Ertuğrul Bilgili

Landscape – wildfire interactions in southern Europe: Implications for landscape management

Every year approximately half a million hectares of land are burned by wildfires in southern Europe, causing large ecological and socio-economic impacts. Climate and land use changes in the last decades have increased fire risk and danger. In this paper we review the available scientific knowledge on the relationships between landscape and wildfires in the Mediterranean region, with a focus on its application for defining landscape management guidelines and policies that could be adopted in order to promote landscapes with lower fire hazard. The main findings are that (1) socio-economic drivers have favoured land cover changes contributing to increasing fire hazard in the last decades, (2) large wildfires are becoming more frequent, (3) increased fire frequency is promoting homogeneous landscapes covered by fire-prone shrublands; (4) landscape planning to reduce fuel loads may be successful only if fire weather conditions are not extreme. The challenges to address these problems and the policy and landscape management responses that should be adopted are discussed, along with major knowledge gaps.

Fire behavior in maquis fuels in Turkey

A series of 25 experimental fires was carried out in a maquis fuel type in southwestern Turkey. The fires were conducted under a range of weather and fuel conditions to gather quantitative data on fire spread, fuel consumption and fire intensity, and develop fire behavior prediction models for fire management purposes. Of the fire behavior characteristics, rate of spread and fire intensity were related to both fuel loading and wind speed, whereas fuel consumption was related to fuel loading and fuel moisture. Regression models developed using the data gathered are able to predict fire behavior in terms of wind speed, fuel loading and fuel moisture. Results obtained in this study should be invaluable in overall fire management practices. But its use should be restricted to the range of conditions within which the data were gathered.

Spatio-Temporal Analysis of Forest Fire Risk and Danger Using LANDSAT Imagery

Computing fire danger and fire risk on a spatio-temporal scale is of crucial importance in fire management planning, and in the simulation of fire growth and development across a landscape. However, due to the complex nature of forests, fire risk and danger potential maps are considered one of the most difficult thematic layers to build up. Remote sensing and digital terrain data have been introduced for efficient discrete classification of fire risk and fire danger potential. In this study, two time-series data of Landsat imagery were used for determining spatio-temporal change of fire risk and danger potential in Korudag forest planning unit in northwestern Turkey. The method comprised the following two steps: (1) creation of indices of the factors influencing fire risk and danger; (2) evaluation of spatio-temporal changes in fire risk and danger of given areas using remote sensing as a quick and inexpensive means and determining the pace of forest cover change. Fire risk and danger potential indices were based on species composition, stand crown closure, stand development stage, insolation, slope and, proximity of agricultural lands to forest and distance from settlement areas. Using the indices generated, fire risk and danger maps were produced for the years 1987 and 2000. Spatio-temporal analyses were then realized based on the maps produced. Results obtained from the study showed that the use of Landsat imagery provided a valuable characterization and mapping of vegetation structure and type with overall classification accuracy higher than 83%.

Estimating crown fuel loading for calabrian pine and Anatolian black pine

Fuels are of great importance in fire behaviour prediction. This paper deals with the prediction of aboveground foliage and branch biomass of calabrian pine (Pinus brutia Ten.) and Anatolian black pine (P. nigra J.F. Arnold subsp. nigra var. caramanica (Loudon) Rehder). The study was based on a total of 418 destructively sampled calabrian and black pine trees and saplings. As a result of the analyses, several regression equations were developed for predicting foliage, fine branch (<0.6 cm), medium branch (0.6–1.0 cm), active fuels (foliage + fine branch), thick branch (1.0–2.5 cm), and total fuel loading. The relationships between fuel biomass and tree properties were determined by multiple linear regressions, considering tree properties as the independent variables, and foliage, branch, active fuel and total biomass as the dependent variables. Tree properties included tree height, crown length, crown width, diameter at breast height and root collar diameter. Results indicated that foliage, branch and total biomass could all be accurately predicted based on the readily measurable and/or predictable tree characteristics. Of the fuel characteristics, crown length, crown width, and height were the three most significant predictors of fuel biomass. The results of this study will not only contribute to the prediction of fire behaviour, but will also be of invaluable use in other forestry disciplines.

