STRUCTURAL-PROPERTIES AND DIMENSIONAL RELATIONS OF SOME MEDITERRANEANSHRUB FUELS

Structural properties of fuelbeds and particles of 60 plants of four s hrub species (Ulexparviflorus,Lygos monosperma, Erica arborea, and Eri ca scoparia) common in the undergrowth of maritime pine forests were i nventoried, namely total biomass, biomass distribution by diameter cla ss, dead-to-live biomass ratios, bulk density, and surface-to-volume r atios. Porosity and packing ratios were calculated from the inventorie d data. Results are compared with those reported for other shrub fuels of mediterranean and other plant communities. We developed dimensiona l relations to simplify prediction of total plant biomass, as well as biomass in the 1-hour, 10-hour, and 100-hour timelag size classes. Dim ension analysis results are considered quite satisfactory fort. monosp erma and Erica sp., while there seems to be some room for improvement regarding our ability to predict biomass of U. parviflorus, based on s imple measurements of plant dimensions.