Fire scar characteristics in two tropical montane conifer species from central Mexico
Jesús Eduardo Sáenz-Ceja A B C , Miguel Martínez-Ramos B , Manuel E. Mendoza C and Diego R. Pérez-Salicrup B *
+ Author Affiliations
- Author Affiliations
A Unidad de Posgrado, Posgrado en Ciencias Biológicas, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Campus Ciudad Universitaria, Coyoacán, Mexico City 04510, Mexico.
B Instituto de Investigaciones en Ecosistemas y Sustentabilidad, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Campus Morelia, Michoacán 58190, Mexico.
C Centro de Investigaciones en Geografía Ambiental, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Campus Morelia, Michoacán 58190, Mexico.
* Correspondence to: diego@cieco.unam.mx
International Journal of Wildland Fire 31(7) 684-692 https://doi.org/10.1071/WF21110
Submitted: 5 August 2021 Accepted: 10 May 2022 Published: 25 May 2022
© 2022 The Author(s) (or their employer(s)). Published by CSIRO Publishing on behalf of IAWF. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License (CC BY-NC-ND)
Abstract
Fire scar analysis is a fundamental tool for reconstructing fire regimes in conifer forests. However, little is known about fire scar properties in tropical montane conifers, where some assumptions limit dendroecological research. These include that fir species do not exhibit external fire scars and that pines without external fire scars have not experienced past fires. This study describes fire scar patterns in two conifer species growing in Mexican temperate forests: sacred fir (Abies religiosa) and smooth-bark Mexican pine (Pinus pseudostrobus). We extracted cross-sections from 110 trees and measured tree age, basal diameter, bark thickness, fire scar size and seasonality, the number of scars per tree, years and basal diameter from pith to the first scar, and the proportion of external and buried fire scars. Most trees had three fire scars, which appeared during the dry season after the first 15 years measured from the pith. Old and large-diameter trees did not have more fire scars, but the time between fire scars influenced fire scar closure in sacred firs. Bark thickness and the proportion of visible and buried fire scars were similar in both species. Our results suggest that the absence of visible fire scars in smooth-bark Mexican pines does not imply the absence of fire, and sacred firs can exhibit external fire scars like pines.
Keywords: bark thickness, conifer, dendrochronology, fire regime, Monarch Butterfly Biosphere Reserve, tree ring, tropical montane forest, wound closure.
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