Investigation on wood resistance of different tree species to fire at Caspian Forests of Iran

Document Type : Research article

Author

M.Sc. student, Dept. of Forest Engineering, Sari Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources University

Abstract

Wood resistance of forest species to fire has effective role in preventing forest fire development and expansion. Thus, the aim of this research was to study the tree species wood resistance to fire and to measure the time needed for complete wood burning, considering the wood’s moisture and bark. The trial was conducted under the Completely Randomized Experimental Design with six replicates, 10 forest species (Carpinus betulus, Alnus glutinosa, Parrotia persica, Fagus orientalis,  Pterocarya fraxinifolia, Acer cappadocicum, Acer velutinum, Cupresus sempervirence var horizontalis, Quercus castaneifolia and Zelkova carpinifolia), two levels of wood moisture (dry and wet or natural moisture) and two barked and bark free treatments. The woods were burnt at 400°C and the time needed for complete burning was measured by a chronometer. The results showed that the resistance of wet woods to complete burning was 2.3 (Quercus castaenifolia) to 2.9 (Parrotia persica) times more than the dry woods. Carpinus betulus and Parrotia persica had the greatest and the lowest resistance to complete burning, respectively. Moreover, the resistance of Fagus orientalis, Acer cappadocicum, Acer velutinum and Zelkova carpinifolia to complete burning increased, respectively. Bark increased the resistance of some species to complete burning, for instance the time difference for complete burning of wet and dry woods of Fagus orientalis, Cupressus sempervirens var. horizontalis, Acer cappadocicum, Acer velutinum and Zelkova carpinifolia was 46, 82, 110, 116 and 169 seconds, respectively. Although Alnus glutinosa and Pterocarya fraxinifolia had high capacity to establish in sites with poor drainage, but they had a very low resistance to fire. Therefore, it is recommended to plant Fagus orientalis, Acer cappadocicum, Acer velutinum, Parrotia persica and Zelkova carpinifolia as an alive firebreak in areas with high fire risks (naturally and human related reasons), for instance near forest roads and tourism centers, for their capacity to prevent fire development and expansion.

Keywords

References

- Bakhshi, R., Khademi, R. and Parsapajouh, D., 2005. Effect of sea level variation on wood physical and mechanical properties of Cupressus Sempervirens in Noushahr region. Journal of Agricultural Sciences, 11(2): 205-216.
- Bender, W., 1999. Wood Handbook: wood as an engineering material. Madison, WI, USDA Forest Service, Forest Products Laboratory, General Technical Report FPL; GTR-113: Pages 3.1-3.24.
- Demir, M., Küçükosmanolu, A., Hasdemir, M. and Acar, H.H., 2009. Assessment of Forest Roads and Firebreaks in Turkey. African Journal of Biotechnology, 8(18): 4553-4561.
- Dubey, Y.M., Jain, J.D. and Gupta, S., 1999. Studies on thermal conductivity of some Indian hardwoods. Journal of the Timber Development Association of India, 45(1-2): 33-38.
- Ellis, P.F.M., 2011. Fuelbed ignition potential and bark morphology explain the notoriety of the eucalypt messmate ‘stringybark’ for intense spotting. International Journal of Wildland Fire, 20(7): 897-907.
- Godinho-Ferreira, P., Azevedo, A., Vaz, P. and Rego, F., 2006. Composition, configuration and vertical structure of Portuguese forests: implications in wildfire probability. V International Conference on Forest Fire Research, 27-30 november 2006 Figueira da Foz, Portugal
- Ferguson, S.A., Ruthford, J., Rorig, M. and Sand-berg, D.V., 2003. Measuring moss moisture dynamics to predict fire severity. in: Galley, K.E.M., Klinger, R.C. and Sugihara, N.G., (Eds.). Proc. of Fire Conference 2000: the First National Congress on Fire Ecology, Prevention, and Management. Misc Pub., No. 13, Tall Timbers Research Station, Tallahassee, FL: 211-217
- Hoiz, D., 1966. Improving hornbeam wood by impregnation with synthetic resin. hoiztechonl., Dresden, 7(3): 197-200.
- Jandt, R., Allen, J. and Horschel, E., 2005. Forest Floor Moisture Content a Fire Danger Indices in Alaska. Alaska Technical Report 54, 40 p.
- Khansari, R., 2010. Physical and mechanical properties of wood. A pamphlet of Some'esara technical college, 34 p.
- Mohadjer, M.R., 2007. Silviculture, University of Tehran, No 2709, 387 p.
- Moreira, F., Duarte, I., Catry, F. and Acácio, V., 2007. Cork extraction as a key factor determining postfire cork oak survival in a mountain region of southern Portugal. Forest Ecology and Management, 253(1-3): 30-37.
- Nasiri, M., Sorkhi, A. and Hojjati, S.M., 2011. Determining high risk zone of surface fire using the GIS. 1st International Conference on Wildfires in Natural Resources lands, 26-28 October, Gorgan, Iran, 9 p.
- Nasiri, M., 2012. Skidding routes simulation for opening access to high-risk fire areas. World Applied Sciences Journal, 16(6): 791-798.
- Nalder, I.A., Wein, R.W., Martin, E.A. and Groot, W.J., 1997. Physical properties of dead and downed round-wood fuels in the boreal forests of Alberta and Northwest Territories. Can. J. For. Res., 27: 1513-1517.
- Palandzhyan, V.A. and Pinadzhyan, TV., 1974. Interrelations between some anatomical and physical and mechanical properties of Hornbeam wood. Sb. Tr. Arm. Nll stroit. Materialov I sooruzh, 23: 122-131.
- Parsakhoo, A., Jalilvand, H. and Sheikhi, M., 2009. Alnus subcordata cambium cells dynamics along transport corridors in Hyrcanian forests. American Journal of Applied science, 6(6): 1186-1190.
- Pausas, J.G., 1997. Resprouting of Quercus suber in NE Spain after fire. Journal of Vegetation Science, 8: 703-706.
- Sakulich, J. and Taylor, A.H., 2007. Fire regimes and forest structure in a sky island mixed conifer forest, Guadalupe Mountains National Park, Texas, USA. For. Ecol. Manage., 241(1-3): 62-73.
- Teste, F.P. and Lieffers, V.J., 2011. Snow damage in lodgepole pine stands brought into thinning and fertilization regimes. Forest Ecology and Management, 26(11): 2096-2104.
- Turekova, I., Harangozo, J. and Martinka., J., 2011. Influence of retardants to burning lignocellulosic materials, Journal of Fires Sciences, 17: 355-361.
- Valendik, E. and Vekshin, V., 2005. Basics of fire management in Eurasia. International Forest Fire News, 32: 62-63.
- Wan, S., Hui, D. and Luo, Y., 2001. Fire effects on nitrogen pools and dynamics in terrestrial ecosystems: a meta-analysis. Ecol. Appl., 11: 1349-1365.
- Wright, H.E. and Heinselman, M.L., 1973. The ecological role of fire in natural conifer forests of western north America, introduction. Quart. Res. NY., 3: 319-328.
- Yang, Q., 2001. Theoretical expressions of thermal conductivity of wood. Journal of Forestry Research, 12(1): 43-46.
Iranian Journal of Forest and Poplar Research
Volume 20, Issue 3 - Serial Number 49
September 2012
Pages 513-505

Files

Share

How to cite

Statistics