EDMOND PASHO1*, ARBEN Q. ALLA1
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1Faculty of Forestry Sciences, Agricultural University of Tirana, Kodër Kamëz, 1029 Tirana, Albania * Corresponding author; E-mail: epasho@ubt.edu.al Abstract Wildfires present a significant threat to forest ecosystems, with large impacts on carbon dynamics, biodiversity, and air quality. This study aimed to map the fire-affected forests and evaluate vegetation dynamics at two sites (Kutal and Riban) located in southern Albania. Burned areas and vegetation activity were identified and mapped using fire/vegetation spectral indices, the Normalized Burned Ratio (NBR) and NBR2/Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) and Enhanced Vegetation Index (EVI), derived from processing the Landsat 8 satellite images in a GIS system. The difference between pre- and post-fire NBR was used to compute the dNBR index and threshold classes were applied to obtain burn severity maps. Mapping accuracy of burned areas and severity was assessed using 50 geometrically structured field plots. The scaled difference dNBR index provided more reliable maps with higher degree of differentiation among burn severity classes than NBR2 (92% vs. 72 % accuracy), revealing high and moderate burn severity in more than two-thirds of the affected forest site in Kutal (42 hectares, 69%) and approximately three-quarters of damaged forest in Riban (27 hectares, 82%). NDVI and EVI captured wildfire disturbance and tracked vegetation regrowth and recovery (mostly grass and shrubs) at both sites during the subsequent growing season. However, NDVI/EVI indices showed differences in evaluating vegetation recovery between sites, as they enhanced changes at Kutal/Riban, respectively. These findings are useful for forest managers in designing appropriate strategies for the post-fire management of the affected forests. Keywords: forest, Landsat 8, spectral indices, burn area mapping, vegetation activity. |