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Scientia Silvae Sinicae ›› 2015, Vol. 51 ›› Issue (3): 102-108.doi: 10.11707/j.1001-7488.20150313

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Fire Resistance of Leaves During Fire Prevention Period of Nine Common Tree Species in Karst Mountain Regions

Liang Qin1,2, Tao Jianping1, Deng Feng3, Wang Wei1,4, Fang Wen1,5, He Ping1   

  1. 1. Chongqing Key Laboratory of Plant Ecology and Resources Research for Three Gorges Reservoir Region Key Laboratory (Ministry of Education) of Eco-environments of Three Gorges Reservoir Region School of Life Sciences, Southwest University Chongqing 400715;
    2. School of Ecological Engineering, Guizhou University of Engineering Science Bijie 551700;
    3. School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Guizhou University of Engineering Science Bijie 551700;
    4. Department of Forest and Life Sciences, Chongqing University of Arts and Science Chongqing 402168;
    5. Chongqing Academy of Forestry Chongqing 400036
  • Received:2013-12-06 Revised:2014-05-22 Published:2015-04-10

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Abstract:

【Objective】 Guizhou province of China is one of the most typical karst regions in the world, at the same time, its fire disturbance is highly representative in the national forest fires. With the fragile karst environment plus severe forest fire disturbance, the fire prevention is particularly important and urgent in the Karst mountain regions of Guizhou province. Among the many fire prevention measures, the biological firebreak with its versatile, and long-term advantage, has attracted much attention of scholars and managers. The primary task of biological firebreak is to select the appropriate pyrophyte (the plants with good fire resistance). However, there is few study focus on the pyrophyte selection for karst mountain regions. On the other hand, with regard to pyrophyte selection, there is no uniform evaluation method up to now. It's necessary to select appropriate fire-resistant tree species which are also suitable for growing in karst mountain regions,【Method】we investigated 9 common tree species from karst mountain regions of northwest Guizhou. Based on the measurements of four leaf traits (benzene-alcohol extract content, ash content, ignition time and heat value) during fire prevention period, we used the Principal Component Analysis (PCA), combined with the Weighted-Technique for Order Preference by Similarity to an Ideal Solution (W-TOPSIS), to analyze the fire resistance. 【Result】The Viburnum foetidum var. ceanothoides' s and Castanea seguinii' s benzene-alcohol extractive content were 2.12 and 1.97 times higher than Murica nana' s; The ash content of M. nana'sand V. foetidum var. ceanothoides' were the highest, and Castanea seguinii's, Vaccinium pseudorobustum's and Ligustrum quihoui's were the lowest; The ignition time of L. quihoui, Castanea seguinii and Cotoneaster glaucophyllus var. glaucophyllus were the longest, and Puracantha fortuneana, Cunninghamia lanceolata and Rhododendron simsii were the shortest; The highest heat value were Castanea seguinii's, V. pseudorobustum's and Ligustrum quihoui's, followed by Cunninghamia lanceolata's, Cotoneaster glaucophyllus var. glaucophyllus's and Pyracantha fortuneana's, and Myrica nana's was the lowest; the indicator of greatest impact on fire resistance was ignition time, followed by extractive content, and then ash content, and, heat value was the smallest. The fire resistance order of the nine tree species was as follows: Myrica nana > Vaccinium pseudorobustum > Ligustrum quihoui > Cotoneaster glaucophyllus var. glaucophyllus > Castanea seguinii > Viburnum foetidum var. ceanothoides > Rhododendron simsii > Pyracantha fortuneana > Cunninghamia lanceolata. 【Conclusion】The result suggests that the integration of PCA and W-TOPSIS is suitable to assess the fire resistance of plants. The Myrica nana, Vaccinium pseudorobustum and Ligustrum quihoui are suitable to be planted in the study region as high fire-resistant tree species.

Key words: Karst mountain area, biological fire prevention, forest fire, combustibility, fire resistance

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