@InProceedings{AlvaradoSanCarGieSan:2004:LaFrFi,
author = "Alvarado, Ernesto. and Sandberg, David V. and Carvalho
J{\'u}nior, Jo{\~a}o Andrade de and Gielow, Ralf and Santos,
Jos{\'e} Carlos dos",
affiliation = "{Instituto Nacional de Pesquisas Espaciais.} and {University of
Washington.} and {US Forest Service.} and Faculdade de Engenharia
de Guaratinguet{\'a}, Universidade Estadual Paulista.",
title = "Landscape fragmentation and fire vulnerability in primary forest
adjacent to recent land clearings in the Amazon arc of
deforestation",
booktitle = "Anais...",
year = "2004",
editor = "Soares, Ronaldo Viana. and Batista, Antonio Carlos. and Nunes,
Jos{\'e} Renato Soares",
organization = "Simp{\'o}sio Sul-Americano Sobre Controle de Inc{\^e}ndios
Florestais, 3.",
publisher = "UFPR",
keywords = "COMBUST{\~A}O, queimada, microclima, forests, fires,
fragmentation, microclimatology, Amazon region (South America).",
abstract = "Tropical forests throughout the world are disappearing or
deteriorating to a very rapid pace. Among the most significant
causes is the change in land use by the conversion of land use to
agriculture, pasture, or urbanization. Selective logging and
natural factors also account for a large portion of tropical
forest loss. Although there are large efforts by national and
international governments and agencies to curtail the rapid loss
of such forests, there is a disturbing increasing trend of loss of
tropical forest resources. There are apparent successes in
government programs, but gains seem only temporary. For instance,
massive deforestation occurred in the Brazilian Amazon forest
during the 1970s and 1980s. It does continue but slowed down on
the 1990s due to Brazils government policies. However, recent
assessments show that it is on the increase again and now with
different spatial patterns than before (Skole and Tucker 1993,
INPE 2002, INPE 2003, Laurance et al. 2001). Occurrence of
catastrophic wildfires in the last few decades in different parts
of the world has raised awareness of devastating local and
regional effects and the potential impact across international
borders. In addition, a steady increase of wildfire risk has been
detected in the last couple of decades in temperate and tropical
ecosystems. Noticeably, uncontrollable wildfires in the tropics
have increased in number and extent at rates higher than temperate
forests. Ordinarily, undisturbed tropical rain forest is
considered a fireproof ecosystem, however, severe fires occur
during sustained droughts when the ecosystem is dry enough to
sustain smoldering combustion, or when the canopy is disturbed by
natural events or human activities. Those climate and forest
conditions are concurring more often in the tropical world. The
1998/99 wildfire seasons in Mexico, Central America,
Amaz{\^o}nia, and several other countries across the world
signaled how vulnerable tropical ecosystems are becoming to
wildfires and that the immediate effects can be felt across
borders. The tropical southern Mexico and the state of Roraima in
the northern Brazilian Amazon were heavily impacted during that
wildfire season (Cairns and others 1998; Kirchhoff and Escada
1998). Extensive damage has also been observed in several parts of
the Amazonian forest. These severe and extensive wildfires are a
threat to the ecological integrity, biodiversity and
sustainability of tropical forests. Those severe fire seasons also
have shown that some land use/land cover types are more vulnerable
than other types and that generalizations cannot be made in terms
of flammability or carbon emissions from tropical ecosystems. An
increasing amount of fire usage, coupled with large areas of
forest vulnerable to fire, creates a new threat to the integrity
and sustainability of the tropical forests in Amazonia and
elsewhere in the tropical world. Forest wildfires that start form
from escaped agriculture and rangeland fires are becoming more
common throughout the tropical world. Fire has been observed to
spread under the canopy for long distances and smolder for long
periods on rotten trunks where it can remain active for long
periods. Those accidental fires cause approximately onehalf of the
area burned in the Amazon forest of Brazil, and are often
associated fires that start in adjacent areas cleared for
agriculture or transportation corridors (Nepstad and others 1999,
Uhl and Kauffman 1990).",
conference-location = "Curitiba",
conference-year = "14-17 jun. 2004",
copyholder = "SID/SCD",
language = "en",
targetfile = "67216.pdf",
urlaccessdate = "03 jun. 2024"
}