Forest Fires and Sustainability in the Mediterranean Ecosystems

Increased fire pressure on forests and recent increase in human needs have lead to diverse outputs in forest ecosystem management strategies for the sake of sustainability of forests. Increase in CO2 releases and substantial greenhouse gases have created unexpected climatic events which are highly determinant on forest fires. The plant community composition tends to change its current distribution map and the terrains previously dominated with fire-susceptible species are transforming into a more ignitable plant composition. Concurrent conversion of plant community compartments is affecting the soil chemistry, biology, and water budget. The most common problems arising following fires are loss of organic matter by ignition, susceptibility to erosion, and evaporation of forms of C and N compounds. We hypothesized that fire as an important dominating factor in the Mediterranean ecosystems has lead to several changes: (I) adaptation of plant communities and dynamics has been fostered; (II) consecutive fires convert soil conditions which become less tolerant; (III) water-dependent competitions are more severe than earlier periods. As conclusion, the reactions of the ecosystem in total have become more vulnerable, more susceptible, within the shortened adaptation time.