Abstract

CERANO PAREDES, Julián; VILLANUEVA DIAZ, José  and  FULE, Peter Z.. Fire reconstruction and its relation to weather in the Cerro el Mohinora reserve, Chihuahua. Rev. mex. de cienc. forestales [online]. 2010, vol.1, n.1, pp.63-74. ISSN 2007-1132.

A history of fire regime was reconstructed from conifers at the Cerro Mohinora preserve in southwestern Chihuahua, Mexico. This preserve constitutes an important source of water for the Sinaloa state in the Pacific Coastal Plane; in addition, the area is habitat for the relict Mexican spruce (Picea Chihuahuana). Fire-scarred cross-sections were obtained from Pinus duranguensis, Pinus arizonica, and Pinus ayacahuite. A total of 277 fire scares were dated out of 73 cross-sections. The fire chronology extended from 1737 to 1999 and from 1902 to 1998 for the upper and lower watershed sections, respectively. The fire years of 1945, 1971, 1988, and 1995 were common for the whole watershed. Mean fire return intervals (MFI) considering all the fire-scarred samples ranged from 5.1 to 8.8 years; whereas the mean probability of fire occurrence (WMPI) had a range from 3.8 to 6.0 years. Over 80% of the fires were recorded in the spring season. The Superposed epoch analysis (SEA) revealed that fire years were significantly dry (p<0.01) and that previous years to the fire significantly wet (p<0.05), this relationship is significantly related to the ENSO influence in this part of the country.

Keywords : Conifer forest; dendrochronology; ENSO; climate variability; fire regime; climate reconstruction.

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