LOS INCENDIOS FORESTALES CAUSADOS POR DESCARGAS ELÉCTRICAS EN CIÉNAGA DE ZAPATA, MATANZAS, CUBA

Abstract

Forest fires destroy the natural biodiversity of ecosystems and among the most important factors in Ciénaga de Zapata, Matanzas, Cuba, are: negligence, bad intention and lightning. The last one was the third cause of forest fires in the study area from 1980 to 1994. In the actual study, the most important results of a study in the aforementioned area are reported; they refer to the description of the continental situation and the time of year, period, month, hour and place of greatest danger, determined through the Nostorov index. lt was found that there is not a direct relation between the number of forest fires and those due to lightning, nor a significant relationship between the annual total number of days with lightning and the occurrence of forest fires due to lightning. These fires occurred from March to September, between the 14:00 and the 20:00 hours and they lasted 19.8 hours, on the average. The danger index of Nostorov, adjusted to the forest fires due to lightning, is a reliable predicting tool for forest fires, that might be useful for decision makers in charge of the forest of Cuba in order to handle more efficiently the damage caused by such natural phenomena, as well as over agriculture at a national level.