Fire

Release 31 October 2013

This version:
http://cerrado.linkeddata.es/ecology/fire#
Latest version:
http://cerrado.linkeddata.es/ecology/fire#
Revision
1.0
Authors:
Adriano Souza, University of Brasilia
Imported Ontologies:
ENVO Ontology
OBOE-Spatial
OBOE-Temporal
This work is licensed under a License name. E.g.: Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 2.0 Generic License.

Abstract

The ontology of Fire was created in order to represent the set of concepts about the fire occurring in natural vegetation, its characteristics, causes and effects, with focus on Cerrado vegetation domain. The fire plays a determinant role on the structure and composition of Cerrado physiognomies.

The latest OWL encoding of the Fire Ontology can be found here

Table of Contents

1. Introduction
1.1 Namespace declarations
2. Fire Ontology Overview
3. Fire Ontology Description
4. Cross reference for Fire Ontology classes, properties and dataproperties
4.1 Classes
4.2 Object Properties
5. References
6. Acknowledgements

1. Introduction back to ToC

The Fire Ontology is an OWL2 ontology, according to the W3C recommendations [2], developed to represent the scientific knowledge about fire behave focused to describe the characteristics, causes and effects of fire on wood plants in the Brazilian Cerrado Domain. This ontology will be part of the GeoLinked Data Ontology network to enrich the web of data with geospatial data of the Cerrado Domain, especially with regard the wood plant dynamics. It aims to store data and collect information about biodiversity,composition and wood plant dynamics, fire events, to manage data about cerrado plant community, and search for changes in cerrado plant communities and species populations over time.

An example can be the possibility of data integration. Once the data available online of studies carried out in different places can be integrated, geolocated, linked with qualitative models and, finally, inferences can be performed.

1.1. Namespace declarations back to ToC

Table 1: Namespaces used in the document
owl <http://www.w3.org/2002/07/owl#>
rdfs <http://www.w3.org/2000/01/rdf-schema#>
fire <http://cerrado.linkeddata.es/ecology/fire#>

2. Fire Ontology Overview back to ToC

The ontology of Fire was created in order to represent the set of concepts about the fire occurring in natural vegetation, its characteristics, causes and effects, with focus on Cerrado vegetation domain. The fire plays a determinant role on the structure and composition of Cerrado physiognomies. This ontology will be part of the GeoLinked Data Ontology network to enrich the web of data with geospatial data, especially with regard the wood plant dynamics. The burns in the vegetation are typically described in terms of burned area or extension, location, duration, severity, frequency along with other measurements when available. Therefore, these variables where take into account to build the ontology. In addition, other very important information are the causes and effects. Currently, the main cause of burn in Cerrado is anthropogenic, that is, a human action that set fire in the vegetation. However, the natural lightnings can produce fire in the beginning of the raining season and some evidence suggest the presence of fire in savannas’ history, long before human influence. Some important effects of fires were considered, mainly those directly related to wood plant dynamics in Cerrado, which is the focus of the network ontology which this ontology is part of. Wildland fires are described as uncontrolled burn in opposition to controlled burn like cool-season fires and high-intensity fires used for environmental management.

3. Fire Ontology Description back to ToC

The burn in vegetation is typically described in terms of burned area or extension, location, duration, severity, frequency along with other measurements when available. Therefore, these variables where take into account to build the ontology. In addition, other very important information are the causes and main affects (Figure 1). For thousands of years, natural fires, during the wet season, and anthropogenic fires, during the dry season, coexisted in the cerrado region [1]. Currently, the main cause of burn in Cerrado is anthropogenic, that is, a human action that lead to a fire in the vegetation. Organisms that inhabit Cerrado are adapted not to fire events but to fire regimes. For vegetation, fire frequency and season are especially important since fire occurrence may affect population dynamics [1]. Thus, important effects of fires were considered, mainly those directly related to wood plant dynamics, which is the focus of the network ontology that his ontology is part of. Wildland fires are described as uncontrolled fires in opposition to controlled fires like cool-season fires and high-intensity fires used for environmental management.

some classes and object properties of Fire Ontology

Figure 1. Graphical representation of some classes and object properties of Fire Ontology.

Classes

Properties

4. Cross reference for Fire Ontology classes and properties

This section provides details for each class and property defined by Fire Ontology.

