Fire regime, climate, and vegetation in the Sierras de Córdoba, Argentina

ARGAÑARAZ, JUAN PABLO; GAVIER PIZARRO, GREGORIO; ZAK, MARCELO; BELLIS, LAURA

Fire Ecology

Association for Fire Ecology

Año: 2015 vol. 11 p. 55 - 73

1933-9747

Wildfires are a primary disturbance in the  Sierras  de  Córdoba,  Argentina, with  approximately  2 152 000  ha burned between 1993 and 2012. However,  little  is  known  about  the  spatial and temporal patterns of fires and their relationship  with  climate  and  vegetation in this area. Such information is of great value for fire risk assessment and  the  development  of  strategies  for fire management. Our main objective was to analyze fire activity in four sierran ranges, assessing which weather and climate conditions were mostly related  to  fire  activity,  and  which  land cover  types  were  mostly  burned.  We used  a  fire  database  of  mid-high  spatial resolution and a land cover map derived  from  Landsat  imagery.   Fire regimes were different among the different sierran ranges. The Sierras Chicas  range  was  the  most  affected  by fires,  with  the  largest  number  of  fire events,  burned  area,  and  fire  frequency.   Although  large  fires  represented 3 % to 5 % of fire events, they accounted  for  60 %  to  86 %  of  total  burned area in different sierran ranges. Sierras  of  lower  elevation  had  a  winter seasonality  of  fires,  while  sierras  of higher elevation had a winter-spring or spring fire seasonality. The number of fire  events  was  positively  correlated with preceding periods that were wetter than normal, while the burned area was  mainly  associated  with  midterm weather  conditions.   Fires  occurred mainly  in  grasslands  and  shrublands, but the area of burned forests was important, too. Our results will be useful to determine the times and conditions in which fire risk is highest, and also to identify  where  preventive  efforts should be focused.