Forest fire disturbance and its effect on forest biomass in Daxinganling region

The forest fire during May 6-June 4, 1987 in Daxinganling of Northeastern China has changed greatly the forest structure and forest biomass. The post-fire forest cover types and forest biomass change are related to different fire disturbance levels. In this article, multi-temporal Landsat TM images and forest inventory data are used to estimate the forest biomass change of burned forest and unburned forest in more than 10 years since 1987 forest fire and to analyze the fire disturbance influences on forest biomass and carbon reserve. Burn severity classes (lightly burned, moderately burned, severely burned) are mapped from two dates Landsat TM images acquired before and after the fire. One representative forest farm which includes several burn severity classes is selected to analyze the biomass change quantitatively. Based on forest inventory data acquired in 1987 and 1998, forest biomass of the selected forest farm was estimated using biomass transform equations which can be used to estimate forest biomass from living stock volume for main forest species. At last, net forest biomass change of burned forest and unburned forest in the period was calculated and analyzed.