Abstract
Fire is an important disturbance agent in Myanmar impacting several ecosystems. In this study, we quantify the factors impacting vegetation fires in protected and non-protected areas of Myanmar. Satellite datasets in conjunction with biophysical and anthropogenic factors were used in a spatial framework to map the causative factors of fires. Specifically, we used the frequency ratio method to assess the contribution of each causative factor to overall fire susceptibility at a 1km scale. Results suggested the mean fire density in non-protected areas was two times higher than the protected areas. Fire-land cover partition analysis suggested dominant fire occurrences in the savannas (protected areas) and woody savannas (non-protected areas). The five major fire causative factors in protected areas in descending order include population density, land cover, tree cover percent, travel time from nearest city and temperature. In contrast, the causative factors in non-protected areas were population density, tree cover percent, travel time from nearest city, temperature and elevation. The fire susceptibility analysis showed distinct spatial patterns with central Myanmar as a hot spot of vegetation fires. Results from propensity score matching suggested that forests within protected areas have 11% less fires than non-protected areas. Overall, our results identify important causative factors of fire useful to address broad scale fire risk concerns at a landscape scale in Myanmar.
Highlights
Fire is a common land management tool in the tropics [1], [2], [3]
The range of percent tree cover values in the forests of the study region varied from 25–100. 84% of protected areas are covered by the 75–100% tree cover category in contrast to 60% in unprotected forests
Protected areas in the tree cover category ranging from 51–75% are most susceptible to fire as indicated by their high frequency ratios as compared to the protected areas in the lowest tree cover category (25–50%). This trend is not seen in the non-protected areas, where we observed a decrease in frequency ratio with decrease in tree cover percent
Summary
Fire is a common land management tool in the tropics [1], [2], [3]. Fires have been used for slash and burn agriculture in the denser forests and to clear the forest floor in the open forests [3]. In recent times, population growth and economic incentives for agriculture have led to widespread clearing of tropical forests to meet food security and urban housing demands [4], [5]. Clearing of forests for agriculture has led to fragmentation of the forests with increased forest edges resulting in greater fire risk [6], [7]. Changing climatic patterns and human land use alters fire regimes in the tropics [8], [9], [10].
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