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Thicker or Shorter Bark Fragments of Eucalypt Tree Species Make More Densely Packed Fuel Beds, Which Slow Down Fire Spread

Year: 2024
Type: article
Abstract: Many eucalypt trees shed their bark annually. This bark becomes a component of the litter layer, which acts as fuel during surface fires. The amount and quality of shed bark vary greatly among species, which we hypothesized to have important effects on forest surface fire behavior. Therefore, we compared bark fuel bed flammability from eight eucalypt tree species, and tried to link their bark litter traits, via surface fuel bed structure, to bark flammability. In controlled laboratory burns, we measured three flammability parameters: fire spread rate, total burning time, and maximum temperature. Bark litter traits included length, curliness, thickness, dry matter content, tissue density, carbon content, nitrogen content, and terpene content, while litter bed packing ratio and packing density were also measured. We found significant differences in bark traits and flammability among species. Thicker bark fragments of eucalypt tree species had consequently higher packing densities in fuel beds and slower fire spread and longer burning time, but this relationship was strongly driven by the thick and dense bark fragments of Eucalyptus punctata. Still, also within the other seven species, bark thickness was the strongest predictor of bark fuel bed flammability, with some additional explanatory power for bark length. Our study demonstrates that bark traits, particularly litter fragment thickness and length, drive bark litter flammability of eucalypt tree species through their effects on bark fuel bed structure. These findings contribute to our understanding and predictive power of wildfire behavior in forest stands dominated by different eucalypt species.
Source: Forests
DOI: 10.3390/f15122092
Language: English
Open Access status: gold
Estimated APC paid: $2,955
OpenAlex ID: W4404765966
FWCI: 0.531
Cites: 49
Cited by: 3
Related to: 10