Classes

Anthropogenic causec back to ToC or Class ToC

IRI: http://cerrado.linkeddata.es/ecology/fire#AnthropogenicCause

Fire set by human action

has super-classes
Cause c

Area burnedc back to ToC or Class ToC

IRI: http://cerrado.linkeddata.es/ecology/fire#AreaBurned

It's the total area affected by fire in a burn event.

has super-classes
Fire characteristic c

Brush firec back to ToC or Class ToC

IRI: http://cerrado.linkeddata.es/ecology/fire#BrushFire

A fire in low-growing and brush

has super-classes
Fire c
is disjoint with
Forest fire c, Scrub fire c

Burn Severityc back to ToC or Class ToC

IRI: http://cerrado.linkeddata.es/ecology/fire#FireSeverity

Aboveground and belowground organic matter consumption from fire.

has super-classes
Fire characteristic c

Causec back to ToC or Class ToC

IRI: http://cerrado.linkeddata.es/ecology/fire#Cause

It represents the set of causes that together or separately can lead to an event of fire

has sub-classes
Anthropogenic cause c, Natural cause c
is in domain of
is caused by op
is in range of
has cause op

Consecutive rainless daysc back to ToC or Class ToC

IRI: http://cerrado.linkeddata.es/ecology/fire#ConsecutiveRainlessDays

Number of consecutive days without precipitation

has super-classes
environmental condition c

Controlled firec back to ToC or Class ToC

IRI: http://cerrado.linkeddata.es/ecology/fire#PrescriptionFire

A fire set under controlled and planned situation.

has super-classes
Fire c
has sub-classes
Harzard-reduction fire c
is disjoint with
Out of control fire c

Cool-season firec back to ToC or Class ToC

IRI: http://cerrado.linkeddata.es/ecology/fire#CoolSeasonFire

It's a fire set during the cool season, to avoid the fire to achieve very high temperatures or to make it easy to stop it.

has super-classes
Harzard-reduction fire c

death ratec back to ToC or Class ToC

IRI: http://cerrado.linkeddata.es/ecology/ccon#Mortality

It's the number of individuals dead over time.

is equivalent to
Plant Mortality c
has super-classes
Effect on plant c

Durationc back to ToC or Class ToC

IRI: http://cerrado.linkeddata.es/ecology/fire#Duration

has super-classes
Temporal Entity c

Ecosystem effectc back to ToC or Class ToC

IRI: http://cerrado.linkeddata.es/ecology/fire#EcosystemEffect

The changes on the ecosystem structure and/or functioning after an event of fire.

has super-classes
Effect c

Effectc back to ToC or Class ToC

IRI: http://cerrado.linkeddata.es/ecology/fire#Effect

It represents the consequences of the fire in ecosystems and individual organims.

has sub-classes
Ecosystem effect c, Effect on plant c
is in domain of
is effect of op
is in range of
has effect op

Effect on plantc back to ToC or Class ToC

IRI: http://cerrado.linkeddata.es/ecology/fire#EffectOnPlant

The changes on plant communities or on plant individuals after an event of fire.

has super-classes
Effect c
has sub-classes
Establishment c, Flowering c, Fruit and Seed Production c, Germination c, Plant Mortality c, Plant resprout c, Top kill c, death rate c

Ending pointc back to ToC or Class ToC

IRI: http://cerrado.linkeddata.es/ecology/fire#EndingPoint

has super-classes
Spatial Entity c

Ending timec back to ToC or Class ToC

IRI: http://cerrado.linkeddata.es/ecology/fire#EndingTime

has super-classes
Temporal Entity c

environmental conditionc back to ToC or Class ToC

IRI: http://purl.obolibrary.org/obo/EnvironmentalCondition

An abiotic environmental factor that influences the functioning of living organisms (Begon et al., 2006).

has super-classes
Natural cause c
has sub-classes
Consecutive rainless days c, Fire history c, Fuel c, Maximum temperature c, Minimum relative humidity c, Observed risk c, Precipitation c, Topography c, Vegetation type c, Weather c
is in domain of
is part of op, meco:isPartOf op
is in range of
has component op

Establishmentc back to ToC or Class ToC

IRI: http://cerrado.linkeddata.es/ecology/fire#Establishment

The process by which a plant becomes established in a new habitat.

has super-classes
Effect on plant c

Extensionc back to ToC or Class ToC

IRI: http://cerrado.linkeddata.es/ecology/fire#Extension

has super-classes
Spatial Entity c

Firec back to ToC or Class ToC

IRI: http://cerrado.linkeddata.es/ecology/fire#Fire

It's the rapid oxidation of a material in the exothermic chemical process of combustion, releasing heat, light, and various reaction products.

