Characterization of Forest Fires to Support Monitoring and Management of Mount Kenya Forest

Mountain Research and Development

article

Claudio Poletti¹  Gergo Dioszegi²  Kevin Wafula Nyongesa¹  Harald Vacik¹  Marco Barbujani⁴  John Ngugi Kigomo⁵ 

[1] Institute of Silviculture, University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences;Institute of Surveying, Remote Sensing and Land Information ,(IVFL), University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences;Egerton University;Independent Researcher. 5 Via Nobile;Kenya Forestry Research Institute

关键词: Fire regime;    remote sensing;    Moderate ResolutionImaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS);    burned area;    vegetation;    firemanagement;    Africa.;   

DOI  :  10.1659/MRD-JOURNAL-D-18-00104.1

来源: BioOne

【 摘 要 】

Historical analysis of wildfirefrequency, intensity, size,season, and type helps todetermine the fire regime andthe impacts of human activityin a region. Information aboutthe temporal and spatialdistribution of forest fires canhelp guide the formulation ofintegrated fire managementpolicies. Mt Kenya Forest provides ecosystem services that sustainthe livelihoods of local communities. However, forest fires havenegatively affected sustainability of these services. This studydescribes recent fire patterns in the Mt Kenya forest. Fieldobservations recorded by the Kenya Forest Service from 1980 to2015 are analyzed. In addition, trends in fire occurrence over timeand in relation to vegetation type are described. Key findingsevidence a fire-prone period in February and March and adecrease of total burned area during the study period. Bush andgrassland were the most fire-prone vegetation, and the fire regimevaried in each forest station. Further, field observations werecompared with satellite data. Some discrepancies between thefield and satellite fire data were observed, especially for largerfires. These findings confirm the importance of monitoring effortsby the Kenya Forest Service to inform wildfire management.Recommendations are made on ways to improve fire monitoringand fire suppression efforts.

【 授权许可】

CC BY