Forest Fire Regime in a Mediterranean Ecosystem: Unraveling the Mutual Interrelations between Rainfall Seasonality, Soil Moisture, Drought Persistence, and Biomass Dynamics

Nunzio Romano; Nadia Ursino

doi:10.3390/fire3030049

journal article Open Access Sep 03, 2020

Forest Fire Regime in a Mediterranean Ecosystem: Unraveling the Mutual Interrelations between Rainfall Seasonality, Soil Moisture, Drought Persistence, and Biomass Dynamics

Nunzio Romano

Nadia Ursino

Fire Vol. 3 No. 3 pp. 49 · MDPI AG

View at Publisher Save 10.3390/fire3030049

Abstract

Frequent and severe droughts typically intensify wildfires provided that there is enough fuel in situ. The extent to which climate change may influence the fire regime and long time-scale hydrological processes may soften the effect of inter-annual climate change and, more specifically, whether soil-water retention capacity can alleviate the harsh conditions resulting from droughts and affect fire regimes, are still largely unexplored matters. The research presented in this paper is a development of a previous investigation and shows in what way, and to what extent, rainfall frequency, dry season length, and hydraulic response of different soil types drive forest fires toward different regimes while taking into consideration the typical seasonality of the Mediterranean climate. The soil-water holding capacity, which facilitates biomass growth in between fire events and hence favors fuel production, may worsen the fire regime as long dry summers become more frequent, such that the ecosystem’s resilience to climate shifts may eventually be undermined.

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Details

Published: Sep 03, 2020
Vol/Issue: 3(3)
Pages: 49
License: View

Authors

N

Nunzio Romano

Department of Agricultural Sciences, Division of Agricultural, Forest and Biosystems Engineering, University of Naples Federico II, Portici, 80055 Napoli, Italy; The Interdepartmental Research Center for Environment (C.I.R.AM.), University of Naples Federico II, 80134 Napoli, Italy

N

Nadia Ursino

Department of Civil, Environmental and Architectural Engineering, University of Padova, 35131 Padova, Italy

Funding

Ministero dell’Istruzione, dell’Università e della Ricerca Award: 2017SL7ABC

Cite This Article

Nunzio Romano, Nadia Ursino (2020). Forest Fire Regime in a Mediterranean Ecosystem: Unraveling the Mutual Interrelations between Rainfall Seasonality, Soil Moisture, Drought Persistence, and Biomass Dynamics. Fire, 3(3), 49. https://doi.org/10.3390/fire3030049

Forest Fire Regime in a Mediterranean Ecosystem: Unraveling the Mutual Interrelations between Rainfall Seasonality, Soil Moisture, Drought Persistence, and Biomass Dynamics

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