Abstract

Flooded forests are very important ecosystems that are rich in terms of their diverse flora and fauna. However, they are mostly degraded in many parts of the world, and the remaining fragmented areas are in a critical condition. Forest fires are one of the major environmental disasters that cause serious damage to forest ecosystems, and negatively affect the sustainability of forest resources. In order to minimize the potential effects of fires on forest ecosystems, forest fire risk maps should be generated, and thereby the necessary precautionary measures can be taken in these areas, according to fire risk levels. Geographical information system (GIS) techniques, integrated with multi-criteria decision analysis (MCDA) methods, can be effectively used to develop risk maps for natural hazards, such as forest fires, winter storms, floods, etc. In this study, GIS techniques integrated with an AHP (analytic hierarchy process) method were used to generate a forest fire risk map. The study was implemented in the Karacabey flooded forest, located in the city of Bursa in Turkey. In the solution process, the forest fire risk was evaluated considering two major risk factors, including stand structures (tree species, crown closure, and tree stage) and topographic factors (slope and aspect). The vegetation factor under climate control was considered, instead of directly using data of climatic elements such as temperature and humidity. The results indicated that 25.28% of the forest area was of high fire risk, while 53.17% and 21.55% was of medium and low fire risk, respectively. It was found that the most effective criterion was tree species, followed by tree stage. This aspect had the least effective criterion on forest fire risk. It was revealed that GIS techniques integrated with MCDA methods can be used effectively to estimate forest fire risk zones.

Highlights

  • Wetlands are classified as the areas of natural or artificial marsh lands with water by the Ramsar Convention (Scarano, 2009)

  • Geographical Information System (GIS) techniques integrated with Multi-Criteria Decision Analysis (MCDA) methods can be effectively used to solve spatial problems with many constraints (Carmel et al, 2009)

  • The results indicated that 36.54% of the flooded forest was degraded while 43.25% was covered with the combination of maturing and mature tree stages (Figure 2c)

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Summary

Introduction

Wetlands are classified as the areas of natural or artificial marsh lands with water by the Ramsar Convention (Scarano, 2009). The largest proportion of wetland areas are located on the flooded forests (Aselmann and Crutzen, 1989). The flooded forests provide natural habitat for plant species, trees, shrubs, and as well as for wild animals. Forest fire is one of the major natural disasters that dramatically affect the forest ecosystems, as well as flooded forests. To minimize the negative effects of fires on forests, fire risk zones should be determined and necessary precaution measures should be taken in these areas. Forest fire risk maps are widely used for the accurate assessment of forest fires (Jaiswal et al, 2002).

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