Prescribed Fire in Industrial Pine Plantations

Abstract

Industrial plantations of non-indigenous tree species (exotics) can be defined as even-aged stands established outside of their natural habitat. These plantations playa vital economic role in the developing countries of the tropics and subtropics. The ecological benefits of afforestation, however, go farbeyond local and regional considerations: the increase inatmospheric CO2 and its expected negative influence on the global climate may partially be averted through large-scale afforestation with fast-growing species (Maryland 1988). The take-up of carbon in woody matter could potentially balance the .discharge of CO2 from fossil fuel burning and from the vast amount of uncontrolled forest destruction and biomass burning in the tropical and subtropical biota. Although prescribed burning is itself an emission source of CO2, its main function in plantation management is to increase stability and to protect against destructive wildfires, which are a much larger source. The same is true for particulate matter emissions. Thus, although at first glance it may seem contradictory, prescribed burning is indeed an important link in global fire ecology.