Post-Fire Management of Cork Oak Forests

Cork oak ( Quercus suber L.) forests are def ned here as the range of habitats from open savanna-like woodland formations to dense forests. According to the European forest type’s nomenclature (EEA 2007 ) these ecosystems are included in the ‘broadleaved evergreen forest’ class and in the ‘Mediterranean e vergreen oak forest’ type. This forest type is dominated by the e vergreen sclerophyllous oak species Q. suber , Q. ilex , Q. rotundifolia and Q. coccifera , constituting the main natural forest formation of the meso-Mediterranean vegetation belt (EEA 2007 ) . However, cork oak has a unique characteristic that mak es it dif ferent from all the other Mediterranean broadleaved species: an outer insulating coat consisting of a cork y bark, up to 30 cm thick, made of continuous layers of suberized cells that may have evolved as an adaptation to f re, and that has been used by people for millennia (Natividade 1950 ; Pausas et al. 2009 ) . Periodical bark harvesting of cork oak trees makes them more vulnerable to e xternal agents including wildf res. This is why cork oak forests are treated separately in this book.