Changes in soil water repellency after prescribed burnings in three different Mediterranean forest ecosystems

Plaza‐Álvarez, Pedro Antonio; Lucas‐Borja, Manuel Esteban; Sagra, J.; Moya, Daniel; Alfaro‐Sánchez, Raquel; González-Romero, J.; Heras, Jorge de las

doi:10.1016/j.scitotenv.2018.06.364

Cited by 49 publications

(27 citation statements)

References 44 publications

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“…In this sense, there are some studies that assessed visual signs of soil burn severity with changes in soil chemical and microbial properties after fire [30], post-fire soil erosion [45], or soil fertility [46]. Some soil properties such as pH, soil organic matter, aggregates stability, mean weight diameter or soil water repellence might be considered to explore the relationship with soil burn severity [47][48][49]. All of them are often significantly affected by increase of burn severity [41,[50][51][52], easy to measure and may be of great interest due to their relationship with soil loss by erosion.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Evaluation of Composite Burn Index and Land Surface Temperature for Assessing Soil Burn Severity in Mediterranean Fire-Prone Pine Ecosystems

Marcos

Fernández-García

Fernández–Manso

et al. 2018

Forests

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We analysed the relationship between burn severity indicators, from remote sensing and field observations, and soil properties after a wildfire in a fire-prone Mediterranean ecosystem. Our study area was a large wildfire in a Pinus pinaster forest. Burn severity from remote sensing was identified by studying immediate post-fire Land Surface Temperature (LST). We also evaluated burn severity in the field applying the Composite Burn Index (CBI) in a total of 84 plots (30 m diameter). In each plot we evaluated litter consumption, ash colour and char depth as visual indicators. We collected soil samples and pH, soil organic carbon, dry aggregate size distribution (MWD), aggregate stability and water repellency were analysed. A controlled heating of soil was also carried out in the laboratory, with soil from the control plots, to compare with the changes produced in soils affected by different severity levels in the field. Our results shown that changes in soil properties affected by wildfire were only observed in soil aggregation in the high severity situation. The laboratory-controlled heating showed that temperatures of about 300 °C result in a significant reduction in soil organic carbon and MWD. Furthermore, soil organic carbon showed a significant decrease when LST values increased. Char depth was the best visual indicator to show changes in soil properties (mainly physical properties) in large fires that occur in Mediterranean pine forests. We conclude that CBI and post-fire LST can be considered good indicators of soil burn severity since both indicate the impact of fire on soil properties.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Evaluation of Composite Burn Index and Land Surface Temperature for Assessing Soil Burn Severity in Mediterranean Fire-Prone Pine Ecosystems

Marcos

Fernández-García

Fernández–Manso

et al. 2018

Forests

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“…Due to the synergistic effects of high SWR and low SHC, infiltration rates of Mediterranean soils can be several orders of magnitude lower than would be expected (DeBano, 1971; Doerr et al, 2003, 2000), with heavy environmental on‐site (e.g., soil loss and landslides) and off‐site impacts (e.g., transport of entrained pollutants and damage of urban infrastructures). Therefore, the relationship between SWR and SHC is very important to control and mitigate the hydrological risks and the related environmental hazards (Di Prima et al, 2018; Lucas‐Borja et al, 2018; Plaza‐Álvarez et al, 2018). Moreover, soil hydraulic and hydrological properties in forests are noticeably influenced by disturbances (Bormann & Klaassen, 2008; Di Prima, Castellini, Rodrigo‐Comino, & Cerdà, 2020; Lucas‐Borja, Plaza‐Álvarez, et al, 2019; Lucas‐Borja, Zema, et al, 2019), such as human management.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Effects of stand composition and soil properties on water repellency and hydraulic conductivity in Mediterranean forests

