (TCW), sensitive to canopy moisture and structure, and Tasseled Cap Angle (TCA), related to vegetation cover gradients. Different groups of post-fire trajectories were identified through K-means clustering of the Recovery Ratios (RR) from fitted trajectories: continuous recovery, continuous recovery with slope changes, continuous recovery stabilized and non-continuous recovery. The influence of pre-fire conditions, fire severity, topographic variables and post-fire climate on recovery rates for each recovery category at successional stages was analyzed through Geographically Weighted Regression (GWR). The modeling results indicated that pine forest recovery rates were highly sensitive to post-fire climate in the mid and long-term and to fire severity in the short-term, but less influenced by topographic conditions (adjusted R-squared ranged from 0.58 to 0.88 and from 0.54 to 0.93 for TCA and TCW, respectively). Recovery estimation was assessed through orthophotos, showing a high accuracy (Dice Coefficient ranged from 0.81 to 0.97 and from 0.74 to 0.96 for TCA and TCW, respectively). This study provides new insights into the post-fire recovery dynamics at successional stages and driving factors. The proposed method could be an approach to model the recovery for the Mediterranean areas and help managers in determining which areas may not be able to recover naturally.

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Measuring moisture dynamics to predict fire severity in longleaf pine forests

International Journal of Wildland Fire ◽

10.1071/wf02010 ◽

2002 ◽

Vol 11 (4) ◽

pp. 267 ◽

Cited By ~ 24

Author(s):

Sue A. Ferguson ◽

Julia E. Ruthford ◽

Steven J. McKay ◽

David Wright ◽

Clint Wright ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Forest Floor ◽

Meteorological Data ◽

Fire Severity ◽

Longleaf Pine ◽

Pinus Palustris ◽

Pine Forests ◽

Fuel Load ◽

Fuel Moisture ◽

Weather Stations ◽

Moisture Conditions

To understand the combustion limit of biomass fuels in a longleaf pine (Pinus palustris) forest, an experiment was conducted to monitor the moisture content of potentially flammable forest floor materials (litter and duff) at Eglin Air Force Base in the Florida Panhandle. While longleaf pine forests are fire dependent ecosystems, a long history of fire exclusion has allowed large amounts of pine litter and duff to accumulate. Reintroducing fire to remove excess fuel without killing the longleaf pine trees requires care to burn under litter and duff moisture conditions that alternately allow fire to carry while preventing root exposure or stem girdle. The study site was divided into four blocks that were burned under litter and duff moisture conditions of wet, moist, dry, and very dry. Throughout the 4-month experiment, portable weather stations continuously collected meteorological data, which included continuous measurements of water content in the forest floor material from in situ, time-domain reflectometers. In addition, volumetric moisture samples were collected almost weekly, and pre-burn fuel load and subsequent consumption were measured for each burn. Meteorological variables from the weather stations compared with trends in fuel moisture showed the influence of relative humidity and precipitation on the drying and wetting rates of the litter and duff. Fuel moisture conditions showed significant influence on patterns of fuel consumption and could lead to an understanding of processes that govern longleaf pine mortality.

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