Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-hc48f Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-26T16:13:58.644Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Fire resistance and bark properties of trees in a seasonally dry forest in eastern Bolivia

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  10 July 2009

Michelle A. Pinard  and
Jean Huffman
Michelle A. Pinard*
Affiliation:
Proyecto BOLFOR, Prolongación Beni No. 149, Casilla 6204, Santa Cruz, Bolivia
Jean Huffman
Affiliation:
Proyecto BOLFOR, Prolongación Beni No. 149, Casilla 6204, Santa Cruz, Bolivia
*
1Department of Forestry, University of Aberdeen, Aberdeen AB24 5UA, UK.
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

As forest fragmentation and intentional burning of grasslands increase, the frequency of fires penetrating the dry and subhumid tropical forests of Bolivia is also likely to increase. To expand our understanding of the role of fire in tropical dry forest, the physical and thermal properties of barks of tree species were studied to determine their relative resistances to cambial damage by fire. For 16 tree species found in the dry forest of the Lomerío region of eastern Bolivia, bark thickness, moisture content, and specific gravity were measured. Insulating capabilities of bark were measured by obtaining cambial and surface temperatures during experimental wick fires. Bark thickness on trees 5-100 cm dbh (diameter at 1.4 m) ranged from 2–51 mm and both thick- and thin-barked species were represented. For all species, bark thickness increased as stem diameter increased. Bark thickness explained more (63%) of the variation in peak cambial temperatures during fires than did bark moisture content (4%) or specific gravity (1%). A threshold bark thickness of 18 mm was associated with the ability to withstand lethal cambial temperatures during the experimental, low intensity fires. For 13 of the 16 species included in this study, trees ≤20 cm dbh have bark thickness below the threshold 18 mm and, therefore, are likely to experience cambial injury from low intensity fires. Our results suggest that the forest presently characteristic of the Lomerío region did not develop with frequent fires and that species composition is likely to be substantially affected by an increase in fire frequency.

Keywords

barkBoliviadisturbancedry forestfiretree regeneration
Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of Tropical Ecology , Volume 13 , Issue 5 , September 1997 , pp. 727 - 740
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1997

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

LITERATURE CITED

Agee, J. K. 1993. Fire ecology of Pacific Northwest forests. Island Press, Washington D.C.490 pp.Google Scholar
Alexandrov, V. Y. 1977. Cells, molecules and temperature. Springer-Verlag, Berlin, Germany. 330 pp.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bellido, J. I. 1996. Estudio de suelos en dos areas de action forestal zona Lomerío. Proyecto BOLFOR, Santa Cruz, Bolivia.Google Scholar
Gill, A. M. 1995. Stems and fire. Pp. 323–342 in Gartner, B. L. (ed.). Plant stems: physiology and functional morphology. Academic Press, San Diego, California, U.S.A.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Goldammer, J. G. 1993. Feuer in Waldökosystemen der Tropen und Subtropen. Birkhäuser Verlag, Basel, Switzerland.Google Scholar
Gorman, M. W. 1899. Eastern part of Washington Forest Reserve. Pp. 315–350 in USDI Geological Survey, 19th annual report, Part V: Forest reserves. Government Printing Office, Washington D.C., U.S.A.Google Scholar
Harmon, M. 1984. Survival of trees after low-intensity surface fires in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. Ecology 65:796–802.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hengst, G. E. & Dawson, J. O. 1993. Bark properties and fire resistance of selected tree species from the central hardwood region of North America. Canadian foumal of Forest Research 24:688–696.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hopkins, B. 1983. Successional processes. Pp. 605–616 in Bourliere, F. (ed.). Tropical savannas, Elsevier Press, New York, U.SA.Google Scholar
Janzen, D. H. 1988. Management of habitat fragments in a tropical dry forest: growth. Annals of Missouri Botanical Garden 75:105–116.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Junikka, L. 1994. Survey of English macroscopic bark terminology. IAWA Journal 15:3–45.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Killeen, T., Louman, B. T. & Grimwood, T. 1990. La ecólogia paisajistica de la región de Concepción y Lomerío en la Provincia de Nuflo de Chavez, Santa Cruz, Bolivia. Ecólogia en Bolivia 16:1–45.Google Scholar
Levitt, J. 1980. Responses of plants to environmental stresses. (2nd edition), Academic Press, New York, U.S.A.Google Scholar
Malaisse, F. 1978. The miombo ecosystem. Pp. 589–606 in Tropical forest ecosystems, UNESCO/ UNEP/ FAO, Paris, France.Google Scholar
Martin, R. E. 1963. Thermal properties of bark. Forest Products Journal 3:419–426.Google Scholar
Meggers, B. 1971. Amazonia: man and culture in a counterfeit paradise, Aldine-Atherton, Chicago, Ilinois, U.S.A.Google Scholar
Morrison, D. A., Cary, G. J., Pengelly, S. M., Ross, D. G., Mullins, B. J., Thomas, C. R. & Anderson, T. S. 1995. Effects of fire frequency on plant species composition of sandstone communities in the Sydney region: inter-fire interval and time since fire. Australian Journal of Ecology 20:239–247.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Murphy, P. G. & Lugo, A. E. 1986. Ecology of tropical dry forest. Annual Review of Ecology and Systematics 17:67–88.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Prado, D. E. & Gibbs, P. E. 1993. Patterns of species distributions in the dry seasonal forests of South America. Annals of Missouri Botanical Garden 80:903–927.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Reifsnyder, W. E., Herrington, L. P. & Spalt, K. W. 1967. Thermophysical properties of bark of shortleaf longlcaf and red pine. Yale School of Forestry, Bulletin No. 70. Yale University Press, New Haven, Connecticut, U.S.A.Google Scholar
Ryan, D. C. & Reinhardt, E. D. 1988. Predicting postfire mortality of seven western conifers. Canandian Journal of Forest Research 18:1291–1297.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ryan, K. C., Peterson, D. L. & Reinhardt, E. D. 1988. Modeling long-term fire-caused mortality of Douglas-Fir. Forest Science 34:190–199.Google Scholar
Snook, L. K. 1993. Stand dynamics of mahogany (Swietenia macrophylla) and associated species after fire and hurricanes in the tropical forest of the Yucatan Peninsula, Mexico. Ph.D. Dissertation, Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut, U.S.A.Google Scholar
Sokal, R. R. & Rohlf, F. J., 1981. Biometry (2nd edition). W. H. Freeman & Company, New York. 859 pp.Google Scholar
Swaine, M. D. 1992. Characteristics of dry forest in West Africa and the influence of fire. Journal of Vegetation Science 3:365–374.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Uhl, C. & Kauffman, J. B. 1990. Deforestation, fire susceptibility, and potential tree responses to fire in the eastern Amazon. Ecology 71:436–449.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Vines, R. G. 1968. Heat transfer through bark, and the resistance of trees to fire. Australian Journal of Botany 16:499–514.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Woods, P. V. 1989. Effects of logging, drought, and fire on structure and composition of tropical forests in Sabah, Malaysia. Biotropica 21:290–298.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wright, H. A. & Bailey, A. W. 1982. Fire ecology: United States and southern Canada. John Wiley & Sons, New York, U.S.A.Google Scholar
Zar, J. H. 1984. Biostatistical Analysis. (2nd edition). Prentice Hall, Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey, U.S.A.Google Scholar