Estimativa da flamabilidade da vegetação com base em fitofisionomias e fatores climáticos

Abstract

Estimation of fire susceptibility is of great interest for the study of the dynamics of land cover
and management of conservation areas. Here, we applied relationships between atmospheric conditions and
fire risk observed at the Floresta Nacional de Lorena (Lorena National Forest), in the Brazilian state of São
Paulo, to estimate the degree of susceptibility to fire for three main vegetation classes (low, medium and high
biomass density) in a study region that covers portions of the Brazilian states of Minas Gerais, Rio de Janeiro
and São Paulo, and includes federal parks and other areas with conservational interests. The application
of this method resulted in monthly maps of susceptibility to fire, for the years 2011 and 2012, based on
precipitation, relative humidity and air temperature. The results show increase of fire susceptibility from June
to November in 2011, and from August to November in 2012, in line with dry conditions, and satellite fire
detections for these periods. We believe that the method and results presented have important implications
for the management of the conservation areas in the study region. Fire control in these areas is important,
and methods that help to monitor its risk, developed with information from these specific areas and that are
easy to apply are of great importance.