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Fire and Water Yield: A Survey and Predictions for Global Change

  • Chapter
The Role of Fire in Mediterranean-Type Ecosystems

Part of the book series: Ecological Studies ((ECOLSTUD,volume 107))

Abstract

By the late 1800s it was apparent to some that burning (or clearing) the vegetation increased water flow and accelerated flood damage (Hibbert et al. 1974). However, these phenomena had already been described at the beginning of our era by Pliny the Elder in his Naturalis Historia (in Lieuthagi 1972). The first experiments to determine the role of vegetation on water yield began in 1900 in the Emmenthal Mountains, Switzerland, and in 1909 in Wagon Wheel, CO, USA. The effect of wildfire on streamflow was first documented by Hoyt and Troxell in 1932. They found that burning chaparral caused the average annual streamflow of Fish Creek, CA, to increase 29%, or about 40mm. In addition they found that peak discharges and sediment loads carried by the streams also increased. The same results have since been obtained by many other authors (e.g., Anderson 1949).

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Authors
  1. Serge Rambal
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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Departamento de Ecología Facultad de Biología, Universidad Complutense, 28040, Madrid, Spain

    José M. Moreno

  2. Department of Biology, San Diego State University, San Diego, CA, 92182, USA

    Walter C. Oechel

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© 1994 Springer-Verlag New York Inc.

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Rambal, S. (1994). Fire and Water Yield: A Survey and Predictions for Global Change. In: Moreno, J.M., Oechel, W.C. (eds) The Role of Fire in Mediterranean-Type Ecosystems. Ecological Studies, vol 107. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4613-8395-6_6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4613-8395-6_6

  • Publisher Name: Springer, New York, NY

  • Print ISBN: 978-1-4613-8397-0

  • Online ISBN: 978-1-4613-8395-6

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