文章基本信息

标题：Tending for Cattle: Traditional Fire Management in Ethiopian Montane Heathlands
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作者：Maria U Johansson ; Masresha Fetene ; Anders Malmer 等
期刊名称：Ecology and Society
印刷版ISSN：1708-3087
电子版ISSN：1708-3087
出版年度：2012
卷号：17
期号：3
出版社：The Resilience Alliance
摘要：Fire has long been a principal tool for manipulating ecosystems, notably for pastoralist cultures, but in moderntimes, fire use has often been a source of conflicts with state bureaucracies. Despite this, traditional fire management practiceshave rarely been examined from a perspective of fire behavior and fire effects, which hampers dialogue on management options.In order to analyze the rationale for fire use, its practical handling, and ecological effects in high-elevation ericaceous heathlandsin Ethiopia, we used three different information sources: interviews with pastoralists, field observations of fires, and analysisof vegetation age structure at the landscape level. The interviews revealed three primary reasons for burning: increasing thegrazing value, controlling a toxic caterpillar, and reducing predator attacks. Informants were well aware of critical factorsgoverning fire behavior, such as slope, wind, vertical and horizontal fuel structure, and fuel moisture. Recent burns (1–4 yearssince fire) were used as firebreaks to control the size of individual burns, which resulted in a mosaic of vegetation of differentages. The age structure indicated an average fire return interval of ~10 years. At these elevations (> 3500 m), the dry period isunreliable, with occasional rains. Of all observed fires, 83% were ignited during very high Fire Weather Index levels, reachedduring only 11% of all days of the year. Burning is illegal, but if this ban was respected, our data suggest that the Erica shrubswould grow out of reach of cattle within a few years only, creating a dense and continuous canopy. This would also create arisk of large high-intensity wildfires since the landscape is virtually devoid of natural fuel breaks. Under the present managementregime, this heathland ecosystem should be quite resilient to degradation by fire due to a relatively slow fuel buildup (limitingfire intervals) and an effective regrowth of Erica shoots. Nevertheless, if burning is done during severe drought, there may bea risk of smoldering fires killing the lignotubers. Given the intimate knowledge of fire behavior and fire effects among thesepastoralists, it should be possible to develop a fire management plan that can sustain the present land use and ecosystem, andbe sanctioned by both authorities and the local community
关键词：anthropogenic fire; Erica arborea; Erica trimera; fire behavior; fire ecology; forage shrub systems; pastoralist;land use; traditional ecological knowledge