Stand development and fire behavior

Using a fuel model which characterizes stand fuel properties, the paper quantifies and explains the effects of stand development and silvicultural interventions on fire behavior. It also presents and explains that all fire behavior properties are strongly related to fuel characteristics. Results showed that rate of spread (ROS) was relatively high when crown fuels were becoming more involved and the crown base was low. Fuel consumption was related to the quantity of fuel available. Fire behavior in thinned stands followed the same pattern as in the unthinned stands except for sharp changes brought about by the periodic rearrangements in fuel from the thinnings. ROS, fuel consumption and fire intensity all increased abruptly with thinning, but declined rapidly with the decomposition and lower availability of thinned fuels, and the reduced probability of crowning.

CANOPY FUEL CHARACTERISTICS AND FUEL LOAD IN YOUNG BLACK PINE TREES

ABSTRACT Crown structure and fuel loading are important factors affecting crown fire occurrence and behavior. This paper reports on the canopy fuel characteristics and regression models to determine Canopy Fuel Loading (CFL) of young black pine (Pinus nigra Arnold) trees. Equations were based on the data from 11 destructively sampled black pine plantation trees. This data was used to develop best equations fit with ordinary least squares procedures that estimate available and total canopy fuel load for young black pine plantation trees. Model fits for available and total canopy fuel load were generally good. Results indicated that available and total canopy fuel load could be easily predicted using diameter at breast height (D), variable. The resulting equations were able to account for 94% of the observed variation in the total canopy fuel load. Average tree canopy fuel load was 8.9 kg. On average 41% of canopy fuel load was allocated to the needle, 13% to the fine branch, 20% to the medium branch, 18% to thick branch and 8% to the very thick branch. Vertical distribution of canopy fuels was variable. Most foliage was found on the main branches of the medium portion of the canopy. The lower and upper portions of the crown had relatively less foliage. The results of the study allowed also for the comparisons of linear and nonlinear equations of biomass estimation commonly used in literature.

Effect of heat on seed germination of Pinus sylvestris and Pinus nigra ssp. pallasiana

The present note presents and explains the results of a study dealing with the germination of seeds subjected to heat. Seeds of Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris L.) and Anatolian black pine (Pinus nigra ssp. pallasiana) were exposed to a range of temperatures (70, 90, 110, 130, and 150 ◦ C) for different exposure times (1 and 5 min). Germination rates were similar for all treatments and control at 1 min exposure for Anatolian black pine seeds, and almost no germination took place for all treatments at 5 min exposure. Similar results were obtained for Scots pine seeds, with the exception of a sharp decrease in the number of seeds germinated above 110 ◦ C.The effect of increasing the exposure time to 5 min was immediate, and no germination took place above 90 ◦ C. Results obtained indicate that seeds of the two species do not necessarily need fire for successful regeneration, but fires may have a positive effect on the germination by removing crown cover, thereby providing more light for the seeds deposited to the ground.

Does the leopard Panthera pardus still exist in the Eastern Karadeniz Mountains of Turkey

The Anatolian leopard Panthera pardus tulliana is categorized as Critically Endangered, and the last known record of this subspecies in Turkey was the finding of fresh faecal pellets in 1992 in Termossos National Park. The leopard formerly occurred across most of Turkey, but particularly in the west, south and south-east regions. In this study we investigated the existence of the leopard in the Eastern Karadeniz Moun- tains in the north-east, where there have been no records of the leopard since 1956. Surveys for leopard sign, lasting 2-8 days each, were carried out from 1993 to 2002 at 46 sites. We found leopard footprints, which could be clearly differentiated from those of lynx Lynx lynx by their size, at 16 survey sites from Capans Mountains in the west to Karcal Mountain in the east. Further work now needs to be carried out to ascertain the size and status of the remaining leopard population.