The scientific research project PYROPHOB is a collaboration of eight institutions who investigate the effects of forest fire and different forest management strategies on ecosystemic development. The goal is to assess and quantify the impact on abiotic and biotic properties, ecological structures and processes including soil properties and functions, water balance, microclimate, flora, mycological flora and fauna as well as their interactions. Areas with a history of fire are surveyed and the effectiveness of forestry interventions and natural regeneration is assessed in order to formulate recommendations for treating (fire-)damaged areas. Existing concepts for dealing with pyrophilous and burnt areas will be reflected and alternative approaches will be developed and tested. This also lays the foundation for long-term research, teaching and education on the topic. As a medium-term result of reforestation, the development of resilient and pyrophobic forests that are resistant to climate change is to be achieved - forests that are characterised by diverse ecological functions and processes, regulating and interacting components leading to low combustibility, an optimal cooling and microclimatic buffering capacity and ideal water and nutrient retention capacity as well as tree growth and vitality.

The project is funded by the German Federal Ministry of Food and Agriculture (BMEL) and the Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclar Safety (BMU) via the Fachagentur Nachwachsender Rohstoffe e.V. (FNR) financed from the Forest Climate Fund (Waldklimafonds) in the frame of the funding programme “Forest fires -addressing the challenges of prevention and management”. The Centre for Econics and Ecosystem Management at the Eberswalde University for Sustainable Development is responsible for the project coordination, assessing and analysing ecological forest indicators and for the synthesis of the results gained by all scientific project partners.

The project area is located in the south of the state of Brandenburg in north-eastern Germany and covers pine (Pinus sylvestris) forests hit by forest fires in 2018 and 2019 respectively. The areas comprise communal forest (Stadtwald Treuenbrietzen), privately-owned forest (Waldbesitzergenossenschaft Bardenitz), and wilderness areas of the Brandenburg Wilderness Foundation (Stiftung Naturlandschaften Brandenburg) on a former military training ground. The combination of a diverse set of different silvicultural treatments that were implemented by the forest owners provides a unique research setting.

PYROPHOB started in May 2020 and is funded for five years. However, research activities already started with the launch of the CleverForst project in February 2019, which is still part of the current cooperation and investigations. The first season of data collection in the context of PYROPHOB started in summer 2020, after the research design and sampling plots were identified. Each sampling site represents a specific treatment or forestry intervention, such as extracting burnt trees, ploughing, planting or sowing, but also medium- to non-intervention sites with different fire intensity where no further activities were conducted after the fire event. On each site, a total of ten sampling plots were installed as permanent sampling locations, where all research partners survey their specific set of indicators. Finally, the various findings will be synthesised in a comprehensive analysis and recommendations for managing such forest areas will be formulated to transfer plausible solutions into forestry practice. The findings of the project will be directly and systematically incorporated into academic teaching programmes, education and public relations work, and into advisory services for forest owners and forest enterprises. The research, educational work and the establishment of continuous study sites will also create a cross-institutional competence for fire ecology in Germany and beyond.

See also: https://www.pyrophob.de/

Prof. Pierre Ibisch (project lead, pierre.ibisch@hnee.de)

Dr. Jeanette Blumröder (project coordination; field work: microclimate & forest structure; data synthesis, j.blumroeder@hnee.de)

Ayla Lemke (project management, ayla.lemke@hnee.de)

Dr. Deepika Mann (spatial analyses, data management, synthesis, deepika.mann@hnee.de)

Dr. Florent Jouy (field work: seepage & groundwater; florent.jouy@hnee.de)

NN (Field work: rejuvenation of trees)

Project coordination

Centre for Econics and Ecosystem Management

Eberswalde University for Sustainable Development

Alfred-Möller-Str., 16225 Eberswalde

Project partners

Universität Potsdam

Am Neuen Palais 10, 14469 Potsdam

Brandenburgische Technische Universität Cottbus-Senftenberg
Platz der Deutschen Einheit 1, 03046 Cottbus

Landeskompetenzzentrum Forst Eberswalde

Alfred-Möller-Straße 1, 16225 Eberswalde

Johann Heinrich von Thünen-Institut

Bundesforschungsinstitut für Ländliche Räume, Wald und Fischerei,

Institut für Forstgenetik Waldsieversdorf

Eberswalder Chaussee 3a 15377, Waldsieversdorf

Senckenberg Deutsches Entomologisches Institut
Eberswalder Straße 90, 15374 Müncheberg
 

Naturwald Akademie gGmbH
Alt Lauerhof 1, 23568 Lübeck
 

Stiftung Naturlandschaften Brandenburg
Schulstraße 6, 14482 Potsdam
 

UmLand, Büro für Umwelt- und Landschaftsplanung
Berkenbrücker Dorfstr. 11, 14947 Nuthe-Urstromtal