Buryak L. V., Kukavskaya Е. А., Кalenskaya О. P., Malykh O. F., Baksheeva Е. О. Effects of Forest Fires in Southern and Central Regions of Zabaykalsky Krai
1 M. F. Reshetnev Siberian State Aerospace University – Institute of Forest Technologies
Prospekt Mira, 82, Krasnoyarsk, 660049 Russian Federation
2 V. N. Sukachev Institute of Forest, Russian Academy of Sciences, Siberian Branch
Federal Research Center Krasnoyarsk Scientific Center, Russian Academy of Sciences, Siberian Branch
Akademgorodok, 50/28, Krasnoyarsk, 660036 Russian Federation
3 Institute of Natural Resources, Ecology and Cryology, Russian Academy of Sciences, Siberian Branch
Nedorezova str., 16а, Chita, Zabaykalsky Krai, 672014 Russian Federation
E-mail: lburak@mail.ru, kukavskaya@ksc.krasn.ru, 66forest@mail.ru, mas16o@yandex.ru,
Abstract
How to cite: Buryak L. V.1, Kukavskaya Е. А.2, Кalenskaya О. P.1, Malykh O. F.3, Baksheeva Е. О.1 Effects of forest fires in southern and central regions of Zabaykalsky krai // Sibirskij Lesnoj Zurnal (Siberian Journal of Forest Science). 2016. N. 6: 94–102 (in Russian with English abstract).
DOI: 10.15372/SJFS20160609
© Buryak L. V., Kukavskaya Е. А., Кalenskaya О. P., Malykh O. F., Baksheeva Е. О., 2016
The fire frequency situation in Zabaykalsky Krai from 1964 to 2015 is evaluated and discussed in the paper. Decadal increase of fire numbers and the area burned is revealed. The main reasons of high fire frequency and the increase of fire activity in the last decades are shown. The characteristics of the weather conditions in the years of high fire frequency are presented. Fire activity was found to increase not only because of the droughts in the last decades but also due to forest disturbances in ZabaykalskyKrai by illegal logging. Based on the data from 170 sample sites laid out with the use of satellite images, forest inventory data and results of ground sample transects, the impact of the wildfires of different type, form and intensity on tree mortality in the light-coniferous forests was estimated, as well as the amount of tree regeneration inthe forest areas disturbed by fires, logged sites (both burned and unburned), and sites burned repeatedly was evaluated. Wildfires in ZabaykalskyKrai were found to be strong ecological factor influencing on the probability of existence of many forest ecosystems. In case of further climate warming and repeated fires, the part of the forests may transform to the nonforest areas. The steppification of the burned sites in the southern forest-steppe regions and in the low parts of the southern slopes at the border with steppe landscapes as well as desertification in the central parts of the territory and swamping of burned sites located in the wet soils are observed. Wind and water soil erosion happens at the large burned sites.
