Abstract
Calabrian pine (Pinus brutia Ten.) is the most widely distributed coniferous species in Turkey. Forests mostly composed of Calabrian pine constitute the most flammable forests in fire sensitive regions of the country. Especially, regenerated and immature stands of this species have the most fire-prone fuel type. This study evaluates the results of vertical crown fuel distribution and develops some crown fuel models to explain canopy fuel characteristics in natural Calabrian pine stands. A total of 35 trees were cut down and crown fuels were determined vertically. The highest crown fuel load was generally situated in the middle part of tree crown. The percentage of needles in each crown section increased gradually from the beginning of lower parts to the upper parts of tree crowns for three stand types. Total crown fuel loads were determined as 5.66 kg for regenerated stands, 11.57 kg for immature stands and 17.44 kg for middle age stands, respectively. Correlation and regression analyses were performed to determine the relationship between needles, branches, available fuels, total crown fuels and tree properties. The results of crown fuel distribution and the allometric equations developed in this study can be used to predict vertical fuel load at any height from ground to the top of Calabrian pine stands. The results of this study will contribute to the verification and evaluation of fuel load prediction models in use, and enhance the understanding of crown fire behavior mechanism in forest fires.
Highlights
In forest ecosystems, fuels are the result of stand growth and development, and are an indispensable part and driver of fire behavior and essential components of fire management
Forest managers are mainly interested in the amount of volume increment, while forest fire researchers and fuel managers are mostly interested in the productive parts of trees as a flammable material
Minimum age was measured in regenerated stands as 7 and maximum A was measured as 24 in immature stands with an average of 13.8 a year at diameter at breast height (DBH) level
Summary
In forest ecosystems, fuels are the result of stand growth and development, and are an indispensable part and driver of fire behavior and essential components of fire management. 2008) and management of forest fires (Hornby 1936, Ager et al 2010, Syphard et al 2011). This is due to the fact that fuels are the only parameters that can be intervened and controlled by the foresters among the other fire behaviour parameters such as topography and weather. Properties of forest fuels and fuel continuity at stand (Bilgili 2003) and forest level (He et al 2004) determine fire behavior and its management (Keane et al 2001, Omi 2015) especially in crown fire prone conifer forests (Cruz and Alexander 2017)
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