This book provides a unique exploration of the inter-relationships between the science of plant environmental responses and the understanding and management of forest fires. It bridges the gap between plant ecologists, interested in the functional and evolutionary consequences of fire in ecosystems, with foresters and fire managers, interested in effectively reducing fire hazard and damage.
This innovation in this study lies in its focus on the physiological responses of plants that are of relevance for predicting forest fire risk, behaviour and management. It covers the evolutionary trade-offs in the resistance of plants to fire and drought, and its implications for predicting fuel moisture and fire risk; the importance of floristics and plant traits, in interaction with landform and atmospheric conditions, to successfully predict fire behaviour, and provides recommendations for pre- and post- fire management, in relation with the functional composition of the community. The book will be particularly focused on examples from Mediterranean environments, but the underlying principles will be of broader utility.
Section 1: Introduction.-
1. Forest Fires as a Global Phenomenon.-
2. Fire as an Earth System Process.-
3. Evolution of the Mediterranean Flora in a Flammable Plant.-
4. Fire Regimes across Space.- Section 2: Organismal and Ecosystem Responses to Forest Fires.-
5. Effects of Forest Fires on Soil Processes and Organisms.-
6. Plant Traits and Forest Fires.-
7. Forest Succession, Alternative States and Fire-Vegetation Feedbacks.- Section 3: The Physiology of Forest Fuels.-
8. Plant Carbon Economies and the Dynamics of Forest Fuels.-
9. Environmental Plant Responses and Forest Fire Risk.-
10. Plant Survival after Fire.- Section 4: Fire Behaviour and Management.-
11. Ecological Impacts of Anthropogenic Fire.-
12. Fire Propagation.-
13. Forest Planning and Fire Risk Reduction.-
14. Post-Fire Management.- Section 5: Forest Fires and Global Change.-
15. Forest Fires and Global Change.
The author works as a Professor at the School of Life Sciences and Engineering at Southwest University for Science and Technology and a Research Scientist at the Joint Research Unit CTFC-Agrotecnio and University of Lleida.
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