Profile

Dr. Imma Oliveras received her PhD from the Centre for Ecological Research and Forestry Applications and the Autonomous University of Barcelona (Spain) on Environmental Sciences and Forest Ecology, focusing on various aspects of forest fires. During her PhD, she also collaborated with the Firefighters of Catalonia, the University of Coimbra (Portugal), and the University of Melbourne (Australia). In 2007 she began a post-doctoral position at the University of São Paulo (Brazil) working on fire ecology and management implications for biodiversity conservation in the Brazilian savannah. In October 2009, she joined the Environmental Change Institute, where she will work on fire dynamics and carbon implications in the Peruvian Andes.

Projects

• 2009- 2012. Fire dynamics and carbon implications in the cloud forests of the Peruvian Andes. NERC (UK). Post Doctoral researcher.
• 2007 -2009. Control of exotic grasses under different fire regimes in the Brazilian savannah grasslands – nutrient dynamics and management implications. FAPESP-Brazil Project. Post Doctoral researcher.
• 2003 – 2006. Analysis of the spatial distribution of fire severity in large wildfires at landscape and at local scale using remote sensing and GIS data. DPhil research assistant.
• 2003 – 2006. EU FIRELAB. Effects of changing fire regime in Mediterranean ecosystems. European Commission. DPhil research assistant.
• 2002 – 2005. SPREAD. Forest Fire Spread, Prevention and Mitigation. European Commission. DPhil research assistant.

Research Interests

I am interested on how human-induced disturbances affect ecological processes, and implications for climate change and biodiversity conservation.

My current main research project looks for the key factors that determine fire ignition and spread in cloud forests of the Peruvian Andes, the resilience of the main tree species and the carbon losses due to forest fires in those traditional non-burning, cool ecosystems, integrating intensive field work and remote sensing analyses.

In Brazil, my research focused on the Brazilian savannah (cerrado), whose biodiversity has been seriously threatened due to human pressures. Fires and biological invasions are some of the processes that most contribute to its biodiversity loss. My research project aimed to understand the effects of periodical burnings on the grass species composition and on the nutrient dynamics in order to provide management directions for conservation purposes.

Publications:

• Oliveras, I., Tadeu, S.M., Hirakuri, V., Freitas, C.R., Miranda, H.S. and Pivello, V. (submitted) How do fire regimes affect herbaceous nutrient content in a Brazilian open-savanna? International Journal of Wildland Fire.
• R.M. Román-Cuesta, N. Salinas, H. Asbjornsen, I. Oliveras, V. Huaman, Y. Gutiérrez, L. Puelles, J. Kalad, D. Yabar, M. Rojas, R. Astete, D.Y. Jordán, M. Silman, R. Mosandl, M. Weber, B. Stimm, S. Günter, T. Knoke, Y. Malhi (2011). Implications of fires on carbon budgets in Andean cloud montane forest: The importance of peat soils and tree resprouting. Forest Ecology and Management 261: 1987-1997.
• Pivello, V., Oliveras, I., Miranda, H.S., Haridasan, M., Sato, M.N. and Meirelles S. (2010) Effect of fires on soil nutrient availability in an open savanna in Central Brazil. Plant and Soil, 337: 111-123.
• Llorens, P., Poyatos, R., Latron, J., Delgado, J., Oliveras, I., Gallart, F. (2010) A multi-year study of rainfall and soil water controls on Scots pine transpiration under Mediterranean mountain conditions. Hydrological Processes, 24: 3053-3064.
• Oliveras I., Gracia M., Retana J. (2009) Factors influencing fire severity in a large wildfire under extreme meteorological conditions. International Journal of Wildland Fire 18: 755 - 764.
• Oliveras I., Bell T. (2008) Analysis of the Australian literature on prescribed burning. Journal of Forestry 106: 31-37.
• Oliveras I., Piñol J., Viegas D.X. (2006) Generalisation of the Fire Line Rotation Model to Curved Fire Lines. International Journal of Wildland Fire 15: 447-456.
• Bell T., Oliveras I. (2006) Perceived benefits of prescribed burning in a local forest community of Victoria, Portugal. Environmental management 38: 867 - 878.
• Oliveras I., Piñol J. (2006) Relationships among number of fires, total area burnt, and large fires in southern France, eastern Spain and Portugal In: First International Symposium On Environment Identities And Mediterranean Area, Vol. 1., pp. 107 – 110. New York: IEEE, 345 E 47th St, New York, NY 10017 USA.
• Viegas, D.X., Oliveras I., Rossa C., Piñol P. (2006) Convection effects on forest fires. In: Proceedings of the Vth International Conference on Wildland Fire.
• Oliveras I., Viegas D.X., Piñol J. (2005) Modelling the long term effect of changes in fire frequency on the total area burnt. Orsis, 20: 73 - 81.
• Oliveras I., Piñol J., Viegas D.X. (2004) Experiments per a la validació de models de propagació de foc. In: Incendis Foretals, dimensió socioambiental, gestió del risc i ecologia del foc. Actes de les Jornades sobre Incendis Forestals i Recerca de la xarxa ALINFO, pp 56-59.
• Oliveras, I., Martinez-Vilalta J., Jimenez-Ortiz T., Lledó M.J., Escarré A., Piñol J. (2003) Hydraulic properties of Pinus pinea and Tetraclinis articulata in a dune ecosystem of Eastern Spain. Plant Ecology, 131-141.
• Martinez-Vilalta J., Prat E., Oliveras I. & Piñol J.(2002) Hydraulic properties of roots and ítems of nine woody species from a Hola oak forest in NE Spain. Oecologia,133 (1): 19 – 29.
• Oliveras, I. and Llorens, P. (2001) Medium term sap flux monitoring in a Scots pine stand: analysis of the operability of the heat dissipation method for hydrological purposes. Tree Physiology 21 (8): 473-480.