Historical fire ecology and its effect on vegetation dynamics of the Lagunas de Montebello National Park, Chiapas, México

Historical information on wildfires and dendrochronological studies offer meaningful clues about fire and climate regimes, factors that affect forest structure and dynamics. This study aimed to determine the effect of fire history on vegetation dynamics and successional pathways of areas under diffe...

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Autores principales:	Ponce-Calderón LP, Rodríguez-Trejo DA, Villanueva-Díaz J, Bilbao BA, Álvarez-Gordillo GDC, Vera-Cortés G
Formato:	article
Lenguaje:	EN
Publicado:	Italian Society of Silviculture and Forest Ecology (SISEF) 2021
Materias:	Historical Ecology Dendrochronology Fire Ecology Ecological Succession Fuel Loads Forestry SD1-669.5
Acceso en línea:	https://doaj.org/article/965c5c6143f54ac59196089025c14850
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spelling	oai:doaj.org-article:965c5c6143f54ac59196089025c148502021-12-01T17:45:25ZHistorical fire ecology and its effect on vegetation dynamics of the Lagunas de Montebello National Park, Chiapas, México1971-745810.3832/ifor3682-014https://doaj.org/article/965c5c6143f54ac59196089025c148502021-12-01T00:00:00Zhttps://iforest.sisef.org/contents/?id=ifor3682-014https://doaj.org/toc/1971-7458Historical information on wildfires and dendrochronological studies offer meaningful clues about fire and climate regimes, factors that affect forest structure and dynamics. This study aimed to determine the effect of fire history on vegetation dynamics and successional pathways of areas under different fire management policies in the Lagunas de Montebello National Park (LMNP), Chiapas, México. The selected study sites were El Parque area under fire exclusion policies since 1961; Tziscao-inhabited area under fire prohibition since 1984; and Antelá area with a traditional agricultural fire management history. A Pinus oocarpa ring-width chronology was used as a proxy for climate variability to which wildfire occurrence was mapped and to determine the establishment patterns of this dominant species. Current vegetation composition and structure and fuel loads were determined to characterise the study sites. Large wildfires, like those occurring in 1984 and 1998, were associated with periods of high humidity followed by intense droughts; they were linked to strong El Niño events and severely impacted the LMNP. Vegetation dynamics indicated simplification of mesophyll forest (climax) to pine-oak-sweetgum forests, with Pinus dominating the overstorey in all sampling sites. Pine, oak and sweetgum species were the dominant juvenile trees in Antelá, El Parque and Tziscao, respectively. Late-successional seedlings (i.e., Prunus) were present in Antelá and El Parque, while were absent from Tziscao where several wildfires had occurred. Fuel accumulation in sites within protected areas subject to fire exclusion policies was very high (40-68 t ha-1); in contrast, it was the lowest in rural Antelá (24 t ha-1). Considering vegetation vulnerability to wildfires associated with extreme humid-dry climate events, increased fire hazard due to fuel accumulation, and the socio-ecological impacts of these events, we recommend revising the fire exclusion policies currently implemented in the LMNP and applying an integrated fire management approach that incorporates local socio-ecological conditions.Ponce-Calderón LPRodríguez-Trejo DAVillanueva-Díaz JBilbao BAÁlvarez-Gordillo GDCVera-Cortés GItalian Society of Silviculture and Forest Ecology (SISEF)articleHistorical EcologyDendrochronologyFire EcologyEcological SuccessionFuel LoadsForestrySD1-669.5ENiForest - Biogeosciences and Forestry, Vol 14, Iss 1, Pp 548-559 (2021)
institution	DOAJ
collection	DOAJ
language	EN
topic	Historical Ecology Dendrochronology Fire Ecology Ecological Succession Fuel Loads Forestry SD1-669.5
spellingShingle	Historical Ecology Dendrochronology Fire Ecology Ecological Succession Fuel Loads Forestry SD1-669.5 Ponce-Calderón LP Rodríguez-Trejo DA Villanueva-Díaz J Bilbao BA Álvarez-Gordillo GDC Vera-Cortés G Historical fire ecology and its effect on vegetation dynamics of the Lagunas de Montebello National Park, Chiapas, México
description	Historical information on wildfires and dendrochronological studies offer meaningful clues about fire and climate regimes, factors that affect forest structure and dynamics. This study aimed to determine the effect of fire history on vegetation dynamics and successional pathways of areas under different fire management policies in the Lagunas de Montebello National Park (LMNP), Chiapas, México. The selected study sites were El Parque area under fire exclusion policies since 1961; Tziscao-inhabited area under fire prohibition since 1984; and Antelá area with a traditional agricultural fire management history. A Pinus oocarpa ring-width chronology was used as a proxy for climate variability to which wildfire occurrence was mapped and to determine the establishment patterns of this dominant species. Current vegetation composition and structure and fuel loads were determined to characterise the study sites. Large wildfires, like those occurring in 1984 and 1998, were associated with periods of high humidity followed by intense droughts; they were linked to strong El Niño events and severely impacted the LMNP. Vegetation dynamics indicated simplification of mesophyll forest (climax) to pine-oak-sweetgum forests, with Pinus dominating the overstorey in all sampling sites. Pine, oak and sweetgum species were the dominant juvenile trees in Antelá, El Parque and Tziscao, respectively. Late-successional seedlings (i.e., Prunus) were present in Antelá and El Parque, while were absent from Tziscao where several wildfires had occurred. Fuel accumulation in sites within protected areas subject to fire exclusion policies was very high (40-68 t ha-1); in contrast, it was the lowest in rural Antelá (24 t ha-1). Considering vegetation vulnerability to wildfires associated with extreme humid-dry climate events, increased fire hazard due to fuel accumulation, and the socio-ecological impacts of these events, we recommend revising the fire exclusion policies currently implemented in the LMNP and applying an integrated fire management approach that incorporates local socio-ecological conditions.
format	article
author	Ponce-Calderón LP Rodríguez-Trejo DA Villanueva-Díaz J Bilbao BA Álvarez-Gordillo GDC Vera-Cortés G
author_facet	Ponce-Calderón LP Rodríguez-Trejo DA Villanueva-Díaz J Bilbao BA Álvarez-Gordillo GDC Vera-Cortés G
author_sort	Ponce-Calderón LP
title	Historical fire ecology and its effect on vegetation dynamics of the Lagunas de Montebello National Park, Chiapas, México
title_short	Historical fire ecology and its effect on vegetation dynamics of the Lagunas de Montebello National Park, Chiapas, México
title_full	Historical fire ecology and its effect on vegetation dynamics of the Lagunas de Montebello National Park, Chiapas, México
title_fullStr	Historical fire ecology and its effect on vegetation dynamics of the Lagunas de Montebello National Park, Chiapas, México
title_full_unstemmed	Historical fire ecology and its effect on vegetation dynamics of the Lagunas de Montebello National Park, Chiapas, México
title_sort	historical fire ecology and its effect on vegetation dynamics of the lagunas de montebello national park, chiapas, méxico
publisher	Italian Society of Silviculture and Forest Ecology (SISEF)
publishDate	2021
url	https://doaj.org/article/965c5c6143f54ac59196089025c14850
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Historical fire ecology and its effect on vegetation dynamics of the Lagunas de Montebello National Park, Chiapas, México

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