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The role of vegetation structure and fuel chemistry in excluding fire from forest patches in the fire-prone fynbos shrublands of South Africa

Author: Van Wilgen, B.W.; Higgins, K.B.; Bellstedt, D.U.
Date: 1990
Periodical: Journal of Ecology
Abstract: The physical and chemical make-up of fynbos favors fire. It is more flammable than Chilean mattorral, but is less flammable than Californian chaparral or Australian Eucalyptus woodlands due to lower crude fat contents and higher foliar moisture contents. Although narrow forest strips may be scorched by intense fires in adjacent fynbos, it seems unlikely that extensive forest patches would burn under the conditions usually selected for prescribed burning operations.