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H. Moutahir et al. 2010. Application of remote sensing to assess wildfire impact
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Application of remote sensing to assess the wildfire impact on the
natural vegetation recovery and landscape structure in the
Mediterranean forest of South eastern Spain
H. Moutahir 1* , J.F. Bellot 1 , A.Bonet 1 , M.J. Baeza 2 & I. Touhami 1
1 Departamento de Ecología, Universidad de Alicante, Ap. 99, 03080 Alicante, Spain
2 Fundación CEAM, Parque Tecnológico Paterna, C/Charles Darwin 14, 46980
Valencia, Spain
Abstract
Forest fires in the Mediterranean zone cause major disturbances in landscape structure
especially in the wooded stratum, since the recovery of the initial state of the natural vegetation
is a complex and very slow process. This process, depending on many factors, passes through
several stages leading to changes in the landscape structure through time. In this research,
several Landsat TM and ETM+ images were used to assess the impact of wild fire in the
Mediterranean forests of south eastern Spain over the past 25 years. The use of the Normalized
Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) for mapping the burnt zones and indicators of landscape
heterogeneity allowed us to analyze the degree of landscape change in these forests caused by
the fires. In the majority of the observed zones the natural vegetation did not completely recover
over this time period. The alteration in landscape structure and its floristic composition depends
on the type of vegetation and its maturity before the fire, topography, microclimates, the climate
general, and finally, land use and management.
Keywords: Forest fire, Vegetation recovery, Landscape structure, Remote sensing, NDVI
1. Introduction
Situated on the Mediterranean coast in the South East of Spain, The Valencian Community is
one of the most affected areas by the wildfires. In 1994 a total of 138404 ha of wooded and non
wooded area were burnt which represents a third of the burnt area in Spain. Due to their
magnitude wildfires are considered one of the most important driving forces determining the
current forest landscape in the Mediterranean basin (Naveh 1994) and several authors speak
about a homogenization of the landscape after fires. These fires affect landscape patterns which
can affect the ecological processes (Turner, 1989).
The satellite images thanks to their spatial and temporal resolution allow the assessment of
wildfires impact on the landscape. In this way we carry out this research using a several Landsat
TM and ETM+ images of a burnt area in the South East of the Valencian Community.
* Corresponding author. Tel.: +34 644474238 - Fax: +34 965909832
Email address: hassane_moutahir@yahoo.fr
Forest Landscapes and Global Change-New Frontiers in Management, Conservation and Restoration. Proceedings of the IUFRO Landscape Ecology
Working Group International Conference, September 21-27, 2010, Bragança, Portugal. J.C. Azevedo, M. Feliciano, J. Castro & M.A. Pinto (eds.)
2010, Instituto Politécnico de Bragança, Bragança, Portugal.