Publications by authors named "Daniel Vega-Nieva"

Article Synopsis
  • The latitudinal diversity gradient (LDG) reflects a global trend showing that species richness typically increases towards the tropics, but understanding its causes has been challenging due to insufficient data.
  • A new high-resolution map of local tree species richness was created using extensive global forest inventory data and local biophysical factors, analyzing around 1.3 million sample plots.
  • Findings indicate that annual mean temperature is a significant predictor of tree species richness, aligning with the metabolic theory of biodiversity, but additional local factors also play a crucial role, especially in tropical regions.
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Identifying the relative importance of human and environmental drivers on fire occurrence in different regions and scales is critical for a sound fire management. Nevertheless, studies analyzing fire occurrence spatial patterns at multiple scales, covering the regional to national levels at multiple spatial resolutions, both in the fire occurrence drivers and in fire density, are very scarce. Furthermore, there is a scarcity of studies that analyze the spatial stationarity in the relationships of fire occurrence and its drivers at multiple scales.

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The fuel complex variables canopy bulk density and canopy base height are often used to predict crown fire initiation and spread. Direct measurement of these variables is impractical, and they are usually estimated indirectly by modelling. Recent advances in predicting crown fire behaviour require accurate estimates of the complete vertical distribution of canopy fuels.

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