has super-classes
has ignition op some Ignition probability factor c
has risk op some Fire risk c
has sub-classes
Brush fire c, Controlled fire c, Forest fire c, Out of control fire c, Scrub fire c
is in domain of
has cause op, has characteristic op, has duration op, has effect op, has ignition op, has location op, has risk op
is in range of
ignites op, is caused by op, is characteristic of op, is duration of op, is effect of op, is location of op, is risk of op

Fire characteristicc back to ToC or Class ToC

IRI: http://cerrado.linkeddata.es/ecology/fire#FireCharacteristic

Stands for those parameters used to describe the characteristics or behavior of a fire event.

has sub-classes
Area burned c, Burn Severity c, Fire Intensity c, Fire frequency c, Flame height c, Speed c, Spread c
is in domain of
is characteristic of op
is in range of
has characteristic op

Fire frequencyc back to ToC or Class ToC

IRI: http://cerrado.linkeddata.es/ecology/fire#FireFrequency

The average time interval between successive fires or the number of fires within a specific period of time.

has super-classes
Fire characteristic c
has members
Biennial ni, Fire protected ni, Low frequency ni, Quadrennial ni

Fire historyc back to ToC or Class ToC

IRI: http://cerrado.linkeddata.es/ecology/fire#FireHistory

Tells the occurrence of previous fire events and the patterns of its behavior.

has super-classes
environmental condition c

Fire Intensityc back to ToC or Class ToC

IRI: http://cerrado.linkeddata.es/ecology/fire#FireIntensity

Energy output from fire.

has super-classes
Fire characteristic c

Fire riskc back to ToC or Class ToC

IRI: http://cerrado.linkeddata.es/ecology/fire#FireRisk

has super-classes
has component op some Maximum temperature c
is risk of op some Fire c
has component op some Observed risk c
has component op some Consecutive rainless days c
has component op some Minimum relative humidity c
has component op some Vegetation type c
is in domain of
has component op, is risk of op
is in range of
has risk op, is part of op, meco:isPartOf op
has members
Critical ni, High ni, Low ni, Medium ni, Minimum ni

Flame heightc back to ToC or Class ToC

IRI: http://cerrado.linkeddata.es/ecology/fire#FlameHeight

Its the maximum height a flame achieve in a fire event.

has super-classes
Fire characteristic c

Floweringc back to ToC or Class ToC

IRI: http://cerrado.linkeddata.es/ecology/fire#Flowering

It is the production of flowers, i.e., when a sexual mature plant starts to produce flowers.

has super-classes
Effect on plant c

Forest firec back to ToC or Class ToC

IRI: http://cerrado.linkeddata.es/ecology/fire#ForestFire

A fire that occurs in a wooded area.

has super-classes
Fire c
is disjoint with
Brush fire c

Fruit and Seed Productionc back to ToC or Class ToC

IRI: http://cerrado.linkeddata.es/ecology/fire#FruitAndSeedProduction

It is the amount of fruit or seeds produced. In this usage, it reflects how the fire affects the production of fruits and seed.

has super-classes
Effect on plant c

Fuelc back to ToC or Class ToC

IRI: http://cerrado.linkeddata.es/ecology/fire#Fuel

The amount of fuel available for fire to burn.

has super-classes
environmental condition c

Germinationc back to ToC or Class ToC

IRI: http://cerrado.linkeddata.es/ecology/fire#Germination

It is the process by which plants, fungi and bacteria emerge from seeds and spores, and begin growth. The most common example of germination is the sprouting of a seedling from a seed of an angiosperm or gymnosperm.

Source: wikipedia.org

has super-classes
Effect on plant c

Harzard-reduction firec back to ToC or Class ToC

IRI: http://cerrado.linkeddata.es/ecology/fire#HarzardReductionFire

It's a fire set in order to prevent large and severe events of burning.

has super-classes
Controlled fire c
has sub-classes
Cool-season fire c, High-intensity fire c

High-intensity firec back to ToC or Class ToC

IRI: http://cerrado.linkeddata.es/ecology/fire#HighIntensityFire

The high-intensity fires are set in order to clear a certain area, that is, to remove all fuel material.

has super-classes
Harzard-reduction fire c

Ignition probability factorc back to ToC or Class ToC

IRI: http://cerrado.linkeddata.es/ecology/fire#IgnitionProbabilityFactor

Represents the factors that together affect the likelihood of a certain are to burn or to start a fire event.

has super-classes
ignites op some Fire c
is in domain of
ignites op
is in range of
has ignition op

Maximum temperaturec back to ToC or Class ToC

IRI: http://cerrado.linkeddata.es/ecology/fire#MaximumTemperature

It is a measure of the thermal energy per particle of matter or radiation; it is measured by a thermometer, which may be calibrated in any of various temperature scales, Celsius, Fahrenheit, Kelvin, etc (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Temperature).

