Fuel characteristics and fire behavior in mixed deciduous forest areas with different fire frequencies in Doi Suthep-Pui
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ORIGINAL PAPER
Fuel characteristics and fire behavior in mixed deciduous forest areas with different fire frequencies in Doi Suthep‑Pui National Park, Northern Thailand Chonthida Chernkhunthod1,2 · Yoshiyuki Hioki3 Received: 8 October 2019 / Revised: 8 May 2020 / Accepted: 11 May 2020 © International Consortium of Landscape and Ecological Engineering 2020
Abstract Fires are commonly used as part of the livelihood of local people in Thailand. However, population growth is causing serious problems with agricultural expansion, forest encroachment, and illegal settlement in protected areas. Human activities are causing fires in deciduous forests increasingly frequently. Understanding the fuel characteristics and fire behavior in mixed deciduous forest areas with different fire frequencies in Doi Suthep-Pui National Park will help in developing a suitable fire management plan for this area. Twenty quadrats, each 1 × 1 m, were used to collect data regarding fuel characteristics, and 50 × 50 m quadrats were used to study fire behavior in low and high fire-frequency areas. The fuel-load data were collected every month for a period of 1 year. The results indicated that in the two fire-frequency areas, the main fuel component in this forest type was litter (leaves). Fire consumed approximately 60–70% of the total fuel loads, and fuel recovery to the original level was predicted to take around 2 years. All the fire behavior features in the LFA and the HFA showed similar characteristics, and the fire type in both areas was defined as surface fire with low intensity, which usually occurs in deciduous forests of Thailand. The heat from the fire only affected the surface soil layer and did not cause any problems in deeper layers. Keywords Anthropogenic fire · Fuel dynamic · Tropical deciduous forest · Protected area
Introduction The fire season in Thailand and Southeast Asian countries usually occurs between December and April (Goldammer and Wanthongchai 2011), with the peak fire period occurring between February and March. The burned areas recorded annually from 1998 to 2015 were between 4 078.3 and 51 830.4 ha. The northern part of the country has the most fire incidents: around 64.16% of the total number nationwide (Akaakara 2015). Fire is commonly associated with * Chonthida Chernkhunthod [email protected] Yoshiyuki Hioki hioki@tottori‑u.ac.jp 1
The United Graduate School of Agricultural Science, Tottori University, Tottori 680‑8550, Japan
2
Department of National Parks, Wildlife and Plant Conservation, 61 Chatuchak, Bangkok 10900, Thailand
3
Faculty of Agriculture, Tottori University, Tottori 680‑8550, Japan
human activities in the tropics (Murphy and Lugo 1986), including in Thailand. Population growth and the expansion of agriculture have posed serious problems in forested areas; encroachment and illegal settlement are widespread problems, even in protected areas (Hafner and Apichatvullop 1990). Extensive human-caused fires occur in mixed deciduous forests at frequent intervals (Rundel and Boonprag
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