JOURNAL OF NANJING FORESTRY UNIVERSITY ›› 2020, Vol. 44 ›› Issue (3): 74-80.doi: 10.3969/j.issn.1000-2006.201905024

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Physical and chemical properties and combustibility of predominant landscape tree species in Hohhot, China

WANG Lei(), XU Jiachen, ZHU Pengfei, LI Jiayan, ZHANG Heng()   

  1. Forestry College of Inner Mongolia Agricultural University, Hohhot 010019, China
  • Received:2019-05-16 Revised:2019-07-18 Online:2020-05-30 Published:2020-06-11
  • Contact: ZHANG Heng E-mail:wangzhuoran2003@sina.com;zhangheng_nefu@126.com

Abstract: Objective

Trees are the essential fuel in forest or landscape fires, thus reasonable selection and allocation of plants in landscape design is crucial for establishing biological fire?resistant forest belts. Currently, research on flammability is predominantly focused on forest fuels, and few studies have investigated combustibility of landscape tree species. We examined tree combustibility using leaves, twigs and branches of 21 landscape tree species in Hohhot, China, and we suggest tree species with high fire resistance as a theoretical basis for urban ecological safety and allocation of landscape tree species for fire?resistant woodland.

Method

Principal component analyses in SPSS 18.0 and Origin 2018 software were used to analyze five physical and chemical properties including moisture content, crude fat, crude ash, ignition point and calorific value, which affect combustibility of trees, and combustibility of each tree species was assessed comprehensively.

Result

The 21 landscape tree species were ranked from high to low combustibility as follows: Buxus sinica, Sabina vulgaris, Viburnum mongolicum, Tamarix chinensis, Morus mongolica, Amygdalus persica, Syringa reticulata, Flueggea suffruticosa, Sambucus williamsii, Spiraea pubescens, Elaeagnus angustifolia, Acer stenolobum, Amygdalus davidiana, Buddleja alternifolia, Sorbaria kirilowii, Berberis xinganensis, Rosa xanthina, Amygdalus triloba, Cotoneaster acutifolius, Weigela florida and Lycium chinense. The tree species were assigned to the three categories of fire resistance (high, medium and low). The category ‘high fire resistance’ included Berberis xinganensis, Rosa xanthina, Amygdalus triloba, Cotoneaster acutifolius, Weigela florida and Lycium chinense; mediumfire resistance was observed in Flueggea suffruticosa, Sambucus williamsii, Spiraea pubescens, Elaeagnus angustifolia, Acer stenolobum, Amygdalus davidiana, Buddleja alternifolia and Sorbaria kirilowii, and lowfire resistance was observed in Buxus sinica, Sabina vulgaris, Viburnum mongolicum, Tamarix chinensis, Morus mongolica, Amygdalus persica, Syringa reticulata.

Conclusions

Of the 21 predominant species of landscape trees in Hohhot, the highest fire resistance occurred in Berberis xinganensis, Rosa xanthina, Amygdalus triloba, Cotoneaster acutifolius, Weigela florida and Lycium chinense. These results provide a theoretical basis for the prevention and control of urban forest fires using landscape tree species.

Key words: landscape tree species, combustibility, principal component analysis(PCA), fire resistance, Hohhot

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