Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2015 Apr 24;10(4):e0124346.
doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0124346. eCollection 2015.

Factors controlling vegetation fires in protected and non-protected areas of myanmar

Sumalika Biswas  1 , Krishna Prasad Vadrevu  1 , Zin Mar Lwin  2 , Kristofer Lasko  1 , Christopher O Justice  1
Affiliations

Factors controlling vegetation fires in protected and non-protected areas of myanmar

Sumalika Biswas et al. PLoS One. .

Abstract

Fire is an important disturbance agent in Myanmar impacting several ecosystems. In this study, we quantify the factors impacting vegetation fires in protected and non-protected areas of Myanmar. Satellite datasets in conjunction with biophysical and anthropogenic factors were used in a spatial framework to map the causative factors of fires. Specifically, we used the frequency ratio method to assess the contribution of each causative factor to overall fire susceptibility at a 1km scale. Results suggested the mean fire density in non-protected areas was two times higher than the protected areas. Fire-land cover partition analysis suggested dominant fire occurrences in the savannas (protected areas) and woody savannas (non-protected areas). The five major fire causative factors in protected areas in descending order include population density, land cover, tree cover percent, travel time from nearest city and temperature. In contrast, the causative factors in non-protected areas were population density, tree cover percent, travel time from nearest city, temperature and elevation. The fire susceptibility analysis showed distinct spatial patterns with central Myanmar as a hot spot of vegetation fires. Results from propensity score matching suggested that forests within protected areas have 11% less fires than non-protected areas. Overall, our results identify important causative factors of fire useful to address broad scale fire risk concerns at a landscape scale in Myanmar.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

Competing Interests: "The authors have declared that no competing interests exist."

Figures

Fig 1
Fig 1. A map showing the protected areas in Myanmar with boundaries in dark green color.
MODIS land cover map is shown in the background.
Fig 2
Fig 2. Histograms of Frequency Ratios for each causative factors in protected and non-protected forests.
Fig 3
Fig 3. Spatial distribution of the frequency ratios (FR’s) for causative factors of fire in Myanmar.
Fig 4
Fig 4. Fire Susceptibility Map of Myanmar.
For a given pixel, the Fire Susceptibility was calculated by summing the individual frequency ratios for each causative factor.
Fig 5
Fig 5. Correlogram of covariates used in propensity matching analysis.
Blue indicates positive correlation and red negative correlation. Darker shades indicate stronger correlation.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Nepstad DC, Verssimo A, Alencar A, Nobre C, Lima E, Lefebvre P, et al. Large-scale impoverishment of Amazonian forests by logging and fire. Nature. 1999;398:505–508. 10.1038/19066 - DOI
    1. Lambin EF, Geist HJ, Lepers E. Dynamics of land-use and land-cover change in tropical regions. Annu Rev Environ Resour. 2003;28(1):205–241. 10.1146/annurev.energy.28.050302.105459 - DOI
    1. Cochrane M. Tropical fire ecology: climate change, land use and ecosystem dynamics. 1st ed Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg; 2009.
    1. DeFries R, Rudel T, Uriarte M, Hansen M. Deforestation driven by urban population growth and agricultural trade in the twenty-first century. Nat Geosci. 2010;3:178–181. 10.1038/ngeo756 - DOI
    1. Stolle F, Chomitz KM, Lambin EF, Tomich TP. Land use and vegetation fires in Jambi Province, Sumatra, Indonesia. For Ecol Manage. 2003;179:277–292. 10.1016/S0378-1127(02)00547-9 - DOI

Publication types

LinkOut - more resources