Post-fire ecological trends and support to forest fire simulation

This short presentation summarises the contribution of Università degli Studi di Padova, TESAF Department, to the activities of WP 3.4 in the second period of the Project. The topic of forest fires has been analysed both in terms of their effect on forest ecosystems, and in terms of data collection to realistically reconstruct a forest fire history. To answer the two research questions extensive field data sampling has been carried out in Spotorno (Savona, Italy) and Venafro (Isernia, Italy). In the first case, all forest regeneration individuals have been georeferenced in a burnt area to search for the ecological factors that drive forest expansion after fire; along with ancillary data collected on the ground (shrubs species and location), and data collected with UAVs by the partners (digital surface and terrain models), geospatial models have been trained to identify the most suitable micro-sites for post-fire forest regeneration establishment, obtaining satisfactory results. In the second case, field data were collected and shared with the other Partners to enhance the representation of a simulation scenario where three different pieces of software and 10 combinations of simulation parameters where contrasted to find pros and cons of each simulation model. The activities of UNIPD-TESAF fall within those carried out together, and by the other Working Package partners, with the aim of better understanding of the effects of forest fires on the ecosystems, and how simulators can be used to predict and reduce their negative effects.