Effects of fire frequency on prescribed fire behaviour and soil temperatures in dry dipterocarp forests
Kobsak Wanthongchai A C D , Johann G. Goldammer B and Jürgen Bauhus C
+ Author Affiliations
- Author Affiliations
A Department of Silviculture, Faculty of Forestry, Kasetsart University, Bangkok, 10900, Thailand.
B Global Fire Monitoring Center, Fire Ecology Research Group, c/o University of Freiburg/United Nations University, Georges-Koehler-Allee 75, D-79110 Freiburg, Germany.
C Institute of Silviculture, University of Freiburg, Tennenbacherstrasse 4, D-79085 Freiburg, Germany.
D Corresponding author. Email: fforksw@ku.ac.th
International Journal of Wildland Fire 20(1) 35-45 https://doi.org/10.1071/WF08098
Submitted: 10 June 2008 Accepted: 24 March 2010 Published: 14 February 2011
Abstract
This study investigated how fire frequencies and fuel loads influence fire behaviour and soil heating in dry dipterocarp forests of the Huai Kha Khaeng Wildlife Sanctuary, Thailand. Fire behaviour and soil temperatures during burning were measured on a series of plots with different past fire frequencies ranging from unburned control, to rarely, infrequently and frequently burned, representing fire occurrences in 0, 1, 2 and 7 out of the past 10 years respectively. The pre-burning loads of fine fuel including grasses, herbs, shrubs, seedlings, saplings and litters increased with the length of the previous fire-free interval. The rate of spread, flame height, fireline intensity and maximum soil temperatures at any soil depths were not significantly different between the past burning regimes, so fires were classed as low-intensity and low-severity surface fire. The longest duration of heating with temperatures >60°C at ground level occurred at the rarely burned site (~14 min), followed by the infrequently burned site (~12 min) and the frequently burned site (~8 min). However, the duration of heating above any given critical temperature threshold at 2- and 5-cm soil depths was less than 1 min across all regimes. From a fuel management perspective, there does not appear to be a need to carry out prescribed burns more frequently than every 6–7 years, because fine fuel loads did not continue to accumulate substantially beyond 7 years after a fire.
Additional keywords: fire effect, fire intensity, fire severity, fuel consumption, fuel loads, Huai Kha Khaeng Wildlife Sanctuary, soil heating.
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