Impacts of fire regime on black pine growth depend on management history and climate background
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 24234185 |
|---|---|
| Authors | J Julio Camarero (0000-0003-2436-2922), Álvaro Rubio-Cuadrado (0000-0001-5299-6063), Sara de Paula, Cristina Valeriano (0000-0001-7687-1417), Mercedes Guijarro, Iván Castellano, Javier Madrigal |
| Year | 2026 |
| Pages | 101532 |
| Publication date | 2026-10-01 |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Trees Forests and People (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 2666-7193 • E-ISSN: 2666-7193 |
| Publisher | Elsevier BV (PUBLISHER) |
| DOI | 10.1016/j.tfp.2026.101532 |
| OpenAlex | W7222344026 |
| Language | EN |
| References cited | 60 |
Nowadays, Mediterranean pine forests face different influences from socio-economic and climatic pressures than in the past. In the case of fire-resistant species to low intensity surface fires such as black pine ( Pinus nigra ), shifts in socio-economic tenure and use of its forests and climate warming caused very different fire regimes in the transition from the 19 th to the 20 th century, as compared with the recent fire-suppression epoch which started in the late 20 th century. We sampled six black pine forests located in eastern Spain, subjected to increasing aridification, to characterize their radial-growth responses to old (late 19 th century, early 20 th century) and recent (1980s, 2000s) fires. We also considered resin tapping as an additional historical disturbance influencing growth recovery after recent fires. We dated fires in 1748, 1820, 1875, 1893 and 1918. The 1893 fire, dated using tree-ring data and historical documents, impacted all trees in one of the old sites and occurred during a period with abrupt socio-ecological changes, including the privatization of Catholic Church and municipal common lands, and the subsequent use of fire for clearing woodlands. The 1893 spring was extremely warm, which could have contributed to fuel drying. In the 1980s fires, warm springs, and very dry summers characterized the climate conditions. In the two recent-fire tapped sites, formerly tapped trees had thicker stems, were older and grew more than non-tapped trees before the fire, but growth rates were similar after the 1986 fire. Growth was constrained by dry conditions in the previous autumn and in the current growing season, whereas low June precipitation reduced growth in the recent-fire tapped. Our reconstructions of past and recent fire regimes provide evidence to inform integrated management in an era when fire suppression may paradoxically contribute to high-intensity crown fires threatening less-adapted species such as black pine.
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| Highly cited | No |
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