The effect of ecological factors on fire in Hyrcanian forests (Case study: forest areas of Neka, Mazandaran, Iran)

In 2005, there were 54 extremely large fires in the forests of Neka, Mazandaran province. This study was carried out to evaluate the effect of physiographic conditions and ecological factors on fire intensity of the above mentioned areas. For this purpose, 19 fire fires were selected from the above mentioned fires with a total area of 250 to 25000 square meters. Quantitative and qualitative data of all trees in each of the selected fire spots including tree diameter at breast height, trunk quality, crown health and the frequency of trees were investigated separately in different spots. The univariate analysis of variance showed that tree type has a significant effect on the extent of fire in the forest. The largest spots of fire were belonged to vegetative types of Hornbeam – Persian parrotia and hornbeam - oak. The CCA and DCA analysis groups hornbeam- hazel and hornbeam- oak forests in one group, beech - hornbeam in the second group and other forest types in the third group. In general, the types of oak-elm zelkova and beech-hornbeam have burned more frequently than other vegetation types during the period. In addition to the tree type, other environmental factors affecting the extent of the fire in these areas were included annual precipitation, annual average temperature and altitude.