Urbanization of Forest Fires: An Evaluation on Metropolitan Forest Fires in The Mediterranean Ecosystem

Abstract

The main purpose of the study is to examine the impact of drastic and proactive forest fire interventions, which are applied to avoid the risk of loss of life and property close to urban areas, on the continuity of plant species with fire-adapted characters and the potential to cause species loss. In this context, the basic assumption of the study is that the reduced frequency of fires caused by suppressed fires in natural areas in order to avoid the risk of forest fires that may affect residential areas, will lead to the reduction of various plant species that sustain their lives thanks to their fire-adaptive characters. As a qualitative data analysis method, the rates of urban and forest areas, the number of forest fires, the amount of burned area and plant species diversity data were used to deal with the study data with document analysis. In the selection of the 10 metropolitan cities that constitute the sample area of the study, the criteria of being in the Mediterranean ecosystem, containing plant species adapted to fire, and being metropolitan (where natural and built environment elements are intertwined) were taken as basis. The study will create an ecological perspective in fire prevention policies and strategies to be developed through the determination of plant species characteristics in large cities located in the fire-prone Mediterranean ecosystem.