Centre for Environmental and Marine Studies (CESAM), Department of Environment and Planning, University of Aveiro, 3810-193, Aveiro, Portugal.
European Commission, Joint Research Centre (JRC), Ispra, Italy.
Sci Rep. 2022 Feb 21;12(1):2945. doi: 10.1038/s41598-022-07066-x.
Wildfires are a recurrent and increasing threat in mainland Portugal, where over 4.5 million hectares of forests and scrublands have burned over the last 38 years. These fire-affected landscapes have suffered an intensification of soil erosion processes, which can negatively affect soil carbon storage, reduce fertility and forest productivity, and can become a source of pollutants. The main objective of the present study is to produce a post-fire soil erosion risk map for the forest and shrubland areas in mainland Portugal and assess its reliability. To this end, the semi-empirical Morgan-Morgan-Finney erosion model was used to assess the potential post-fire soil erosion according to distinct burn severity and climate scenarios, and the accuracy of the predictions was verified by an uncertainty analysis and validated against independent field datasets. The proposed approach successfully allowed mapping post-fire soil erosion in Portugal and identified the areas with higher post-fire erosion risk for past and future climate extremes. The outcomes of this study comprise a set of tools to help forest managers in their decision-making for post-fire emergency stabilization, ensuring the adequate selection of areas for mitigation to minimize the economic and environmental losses caused by fire-enhanced soil erosion.
野火是葡萄牙大陆反复出现且日益严重的威胁，在过去的 38 年中，超过 450 万公顷的森林和灌木丛被烧毁。这些受火灾影响的景观遭受了土壤侵蚀过程的加剧，这可能会对土壤碳储存产生负面影响，降低肥力和森林生产力，并可能成为污染物的来源。本研究的主要目的是为葡萄牙大陆的森林和灌木地区制作火灾后土壤侵蚀风险图，并评估其可靠性。为此，使用半经验 Morgan-Morgan-Finney 侵蚀模型来根据不同的燃烧严重程度和气候情景评估潜在的火灾后土壤侵蚀，通过不确定性分析验证预测的准确性，并与独立的实地数据集进行验证。该方法成功地实现了葡萄牙火灾后土壤侵蚀的制图，并确定了过去和未来极端气候条件下具有较高火灾后侵蚀风险的区域。本研究的结果包括一套工具，可帮助森林管理者在火灾后紧急稳定化方面做出决策，确保选择适当的缓解区域，以尽量减少火灾增强土壤侵蚀造成的经济和环境损失。
