Abstract
Research Highlights: Litterfall biomass after prescribed burning (PB) is significantly influenced by meteorological variables, stand characteristics, and the fire prescription. Some of the fire-adaptive traits of the species under study (Pinus nigra and Pinus pinaster) mitigate the effects of PB on litterfall biomass. The Bayesian approach, tested here for the first time, was shown to be useful for analyzing the complex combination of variables influencing the effect of PB on litterfall. Background and Objectives: The aims of the study focused on explaining the influence of meteorological conditions after PB on litterfall biomass, to explore the potential influence of stand characteristic and tree traits that influence fire protection, and to assess the influence of fire prescription and fire behavior. Materials and Methods: An experimental factorial design including three treatments (control, spring, and autumn burning), each with three replicates, was established at two experimental sites (N = 18; 50 × 50 m2 plots). The methodology of the International Co-operative Program on Assessment and Monitoring of Air Pollution Effects on Forests (ICP forests) was applied and a Bayesian approach was used to construct a generalized linear mixed model. Results: Litterfall was mainly affected by the meteorological variables and also by the type of stand and the treatment. The effects of minimum bark thickness and the height of the first live branch were random. The maximum scorch height was not high enough to affect the litterfall. Time during which the temperature exceeded 60 °C (cambium and bark) did not have an important effect. Conclusions: Our findings demonstrated that meteorological conditions were the most significant variables affecting litterfall biomass, with snowy and stormy days having important effects. Significant effects of stand characteristics (mixed and pure stand) and fire prescription regime (spring and autumn PB) were shown. The trees were completely protected by a combination of low-intensity PB and fire-adaptive tree traits, which prevent direct and indirect effects on litterfall. Identification of important variables can help to improve PB and reduce the vulnerability of stands managed by this method.
Highlights
The projected changes in climate are likely to affect fire regime and increase the fire risk in someMediterranean countries [1]
There was a short-term effect (3–4 months) on litterfall after SB in the mixed stand (MS) and the pure stand (PS), the differences were greater in the PS (Table 5)
No differences were observed in the MS
Summary
The projected changes in climate are likely to affect fire regime and increase the fire risk in some. Mediterranean countries (including Spain) [1]. Fuel reduction treatments such as prescribed burning (PB) reduce surface continuity and ladder fuels, increase the height of live crown, decrease crown density, retain large trees of fire-resistant species [2], improve success of fire control [3], and may even be effective in creating fire-resilient stands. Litterfall biomass has been proposed as a good indicator of stand productivity [8] and it may provide information about the effects of climate change on forests [9]
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