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RESEARCH ARTICLE
Contents Vol 18(6)

Developing an Adaptive Management approach to prescribed burning: a long-term heathland conservation experiment in north-west Italy

Davide Ascoli A B , Rachele Beghin A , Riccardo Ceccato A , Alessandra Gorlier A , Giampiero Lombardi A , Michele Lonati A , Raffaella Marzano A , Giovanni Bovio A and Andrea Cavallero A
+ Author Affiliations
- Author Affiliations

A Department of Agronomy, Forest and Land Management, University of Torino, Via Leonardo Da Vinci 44, 10095, Grugliasco (TO), Italy.

B Corresponding author. Email: d.ascoli@unito.it

International Journal of Wildland Fire 18(6) 727-735 https://doi.org/10.1071/WF07114
Submitted: 16 August 2007  Accepted: 16 December 2008   Published: 22 September 2009

Abstract

Calluna vulgaris-dominated heathlands are globally important habitats and extremely scarce outside of north-west Europe. Rotational fire, grazing and cutting by local farmers were dominant features of past heathland management throughout Europe but have been abandoned, altering the historical fire regime and habitat structure. We briefly review research on Calluna heathland conservation management and provide the background and methodology for a long-term research project that will be used to define prescribed fire regimes in combination with grazing and cutting, for management of Calluna heathlands in north-west Italy. We outline the ecological and research issues that drive the fire experiment, making explicit the experimental design and the hypotheses that will be tested. We demonstrate how Adaptive Management can be used to inform decisions about the nature of fire prescriptions where little formal knowledge exists. Experimental plots ranging from 600 to 2500 m2 are treated according to one of eight alternative treatments (various combinations of fire, grazing and cutting), each replicated four times. To date, all treatments have been applied for 4 years, from 2005 to 2008, and a continuation is planned. Detailed measurement of fire characteristics is made to help interpret ecological responses at a microplot scale. The results of the experiment will be fed back into the experimental design and used to inform heathland management practice in north-west Italy.

Additional keywords: Calluna vulgaris, cultural landscape, fire behavior, fire effects, Vauda experiment.


Acknowledgements

G. Bovio and A. Cavallero were research supervisors for the project. We thank the Ente di Gestione dei Parchi e delle Riserve Naturali del Canavese, Regione Piemonte (Land Administrators of the MNR of Vauda) for providing financial, logistical and technical support to the present study. Special thanks to Matt Davies, The University of Edinburgh, for fruitful discussions, paper editing and for challenging us to develop the Adaptive Management angle.


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