From a western society’s perspective, wildfires are catastrophic events that jeopardise biodiversity and cause soil erosion, not to mention risk to human lives and properties. However, many Mediterranean-type ecosystems are not only resilient to wildfires but sensitive to the lack of wildfires. This communication focuses on the Mediterranean heathland or herriza as a paradigmatic fire-prone ecosystem to illustrate how most negative impacts allegedly attributed to wildfires actually occur in commercial forestry plantations. They are caused by aggressive forestry practices prior to the wildfire. In natural Mediterranean habitats, such as the herriza, complete wildfire suppression may actually pose a serious threat to biodiversity. The large existing body of scientific knowledge on the relationships of Mediterranean ecosystems with fire should be incorporated into plans and policies dealing with wildfire and conservation to make them more appropriate and efficient. Finally, burned natural areas should not be regarded, or treated, as dead pieces of nature and destroyed ecosystems, but as a transitional stage within the dynamics of Mediterranean-type ecosystems.

中文翻译：

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松树造林、herriza 和野火：地中海地区土壤侵蚀和生物多样性丧失的故事1

从西方社会的角度来看，野火是危害生物多样性并导致水土流失的灾难性事件，更不用说对人类生命和财产的威胁了。然而，许多地中海型生态系统不仅对野火具有复原力，而且对缺乏野火很敏感。本次交流将地中海荒地或herriza 作为典型的易发生火灾的生态系统，以说明据称归因于野火的大多数负面影响实际上是如何发生在商业林业种植园中的。它们是由野火之前的激进林业做法引起的。在地中海的自然栖息地，如 herriza，完全抑制野火实际上可能对生物多样性构成严重威胁。关于地中海生态系统与火的关系的大量现有科学知识应纳入处理野火和保护的计划和政策中，以使其更加合适和有效。最后，被烧毁的自然区域不应被视为或处理为自然的死亡部分和被破坏的生态系统，而是地中海型生态系统动态中的一个过渡阶段。