et al. 2021

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This study evaluates soil hydraulic conductivity (SHC) and water repellency (SWR) in three mixed forest stands in relation to site plant and soil characteristics. The studied forest stands were (i) Pinus nigra Arn. ssp salzmannii and Quercus ilex; (ii) P. nigra Arn. ssp salzmannii and Juniperus Thurifera; (iii) P. nigra Arn. ssp salzmannii, Q. ilex and Juniperus Thurifera. A 100‐ to 120‐year‐old unmanaged P. nigra Arn. ssp salzmannii stand was also chosen as control. The hydrological variables, physico‐chemical properties and surface characteristics of soils were surveyed. Soil water infiltration was higher in Pinus + Juniper mixed forest and Pinus + Quercus + Juniper mixed forests compared to unmanaged Pinus stands. None of the studied forest stands shows a high level of repellency. Only a slight repellency (in unmanaged stands dominated by pines) or moderate repellency (in soils with Pinus and Juniper) were evident, while soils with Pinus and Quercus were not repellent. Differences in SHC among the forest species were driven primarily by the soil texture and associated structure and secondarily by soil organic matter and associated SWR. The latter was mainly due to organic matter content of the soils, but others of the soil physico‐chemical properties and covers analysed were found as influencing parameters to discriminate SWR among mono‐specific and mixed forest stands. While SHC at the studied forest stands could be predicted using organic matter as well as sand and clay contents of the soil, SWR is the result of several hydrological and physico‐chemical parameters.

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“…SWR can limit the soil water absorption rate and capacity (Dekker & Jungerius, 2000; Li, Yao, Tang, Chau, & Feng, 2019), resulting in strong influences on the soil degradation and crop growth (González‐Peñaloza et al, 2012; Martínez‐garcía, Korthals, Brussaard, Bracht, & De, 2018). A lot of research has already been conducted to reveal the impact of SWR on the soil ecosystem under forest and fire‐affected soils (Debano, 2000; Plaza‐Álvarez et al, 2018; Weninger, Filipovi, Me, Clothier, & Filipovi, 2019). However, because the degree of SWR in farmland tillage soil is smaller than the forest and fire‐affected soils (Lucas‐Borja et al, 2019; Stavi, Barkai, Knoll, & Zaady, 2016), there is a lack of research on the SWR in farmland, especially for the study on how conservation agriculture affect SWR.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…under forest and fire-affected soils (Debano, 2000;Plaza-Alvarez et al, 2018;Weninger, Filipovi, Me, Clothier, & Filipovi, 2019). However, because the degree of SWR in farmland tillage soil is smaller than the forest and fire-affected soils (Lucas-Borja et al, 2019;Stavi, Barkai, Knoll, & Zaady, 2016), there is a lack of research on the SWR in farmland, especially for the study on how conservation agriculture affect SWR.…”

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confidence: 99%

Factors governing soil water repellency under tillage management: The role of pore structure and hydrophobic substances

Liang

et al. 2020

Land Degrad Dev

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Soil water repellency (SWR) has significant effects on soil degradation by changing some soil processes (e.g., carbon sequestration and soil erosion). Understanding the influence factors of SWR under conservation agriculture are playing a vital role in the sustainable development for improving soil quality. However, how soil pore structure influence on SWR remains unclear. We aim to assess the impact of hydrophobic substances and pore structure on SWR. Here we conducted two long‐term experimental fields with three treatments: conventional tillage (CT), reduced tillage (RT), and no‐tillage (NT). X‐ray tomography and the sorptivity method were used to measure soil pore structure and SWR, respectively. We found that soil organic carbon (SOC) and microbial biomass carbon (MBC) were higher in RT and NT treatments than in CT. MBC had significant influences on soil water sorptivity (Sw) and water repellency index (RI; p < 0.001), whereas SOC had no influence on Sw (p > 0.05). MBC also showed a closer relationship with SWR than SOC in redundancy analysis. The RT and NT increased the porosity of 55–165 μm that had a positive relationship with ethanol sorptivity and RI (p < 0.05). Ethanol sorptivity increased with an increase in soil pore porosity and connectivity under RT and NT treatments. However, increasing the pore surface area could decrease Sw due to enhance contact area between hydrophobic substances and soil water. Overall, the RT and NT treatments increased the water repellency index, which was a result of the interactions between pore structure and hydrophobic substances.

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Changes in soil water repellency after prescribed burnings in three different Mediterranean forest ecosystems

Cited by 49 publications

References 44 publications

Evaluation of Composite Burn Index and Land Surface Temperature for Assessing Soil Burn Severity in Mediterranean Fire-Prone Pine Ecosystems

Evaluation of Composite Burn Index and Land Surface Temperature for Assessing Soil Burn Severity in Mediterranean Fire-Prone Pine Ecosystems

Effects of stand composition and soil properties on water repellency and hydraulic conductivity in Mediterranean forests

Factors governing soil water repellency under tillage management: The role of pore structure and hydrophobic substances

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