Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
Forest i res, both wild and deliberately set, have been one of the most important factors in
changing the global stocks of phytomass. This Envirosat image shows plumes of massive
forest and peat i res in central Russia east of Moscow during the unusually dry summer of
2010. A high-resolution image can be downloaded at http://esamultimedia.esa.int/images/
EarthObservation/images_of_the_week/forest_fires_MoscowMER_FR_20100729
_43977.jpg. Photograph courtesy of European Space Agency, Paris.
set i res, and hence the results of burning varied from a fairly complete combustion
to an only partially burned forest. Intensive i res burning moderately dense growth
of generally young trees consumed more than 80% of all standing aboveground
phytomass and left behind a relatively level surface (covered by ash, a concentrated
source of mineral nutrients to support the newly planted crops) that could be pre-
pared for planting by hoeing or even by using draft animals. In contrast, i res that
swept rapidly through a mature growth would obliterate the understory plants and
smaller trees but leave some large trunks nearly intact, or heavily seared but still
standing.
The resulting rough surface with large stumps and charred logs could be culti-
vated only by hoeing and irregular planting, mostly of tuber crops. These realities
make it very difi cult to partition phytomass carbon lost in forest i res, particularly
