Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of contributors
- Foreword
- Preface
- Acknowledgements
- Part I General perspectives
- Part II Regional floristic and animal diversity
- Part III Hydrometeorology of tropical montane cloud forest
- Part IV Nutrient dynamics in tropical montane cloud forests
- Part V Cloud forest water use, photosynthesis, and effects of forest conversion
- Part VI Effects of climate variability and climate change
- 54 Meso-scale climate change due to lowland deforestation in the maritime tropics
- 55 The impact of deforestation on orographic cloud formation in a complex tropical environment
- 56 Meso-scale climate change in the central mountain region of Veracruz State, Mexico
- 57 Potential effects of global climate change on epiphytes in a tropical montane cloud forest: an experimental study from Monteverde, Costa Rica
- 58 Climatic change impacts on tropical montane cloud forests: fire as a major determinant in the upper zones of Mount Kilimanjaro, Tanzania
- 59 Historical 14C evidence of fire in tropical montane cloud forests in the Chimalapas region of Oaxaca, southern Mexico
- 60 Biennial variation in tree diameter growth during eight years in tropical montane cloud forests on Mount Kinabalu, Sabah, Malaysia
- 61 Modeling the dynamics of tropical montane cloud forest in central Veracruz, Mexico
- Part VII Cloud forest conservation, restoration, and management issues
- References
59 - Historical 14C evidence of fire in tropical montane cloud forests in the Chimalapas region of Oaxaca, southern Mexico
from Part VI - Effects of climate variability and climate change
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 03 May 2011
Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of contributors
- Foreword
- Preface
- Acknowledgements
- Part I General perspectives
- Part II Regional floristic and animal diversity
- Part III Hydrometeorology of tropical montane cloud forest
- Part IV Nutrient dynamics in tropical montane cloud forests
- Part V Cloud forest water use, photosynthesis, and effects of forest conversion
- Part VI Effects of climate variability and climate change
- 54 Meso-scale climate change due to lowland deforestation in the maritime tropics
- 55 The impact of deforestation on orographic cloud formation in a complex tropical environment
- 56 Meso-scale climate change in the central mountain region of Veracruz State, Mexico
- 57 Potential effects of global climate change on epiphytes in a tropical montane cloud forest: an experimental study from Monteverde, Costa Rica
- 58 Climatic change impacts on tropical montane cloud forests: fire as a major determinant in the upper zones of Mount Kilimanjaro, Tanzania
- 59 Historical 14C evidence of fire in tropical montane cloud forests in the Chimalapas region of Oaxaca, southern Mexico
- 60 Biennial variation in tree diameter growth during eight years in tropical montane cloud forests on Mount Kinabalu, Sabah, Malaysia
- 61 Modeling the dynamics of tropical montane cloud forest in central Veracruz, Mexico
- Part VII Cloud forest conservation, restoration, and management issues
- References
Summary
ABSTRACT
Tropical montane cloud forests (TMCF) in the Chimalapas region of Oaxaca, Southern Mexico were subjected to large-scale fires during the El Niño events of 1997/98. This raised the question as to whether fire occurrence in this type of forest is cyclic. Charcoal fragments were collected for 14C dating throughout mineral soil profiles down to 50 cm depth at two sites with contrasting geology. Three distinct clusters of fires were found, the first dating from 2350–1900 yr BP, the second from 960–670 yr BP, and the third from 670–470 yr BP. These new data suggest that there have been fires in these TMCF in the past, but at very long time intervals. The identified clusters of enhanced fire activity in the Chimalapas correlate with other paleo-climatic data from Central America and the Caribbean, suggesting periods when the climate was distinctly drier throughout the region. The clustering of fire occurrence at certain times indicates an enhanced risk of repeated fires in secondary TMCF, as has been found for other humid tropical forests.
INTRODUCTION
Sanford et al. (1985) suggested that the fire ecology of tropical rain forests should be considered in both historic and present-day contexts. During the last decades a number of severe large-scale fires have occurred throughout the humid tropical forest domain – usually related to changes in vegetation (fuel and moisture preservation) – and these fires have rendered also shorter droughts critical (Goldammer, 2007). Major El Niño/Southern Oscillation (ENSO) events accompanied by extreme droughts, e.g. in 1982/83 in South-East Asia (Leighton and Wirawan, 1986) and in 1997/98 also in Amazonia and Central America (Malhi and Wright, 2005), have exercerbated fire activity.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- Tropical Montane Cloud ForestsScience for Conservation and Management, pp. 575 - 578Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2011
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