Identificación de áreas potenciales para incendios forestales, basado en variables climáticas, topográficas y poder calorífico de la vegetación, en la microcuenca del Río Yanuncay

Abstract

Forest fires are local and global phenomena, which are associated with socioeconomic and environmental aspects. Technical and scientific inquiries using atypical variables on forest fires in Ecuador are scarce. To provide information on this topic, the present investigation was developed whose general objective was: to delimit potential areas for forest fires based on climatic, topographical variables, calorific value in the Yanuncay river micro-basin. Methodologically, digital information from the Military Geographic Institute (IGM) was downloaded. Twentyfour samples of vegetative parts, stems and leaves were taken, from four types of prioritized covers, to be analyzed in the Physical-chemical laboratory of the University of Cuenca and determine the calorific value. Maps of altitude, slopes, temperature, precipitation and calorific value were designed, which were joined to obtain a single digital layer and base of attributes; to determine areas that show the potentiality of forest fires. As a result, it was recorded that the sites with low potential for forest fires had a larger area in the micro-basin, unlike the sites with medium high potential. It was concluded: the calorific power was higher in the high-altitude floor. Three categories of potentiality for forest fires were determined: high, medium and low, whose phenomenon is influenced by the variables of low precipitation and high temperature.