LANDSCAPE AND FIRE IN BRITTANY HEATHLANDS

Fire is a recurrent disturbance in heathland landscapes of Birttany. O ur study considers relationships between landscape heterogeneity, rate of fire spread and fire frequency. Heterogeneity is defined by the di versity and the fragmentation of landscape units at different scales. This approach of fire processes proves that: (1) perceived landscape h eterogeneity is scale dependent; (2) fire speed is correlated with lan d cover heterogeneity at fine scales, but not at coarse scales; (3) he terogeneity increases with frequent fire, while diversity grows with o ne fire and reduces with higher fire frequency.