has super-classes
environmental condition c

Minimum relative humidityc back to ToC or Class ToC

IRI: http://cerrado.linkeddata.es/ecology/fire#MinimumRelativeHumidity

The minimum relative amount of whater vapour in the atmosphere

has super-classes
environmental condition c

Natural causec back to ToC or Class ToC

IRI: http://cerrado.linkeddata.es/ecology/fire#NaturalCause

Natural agents that cause fire on vegetation

has super-classes
Cause c
has sub-classes
environmental condition c

Observed riskc back to ToC or Class ToC

IRI: http://cerrado.linkeddata.es/ecology/fire#ObservedRisk

It is based on data observed on meteorological stations and combined with occurrence of burning outbreaks detected by INPES's satelite monitoring system.

has super-classes
environmental condition c

Out of control firec back to ToC or Class ToC

IRI: http://cerrado.linkeddata.es/ecology/fire#UncontrolledFire

Fires that were not planned, but were started by arson, accident or lightning and burn out-of-control.

has super-classes
Fire c
has sub-classes
Wildfire c
is disjoint with
Controlled fire c

Plant Mortalityc back to ToC or Class ToC

IRI: http://cerrado.linkeddata.es/ecology/fire#PlantMortality

The death of plants caused by fire.

has super-classes
Effect on plant c

Plant resproutc back to ToC or Class ToC

IRI: http://cerrado.linkeddata.es/ecology/fire#PlantResprout

It's when the fire event influence the plant individuals to resprout, that is, the fire can induce the growth of new branches as well the vegetative reproduction of some fire resistant species.

has super-classes
Effect on plant c

Precipitationc back to ToC or Class ToC

IRI: http://cerrado.linkeddata.es/ecology/meco#Precipitation

Any product of the condensation of atmospheric water vapour that falls under gravity (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Precipitation)

has super-classes
environmental condition c

Scrub firec back to ToC or Class ToC

IRI: http://cerrado.linkeddata.es/ecology/fire#ScrubFire

A fire in scrubby trees.

has super-classes
Fire c
is disjoint with
Brush fire c

Spatial Entityc back to ToC or Class ToC

IRI: http://ecoinformatics.org/oboe/oboe.1.0/oboe-spatial.owl#SpatialEntity

It's the entity used to describe the spatial reations between entities or other elements.

has sub-classes
Ending point c, Extension c, Starting point c
is in domain of
is location of op
is in range of
has location op

Speedc back to ToC or Class ToC

IRI: http://cerrado.linkeddata.es/ecology/fire#FireSpeed

it's the average speed of the fire front.

has super-classes
Fire characteristic c

Spreadc back to ToC or Class ToC

IRI: http://cerrado.linkeddata.es/ecology/fire#FireSpread

It's how the fire event is spreading, the directions.

has super-classes
Fire characteristic c

Starting pointc back to ToC or Class ToC

IRI: http://cerrado.linkeddata.es/ecology/fire#StartingPoint

has super-classes
Spatial Entity c

Starting timec back to ToC or Class ToC

IRI: http://cerrado.linkeddata.es/ecology/fire#StartingTime

has super-classes
Temporal Entity c

Temporal Entityc back to ToC or Class ToC

IRI: http://ecoinformatics.org/oboe/oboe.1.0/oboe-temporal.owl#TemporalEntity

It's the entity used to describe the temporal relationships between entities or other elements.

has sub-classes
Duration c, Ending time c, Starting time c
is in domain of
is duration of op
is in range of
has duration op

Top killc back to ToC or Class ToC

IRI: http://cerrado.linkeddata.es/ecology/fire#TopKill

It's the death of only the above ground biomass of a plant.

has super-classes
Effect on plant c

Topographyc back to ToC or Class ToC

IRI: http://cerrado.linkeddata.es/ecology/fire#Topography

Certain topography features are more likely to burn than others.

has super-classes
environmental condition c

Vegetation typec back to ToC or Class ToC

IRI: http://cerrado.linkeddata.es/ecology/fire#VegetationType

It is the type of vegetation to be considered in the calculation of fire risk.

has super-classes
environmental condition c

Weatherc back to ToC or Class ToC

IRI: http://cerrado.linkeddata.es/ecology/fire#Weather

Weather is the state of the atmosphere, to the degree that it is hot or cold, wet or dry, calm or stormy, clear or cloudy. Generally refers to day-to-day temperature and precipitation activity.

