Crown fuel characteristics and fuel load estimates in young calabrian pine (Pinus brutia ten.) stands in Northwestern Turkey

Abstract

Crown structure and fuel loading are important fuel characteristics affecting crown fire occurrence and behavior. This paper reports on the crown fuel characteristics and regression models to determine crown fuel load of young Calabrian pine (Pinus brutia Ten.) trees. Crown bulk density (CBD), crown base height (CBH) and basal area (BA) were 0.212 kg m-3, 4.5 m and 24.18 m2 ha-1, respectively. Average crown fuel load (CFL) was 1.51 kg m-2. The proportion of needle and available fuel (needle+fine branches) were 19.1 and 48.2 percent, respectively. Also, regression equations were developed for predicting needle, branch and total biomass of Calabrian pine trees. Equations were based on the data from 35 destructively sampled Calabrian pine trees. The relationships between needle and branch biomass and tree properties were determined by linear regression, considering tree properties as the independent and needle, branch and total biomass as the dependent variables. Diameter at breast height (DBH), crown length (CL) and crown width (CW) were the most significant independent variables for crown fuel biomass. The resulting equations were able to account for 58-80% of the observed variation in total biomass. The results of this study will not only contribute to the prediction of fire behavior, but it will surely be of invaluable use in other forestry disciplines.