Estimation of the Fuel Load Present in the El Hacha Sector of the Guanacaste National Park, Costa Rica

 

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores: Yarenis Chavarría-Valverde, Javier Rodríguez Yáñez
Formato: artículo original
Estado:Versión publicada
Fecha de Publicación:2022
Descripción:The Guanacaste Conservation Area (GCA) in Costa Rica, has a sector called El Hacha, where certain spots are vulnerable to forest fires, mainly due to anthropogenic causes. These sites present a savannah ecosystem, where two work areas were selected for the purpose of this research: one affected and the other unaffected by fire. The predominant tree vegetation in these areas is the nance (Byrsonima crassifolia) with a total of 22 individuals and raspaguacal (Curatella americana) with 131 individuals, while the rest corresponds to herbaceous graminoids (HG). The HG reach a degree of coverage of 95, 4 % in the unburned site, while in the burned site, bare soil predominates by 79,0 %. Regarding physicochemical properties, it is observed that the highest calorific value is possessed by raspaguacal with 17, 2 ± 0, 6 KJ g-1, followed by nance and HG. In contrast, the HG have the greatest capacity to lose moisture. They spread the flames at a lower speed, both horizontally and vertically, but for a longer period and with a low level of opacity, compared to the tree components. The estimated fuel load of both sites corresponds to  9149 MJ m-2 in the unaffected site and 1650 MJ m-2 in the site affected by the fire, being HG the greatest fire contribution factor in the El Hacha sector.
País:Portal de Revistas UNED
Institución:Universidad Estatal a Distancia
Repositorio:Portal de Revistas UNED
Lenguaje:Español
OAI Identifier:oai:revistas.investiga.uned.ac.cr:article/4289
Acceso en línea:https://revistas.uned.ac.cr/index.php/biocenosis/article/view/4289
Palabra clave:fuel load
forest fires
savannas
vegetation
density
physicochemical properties
carga de combustible
incendios forestales
sabanas
vegetación
densidad
propiedades fisicoquímicas