%0 Articles %T Fires in Mediterranean forests: patterns of occurrence, transitions and impact %A Peris-Llopis, Marina %D 2025 %J Dissertationes Forestales %V 2025 %N 369 %R doi:10.14214/df.369 %U http://dissertationesforestales.fi/article/25007 %X

Wildfires are disturbances affecting forests significantly, especially in Mediterranean landscapes. Traditional forest management and planning attends to targets that might not align with fire prevention and adaptation strategies that promote forest resistance and resilience. This thesis presents tools to integrate fire prevention and adaptation into strategic forest planning given the increasing impacts caused by wildfires, aiming to reduce and prevent their negative effects on forest systems. The first study delves into the size-related differences of the drivers behind fire occurrence in Mediterranean landscapes, producing recommendations on what prevention strategies to adopt on areas with varying probabilities of being burnt by small, medium or large fire events. The second study focuses on mapping and assessing fire recurrence probability and investigates the factors influencing reburnt areas, analysing the role of post-fire vegetation and timing of the first fire. The last study examines post-fire mortality patterns in pure and mixed forest stands, focusing on different species combinations, their mixture levels and the role of fire-related traits and strategies on fire resistance of Spanish forests. The developed methodologies revolve around the integration of modelling and ecological approaches, while making use of spatial tools for fire risk assessment. A step-by-step approach to evaluate fire risk is presented throughout the studies, based on the calculation of burnt area probabilities and the posterior estimation of damage caused by fire in fire-prone forests. The chosen modelling variables and drivers of occurrence, recurrence and damage in the studies are instrumental for the consideration of fire risk in strategic forest planning. The produced models and findings provide the necessary assessments to establish guidelines for future fire prevention and adaptation strategies.