Source: wikipedia.org

has super-classes
environmental condition c

Wildfirec back to ToC or Class ToC

IRI: http://cerrado.linkeddata.es/ecology/fire#Wildfire

A fire burning in wildland fuel.

has super-classes
Out of control fire c

Object Properties

has causeop back to ToC or Object Property ToC

IRI: http://cerrado.linkeddata.es/ecology/fire#hasCause

has domain
Fire c
has range
Cause c
is inverse of
is caused by op

has characteristicop back to ToC or Object Property ToC

IRI: http://cerrado.linkeddata.es/ecology/fire#hasCharacteristic

has domain
Fire c
has range
Fire characteristic c
is inverse of
is characteristic of op

has componentop back to ToC or Object Property ToC

IRI: http://cerrado.linkeddata.es/ecology/meco#hasComponent

has domain
Fire risk c
has range
environmental condition c
is inverse of
meco:isPartOf op, is part of op

has durationop back to ToC or Object Property ToC

IRI: http://cerrado.linkeddata.es/ecology/fire#hasDuration

has domain
Fire c
has range
Temporal Entity c
is inverse of
is duration of op

has effectop back to ToC or Object Property ToC

IRI: http://cerrado.linkeddata.es/ecology/fire#hasEffect

has domain
Fire c
has range
Effect c
is inverse of
is effect of op

has ignitionop back to ToC or Object Property ToC

IRI: http://cerrado.linkeddata.es/ecology/fire#hasIgnition

has domain
Fire c
has range
Ignition probability factor c
is inverse of
ignites op

has locationop back to ToC or Object Property ToC

IRI: http://cerrado.linkeddata.es/ecology/fire#hasLocation

has domain
Fire c
has range
Spatial Entity c
is inverse of
is location of op

has riskop back to ToC or Object Property ToC

IRI: http://cerrado.linkeddata.es/ecology/fire#hasRisk

has domain
Fire c
has range
Fire risk c
is inverse of
is risk of op

ignitesop back to ToC or Object Property ToC

IRI: http://cerrado.linkeddata.es/ecology/fire#ignites

has domain
Ignition probability factor c
has range
Fire c
is inverse of
has ignition op

is caused byop back to ToC or Object Property ToC

IRI: http://cerrado.linkeddata.es/ecology/fire#isCausedBy

has domain
Cause c
has range
Fire c
is inverse of
has cause op

is characteristic ofop back to ToC or Object Property ToC

IRI: http://cerrado.linkeddata.es/ecology/fire#isCharacteristicOf

has domain
Fire characteristic c
has range
Fire c
is inverse of
has characteristic op

is duration ofop back to ToC or Object Property ToC

IRI: http://cerrado.linkeddata.es/ecology/fire#isDurationOf

has domain
Temporal Entity c
has range
Fire c
is inverse of
has duration op

is effect ofop back to ToC or Object Property ToC

IRI: http://cerrado.linkeddata.es/ecology/fire#isEffectOf

has domain
Effect c
has range
Fire c
is inverse of
has effect op

is location ofop back to ToC or Object Property ToC

IRI: http://cerrado.linkeddata.es/ecology/fire#isLocationOf

has domain
Spatial Entity c
has range
Fire c
is inverse of
has location op

is part ofop back to ToC or Object Property ToC

IRI: http://www.fao.org/aims/aos/cwr.owl#isPartOf

has equivalent properties
ccon:isPartOf op
has domain
environmental condition c
has range
Fire risk c
is inverse of
has component op

is risk ofop back to ToC or Object Property ToC

IRI: http://cerrado.linkeddata.es/ecology/fire#isRiskOf

has domain
Fire risk c
has range
Fire c
is inverse of
has risk op

isPartOfop back to ToC or Object Property ToC

IRI: http://cerrado.linkeddata.es/ecology/ccon#isPartOf

has equivalent properties
is part of op
has domain
environmental condition c
has range
Fire risk c
is inverse of
has component op

5. References back to ToC

[1] Miranda, H. S., Sato, M. N., Nascimento Neto, W., & Aires, F. S. (2009). Fires in the cerrado, the Brazilian savanna. In Tropical Fire Ecology: Climate Change, Land Use, and Ecosystem Dynamics (Vol. 2, pp. 427–450). Springer Berlin Heidelberg.

[2] W3C OWL Working Group. OWL 2 Web Ontology Language: Overview. 27 October 2009. W3C Recommendation. 

6. Acknowledgements back to ToC

The authors would like to thanks Silvio Peroni for developing LODE, a Live OWL Documentation Environment used for representing the Corss Referencing Section of this document and Daniel Garijo for developing the script used to create the template of this document.