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Siberian Journal of Forest Science

2016 year, number 6

EFFECTS OF FOREST FIRES IN SOUTHERN AND CENTRAL AREAS OF THE ZABAYKAL REGION

L. V. Buryak1, E. A. Kukavskaya2, O. P. Kalenskaya1, O. F. Malykh3, E. O. Baksheeva1
1M. F. Reshetnev Siberian State Aerospace University, Prospekt Mira, 82, Krasnoyarsk, 660049 Russian Federation
2Federal Research Center Krasnoyarsk Scientific Center, Russian Academy of Sciences, Solitary Unit V. N. Sukachev Institute of Forest, Russian Academy of Sciences, Siberian Branch, Akademgorodok, 50/28, Krasnoyarsk, 660036 Russian Federation
3Institute of Natural Resources, Ecology and Cryology, Russian Academy of Sciences, Siberian Branch, Nedorezova str., 16а, Chita, 672014 Russian Federation
Keywords: горимость, сосновые и лиственничные насаждения, вид, форма и сила пожаров, отпад древостоев, лесовозобновление, fire frequency, Scots pine and larch forests, fire type, form and severity, tree mortality, forest regeneration

Abstract

The fire frequency situation in Zabaykal region from 1964 to 2015 is evaluated and discussed in the paper. The main reasons of decadal increase of fire numbers and the area burned are revealed. The main reasons of high fire frequency and the increase of fire activity in the last decades are shown. The characteristics of the weather conditions in the years of high fire frequency are presented. Fire activity was found to increase not only because of the droughts in the last decades but also due to forest disturbances in Zabaykalsky Krai by illegal logging. Based on the data from 170 sample sites laid out with the use of satellite images, forest inventory data and results of ground sample transects, the impact of the wildfires of different type, form and severity on tree mortality in the light-coniferous forests was estimated, as well as the amount of tree regeneration in the forest areas disturbed by fires, logged sites (both burned and unburned), and sites burned repeatedly was evaluated. Wildfires in the Zabaykal region were found to be strong ecological factor influencing on the probability of existence of many forest ecosystems. In case of further climate warming and repeated fires, the part of the forests may transform to the non forest areas. The steppification of the burned sites in the southern forest-steppe regions and in the low parts of the southern slopes at the border with steppe landscapes as well as desertification in the central parts of the region and swamping of burned sites located in the wet soils are observed. Wind and water soil erosion happens at the large burned sites.