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Advisor(s)
Abstract(s)
Wildfire is a major abiotic disturbance in natural and planted forests, historically affecting larges areas of forests all over the world. In forest areas prone
to forest fire, such as in the Mediterranean region, the risk of disturbance is continuously present (or recurrent) and need to be considered explicitly by the
forest managers. As shown by the dramatic events of October 2017, in Portugal, wildfire suppression response does not guarantee, by itself, to be an adequate
procedure to avoid damages caused by this disturbance. It is necessary to begin earlier, at the stand scale level, with preventive forest management procedures.
Typical options include the selection of the tree species to plant, promoting the use of the essences most resistant to fire, coupled with their organization in
space through compartmentation, and at the stand level, with the reduction of fuel loads of the understory vegetation and downed woody material. For existing
forests, reduction of fuel loads can be achieved artificially by a prescribed burn or mechanical removal, or through ecologically based procedures of reducing
the understory. This communication brings to analysis, under the umbrella of Project (Forestation of Agricultural Land with More Silviculture, Silvopasture,
Innovation and Value), reduction of the understory fuel loads (a) by the management of the average density among trees; (b) by grazing. The effectiveness of the
approaches to address the reduction of fuel loads over competing alternatives are evaluated and discussed for real case of studies.
Description
Keywords
Wildfire Portugal
Pedagogical Context
Citation
Fonseca, Teresa de Jesus Fidalgo; Castro, Marina; Torres-Manso, Filipa (2019). Sustainable forest management under fire risk: ecological options to reduce the fuel loads. In XXV IUFRO World Congress 2019. Colombo
Publisher
EMBRAPA