Assessment of post-fire forest structural diversity using neighborhood parameter in the Sierra Madre Oriental, Mexico

Abstract

The objective of this research was to characterize the spatial structure patterns of a Pinus hartwegii forest in the Sierra Madre Oriental, affected by a fire in 1998. Sampling was stratified by fire severity. A total of three fire severity classes (low, medium and high) were defined. Three sample plots of 40m x 40m were established for each severity. Variables obtained for all trees with a diameter at breast height (DBH) ≥ 5 cm in each plot were: DBH (cm) to 1.30 m, height (m), special location by recording the azimuth (°) and distance (m) from the center of the plot to each tree. A total of three index groups were employed to describe the structure: "aggregation" (Wi and Di), "dominance" (Ui) and dimensional size (TDi and THi). The variance analysis showed significant differences (p>0.001) for dasometric parameter among low severities with respect to medium and high severities; this last two severities did not showed significant differences between them. Structural characterization results suggest that by increasing the fires severity degree, the aggregation degree increases, and the dimensional differentiation and dominance decrease as the severity degree increases.

Parent Publication

• Proceedings of the fourth international symposium on fire economics, planning, and policy: climate change and wildfires

Citation

Flores, Diana Yemilet Avila; Tagle, Marco Aurelio González; Pérez, Javier Jiménez; Calderón, Oscar Aguirre; Garza, Eduardo Treviño. 2013. Assessment of post-fire forest structural diversity using neighborhood parameter in the Sierra Madre Oriental, Mexico. In: González-Cabán, Armando, tech. coord. Proceedings of the fourth international symposium on fire economics, planning, and policy: climate change and wildfires. Gen. Tech. Rep. PSW-GTR-245 (English). Albany, CA: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Pacific Southwest Research Station: 296-303.