Cut strips of shrubland vegetation to reduce the spread of fire

Overall effectiveness category No evidence found (no assessment)
Number of studies: 0
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How is the evidence assessed?

Effectiveness

not assessed
Certainty

not assessed
Harms

not assessed

Calculating overall effectiveness category

Background information and definitions

Cutting of ‘firebreaks’ creates gaps in shrublands that can act as a barrier to slow or stop the spread of fire. These firebreaks are commonly used to protect human property and life, rather than to benefit biodiversity. For the purposes of this synopsis we only considered studies that examined the effect of firebreaks that were explicitly cut to protect shrubland biodiversity. In addition, many of the studies of the effect of firebreaks are not empirical, and use modelling approaches to assess their effects on the spread of fire and effects on biodiversity (e.g. Cary et al. 2009, Taylor et al. 2013).

Cary, G.J., Flannigan, M.D., Keane, R.E., Bradstock, R.A., Davies, I.D., Lenihan, J.M., Li, C., Logan, K.A. & Parsons, R.A. (2009) Relative importance of fuel management, ignition management and weather for area burned: evidence from five landscape fire succession models. International Journal of Wildland Fire, 18, 147-156.

Taylor, M.H., Rollins, K., Kobayashi, M. & Tausch, R.J. (2013) The economics of fuel management: Wildfire, invasive plants, and the dynamics of sagebrush rangelands in the western United States. Journal of Environmental Management, 126, 157-173.

Key messages

We found no studies that evaluated the effects of cutting strips of vegetation to reduce the spread of fire on shrublands.

'We found no studies’ means that we have not yet found any studies that have directly evaluated this action during our systematic journal and report searches. Therefore we have been unable to assess whether or not the action is effective or has any harmful impacts. Please get in touch if you know of such a study for this action.

About key messages

Key messages provide a descriptive index to studies we have found that test this intervention.

Studies are not directly comparable or of equal value. When making decisions based on this evidence, you should consider factors such as study size, study design, reported metrics and relevance of the study to your situation, rather than simply counting the number of studies that support a particular interpretation.

Please cite as:

Martin, P.A., Rocha, R., Smith, R.K. & Sutherland, W.J. (2020) Shrubland and Heathland Conservation. Pages 483-525 in: W.J. Sutherland, L.V. Dicks, S.O. Petrovan & R.K. Smith (eds) What Works in Conservation 2020. Open Book Publishers, Cambridge, UK.

Where has this evidence come from?

List of journals searched by synopsis

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This Action forms part of the Action Synopsis:

Shrubland and Heathland Conservation

Related Actions

	Actions	Effectiveness	Studies	Category
	Cut strips of shrubland vegetation to reduce the spread of fire Action Link	No evidence found (no assessment)	0	Synopsis Link
	Use prescribed burning to mimic natural fire cycle Action Link	No evidence found (no assessment)	0	Synopsis Link