Impact of forest fires in Sub-Mediterranean plant communities : multi-temporary evaluation of the landscape diversity using Landsat TM images

Abstract

The impact and the evolution of the structure of the landscape in a forest fire of the PrePyrenees of Aragón using a set of 6 Landsat 5 TM images is analyzed, identifying the relationships between the space heterogeneity values and the vegetation types. NDVI values are extracted, obtaining the Shannon Index and performing its yearly cartography. Three representative components of the values of diversity are defined (prefire, short- and mid-term). It is concluded that at plant-community level the fire has generated an increase of the internal diversity. Nevertheless, in the mid-term and at a global scale the fire produces the landscape homogenization, as different authors describe using sources of similar information.