Abstract ID: 270

Mapping forest degradation by fire in eastern Amazon: implications for carbon emission

Understory fires represent one of the main sources of forest degradation in Eastern Amazon. Knowing the extent and location of recurrent forest fires is fundamental to determine the level of degradation of such forests, as well as their potential rates of recovery. In this study we investigate the historical contribution of subsequent fires in decreasing forest biomass, changing fire regime and increasing carbon emission. This work is based on the mapping of forest fire scars for consecutive Landsat scenes from the past 2 decades, chosen to include dry and wet years and to capture the influence of phenomena such as El Nino. Preliminary results indicate that about half of the standing forests in the study areas were burned in the past 20 years. These areas contain many examples of repeated burning which leads to both enhanced carbon emissions as well as reduced carbon accumulation due to the negative impact of recurrent fire on forest regrowth. In the future the mapped fire scars will be used to derive the set of conditions in which the fires occurred, generating a logistic function for each of the regions. These derived relationships will be used to (1) develop a predictive model to explain the spatial and temporal distribution of forest fires for other areas in the region that have similar drought patterns and vegetation structure; (2) indicate areas under high risk for future fires; and (3) simulate future fire scenarios.

Session:  Fire - Fire, drought, and changes in vegetation structure and composition

Presentation Type:  Oral