Abstract

BONILLA PADILLA, Eunice et al. Fuel dynamics in oak-pine stands of Chignahuapan, Puebla. Rev. mex. de cienc. forestales [online]. 2013, vol.4, n.19, pp.21-33. ISSN 2007-1132.

Often, fuel forest inventories are made, but studies of their dynamics are very scarce. Therefore a study was made about the load of this material and its fine fuel dynamics in an oak-pine forest Chignahuapan, Puebla State. Two conditions were considered: a burned forest a year before data were collected and an adjacent forest recently unburned. A random cluster sampling was performed to estimate the load of all types of surface forest fuels. Woody materials were sampled with intersections planar technique, the remaining fuel was harvested and dried to estimate load. Multivariate statistical methods, univariate t test normality test, with the help of SAS and R programs were applied. Results indicate that the average total load on the burned area was 7.099 ± 1.78 t ha^-1, while that of the unburned area was 31.726 ± 11.93 t ha^-1. In the first one, woodfuel with delay time (TR) of 100 h were the most abundant, while in the second the largest proportion of the load was for rotten wood fuels with TR of 1 000 h. The decomposition rate of fine fuels was k= 0383 for the unburned area, and k= 0.532 in the burned area. The estimated payback period was 2.68 years and 1.98 years, respectively, reflecting an effect of treatment (P = 0.0016).

Keywords : Organic matter decomposition; dynamics of forest fuels; fire ecology; forest fires; Quercus crassifolia Humb.; decomposition rate.

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