Forest Ecology and Management 259 (2010) 2191–2196 Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Forest Ecology and Management journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/foreco Forest fire effects in beech dominated mountain forest of Iran Abbas Banj Shafiei a,∗ , Moslem Akbarinia b,1 , Gholamali Jalali b,1 , Mohsen Hosseini b,1 a Natural Resources Faculty, Urmia University, Shahieed Beheshti St., P.O. Box 165, Urmia, West Azarbayjan, Iran b Natural Resources and Marine Sciences Faculty, Tarbiat Modares University (TMU), Emam Khomeni St., P.O. Box 46414-356, Noor, Mazandaran, Iran article info Article history: Received 28 January 2009 Received in revised form 21 February 2010 Accepted 24 February 2010 Keywords: Hyrcanian forest Regeneration Forest structure Maple Chestnut-leaved oak Hornbeam abstract Most of world’s forests of different climates have a history of fire, but with different severities. Fire regimes for broadleaf deciduous forests have return intervals that vary from many decades (or less) to centuries (or more). Iran has a total of 1.2 million ha of temperate forest in the north, where fires burn about 300–400 ha annually. This study focused on the impact of fire on forest structure, tree species quality, and regeneration composition (specially beech) in the Chelir forest of northern Iran. The results showed that forest fires changed the structure and had different effects on tree species composition between burned and control areas. Thin barked species such as oriental beech (Fagus orientalis Lipsky) and coliseum maple (Acer cappadocicum Gled.) have been affected more than those with thick bark, like hornbeam (Carpinus betulus L.) and chestnut-leaved oak (Quercus castaneifolia C.A. Mey). The density of oriental beech regeneration in the unburned area was greater than in the burned area, while the quantity of regeneration of hornbeam, coliseum maple and velvet maple (Acer velutinum Boiss) was higher in burned area. Forest fire had a greater effect on oriental beech quality, and changed regeneration composition in the burned area. Fire prevention activities should be considered as a silvicultural treatment for preserving these valuable forests. © 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. 1. Introduction Natural forested landscapes are characterized by a variety of disturbance processes that include wildfire, windthrow, insects and diseases, as well as geomorphic activity such as landslides and debris or snow avalanches (John, 1992). Fire is an important disturbance agent in many forests worldwide, shaping ecosystem patterns and processes (Naveh, 1974; Philips, 1974; Wein and MacLean, 1983; Gill et al., 1990; Coutinho, 1990; Agee, 1993). Fire effects natural ecosystems by consuming plants, altering succes- sional patterns, and changing vegetative resources such as timber, forage, and wildlife habitats (DeBano et al., 1998). Most of world’s forests with different climates have experienced fire of different severities. Return intervals for broadleaf deciduous forests vary from several decades (or less) to centuries (or more) (Sanford et al., 1985). The total forest cover in Iran is 12 million hectares, or 8% of the total land area. About 1.8 million hectares of these forests are located in northern Iran (i.e. the Hyrcanian Forests) on the northern slopes of the Alborz Mountains overlooking the Caspian Sea (Sagheb-Talebi et al., 2004). The Hyrcanian Forests consist of ∗ Corresponding author. Tel.: +98 441 2972477/2972504; fax: +984412770489. E-mail addresses: a.banjshafiei@urmia.ac.ir, banedg@yahoo.com (A.B. Shafiei). 1 Tel.: +98 122 6253101–3; fax: +98 122 6253499. mixed broadleaf deciduous species, and have an uneven topogra- phy and very steep slopes like found in European forests (especially Balkan’s European beech forests). Fires burn 300–400 ha annually in these forests, while 6000 ha/yr are burned throughout all of Iran’s forests (FAO, 2005). The Hyrcanian Forests are normally thought to be fire resistant because of high atmospheric and soil mois- ture, and major wildfires have been historically rare. However, as a result of recent climatic oscillations and global climate warming, fire occurrence has increased during recent years (Goldhammer, 1999). Fires in the north of Iran normally occur in autumn when forest floor litter dries as hot-dry winds cause a short period of drought. These are mostly surface fires that rarely exceed 10–30 cm in flame height under normal fuel and humidity conditions. They consume the fine and course litter on the forest floor (Holdsworth and Uhl, 1997; Cochrane and Schulze, 1999; Nepstad et al., 1999). However, these apparently innocuous fires may have serious detrimental effects on both the forest structure (Peres, 1999; Barbosa and Fearnside, 1999) and the vertebrate fauna (Kinnaird and O’Brien, 1998; Haugaasen, 2000; Barlow et al., 2002; Peres et al., 2003) because of their extremely rare occurrence in evolutionary time (Uhl and Kauffman, 1990). Despite repeated fire occurrences in the Chelir forests in north- ern Iran, no study has previously investigated the fire effects. This study seeks to answer the following questions: (1) How does fire change the forest structure in the Hyrcanian forest? (2) How does 0378-1127/$ – see front matter © 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.foreco.2010.02.025