Quillelhue, north Lanin volcano - CHIQUI001
Additional Site Information

Mauro E. González,  Thomas T. Veblen, Jason Sibold


Dating Method: Crossdated

Sample Storage Location: Laboratory of dendrochronology, Universidad 
Austral de Chile, Campus Isla Teja, Valdivia, Chile 

Reference: González, ME, TT Veblen, J Sibold. In press. Fire history of Araucaria-Nothofagus forests in Villarrica National Park, Chile. Journal of Biogeography

Abstract: In this study we examine fire history (i.e., ca. 500 yrs B.P. to
present) of Araucaria - Nothofagus forests in the Andes cordillera of Chile.
Based on fire-scar proxy records we reconstructed fire frequency, severity,
and the spatial extent of burned areas for a ca. 4,000 ha study area.   We
used a composite fire chronology for the purpose of determining
centennial-scale changes in fire regimes and comparing the pre-settlement
(pre-1883) and post-settlement fire regimes. In addition, we contrasted
Araucaria and Nothofagus species as fire-scar recorders. We dated a total of
144 fire-scarred trees, representing 46 fire years from A.D. 1446 to the
present. Fire is the most important disturbance shaping the
Araucaria-Nothofagus landscape in the Araucarian region.  The forest landscape
has been shaped by a mixed-severity fire regime that includes surface and
crown fires.  High-severity widespread events were relatively infrequent
(e.g., 1827, 1909, and 1944) and primarily affected tall Araucaria-N. pumilio
forests and woodlands dominated by Araucaria-N. antarctica. 

Fire History Graphs: Fire History Graphs illustrate specific years when 
fires occurred and how many trees were scarred. They are available in both 
PDF and PNG formats. The graphs consist of 2 parts, both of which show the 
X axis (time line) at the bottom with the earliest year of information on 
the left and the latest on the right.
The Fire Index Plot is the topmost plot, and shows two variables: sample 
depth (the number of recording trees in each year) as a blue line along 
the left Y axis, compared with the percent trees scarred shown as gray bars 
along the right Y axis.
Below, the Fire Chronology Plot consists of horizontal lines representing
injuries by year on individual sampled trees. Symbols are overlain that 
denote the years containing the dendrochronologically-dated fire scars or
injuries. The sample ID of each tree is displayed to the right of each
line. The Composite Axis below represents the composite information from
all individual series. The symbols used to represent the fire scars or
injuries, and the filters used to determine the composite information,
are shown in the legend.
These graphs were created using the Fire History Analysis and Exploration
System (FHAES). See http://frames.nbii.gov/fhaes/ for more information.