Effects of fire disturbance on alpha and beta diversity and on beta diversity components of soil seed banks and aboveground vegetation

Heydari, Mehdi; Omidipour, Reza; Abedi, Mehdi; Baskin, Carol C.

doi:10.5091/plecevo.2017.1344

Cited by 41 publications

(43 citation statements)

References 10 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Unclassified

Order By: Relevance

“…We achieved a range of fire severities by using rain-out shelters to create experimental drought and lower fuel moisture contents (Grau-Andrés et al, 2018a). We hypothesised that (i) relative to unburnt locations, higher severity fires further alter community composition compared to lower severity fires (Legg et al, 1992;Kettridge et al, 2015); (ii) fire effects on community composition are stronger at the heathland compared to the raised bog due to greater fire severity at the heathland (Grau-Andrés et al, 2018a); and (iii) higher fire severity has a homogenising effect on vegetation community composition, reducing species and functional type diversity (Burkle et al, 2015;Heydari et al, 2017).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Increased fire severity alters initial vegetation regeneration across Calluna-dominated ecosystems

Grau‐Andrés

Davies

Waldron

et al. 2019

Journal of Environmental Management

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Calluna vulgaris-dominated habitats are valued for ecosystem services such as carbon storage and for their conservation importance. Climate and environmental change are altering their fire regimes. In particular, more frequent summer droughts will result in higher severity wildfires. This could alter the plant community composition of Calluna habitats and thereby influence ecosystem function. To study the effect of fire severity on community composition we used rain-out shelters to simulate drought prior to experimental burns at two Callunadominated sites, a raised bog and a heathland. We analysed species abundance in plots surveyed ca. 16 months after fire in relation to burn severity (indicated by fire-induced soil heating). We found that fire severity was an important control on community composition at both sites. Higher fire severity increased the abundance of ericoids, graminoids and acrocarpous mosses, and decreased the abundance of pleurocarpous mosses compared to lower severity fires. At the raised bog, the keystone species Sphagnum capillifolium and Eriophorum vaginatum showed no difference in regeneration with fire severity. Species and plant functional type beta-diversity increased following fire, and was similar in higher compared to lower severity burns. Our results further our understanding of the response of Calluna-dominated habitats to projected changes in fire regimes, and can assist land managers using prescribed fires in selecting burning conditions to achieve management objectives. CAVU = Calluna vulgaris, CECO = Cephalozia connivens, CL.sp = Cladonia spp., DEFL = Deschampsia flexuosa, DISC = Dicranum scoparium, Duff = Duff, ERCI = Erica cinerea, ERVA = Eriophorum vaginatum, HYJU = Hypnum jutlandicum, HYSP = Hylocomium splendens, Litter = Litter, LOBI = Lophocolea bidentata, ODSP = Odontoschisma sphagni, PLSH = Pleurozium schreberi, PLUN = Plagiothecium undulatum, POER = Potentilla erecta, POJU = Polytrichum juniperinum, RHSQ = Rhytidiadelphus squarrosus, SPCA = Sphagnum capillifolium, VAVI = Vaccinium vitis-idaea.

show abstract

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Increased fire severity alters initial vegetation regeneration across Calluna-dominated ecosystems

Grau‐Andrés

Davies

Waldron

et al. 2019

Journal of Environmental Management

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…The effects of forest degradation and management strategies on plant diversity and soil attributes have been recently investigated in the Zagros forest of Iran (Parma et al, 2010;Heydari et al, 2017). However, no study has addressed the effects of climate with or without interaction with management practices on diversity components (alpha and beta diversity) as well as on beta diversity components (turnover and nestedness).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Interaction between climate and management on beta diversity components of vegetation in relation to soil properties in arid and semi-arid oak forests, Iran

et al. 2019

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

This study aimed to investigate the interaction between regions with different climatic conditions (arid vs. semi-arid) and management (protected vs. unprotected) on the turnover and nestedness of vegetation in relation to physical, chemical and biological properties of soils in the Ilam Province of Iran. In each of the two regions, we sampled 8 sites (4 managed and 4 unmanaged sites) within each of which we established 4 circular plots (1000 m 2) that were used to investigate woody species, while two micro-plots (1 m×1 m) were established in each 1000-m 2 plot to analyze herbaceous species. In each sample unit, we also extracted three soil samples (0-20 cm depth) for measuring soil properties. The results indicated that the interaction between region and conservational management significantly affected the percent of canopy cover of Persian oak (Quercus brantii Linddl), soil respiration, substrate-induced respiration, as well as beta and gamma diversities and turnover of plant species. The percent of oak canopy cover was positively correlated with soil silt, electrical conductivity, available potassium, and alpha diversity, whereas it was negatively correlated with plant turnover. In addition, plant turnover was positively related to available phosphorus, while nestedness of species was positively related to organic carbon and total nitrogen. According to these results, we concluded that physical, chemical, and biological characteristics of limited ecological niche generally influenced plant diversity. Also, this study demonstrated the major contribution of the beta diversity on gamma diversity, especially in semi-arid region, because of the higher heterogeneity of vegetation in this area.

show abstract

“…Soil pH remained moderately alkaline with no significant difference ( p > .05) found between sampling times (T0, T1, T4, and T10) (Table 1). However, a slight increase in soil pH (∼3.1%) was observed from T0 to T4, likely resulting from high ash deposition (Molina et al., 2007) and release of a large quantity of basic cations in the soil (Heydari, Omidipour, Abedi, & Baskin, 2017). The pH was expected to return to preburn conditions over a longer time period (Alcañiz, Outeiro, Francos, Farguell, & Úbeda, 2016) depending on the buffering capacity of the soil.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…An increase (39–55%) in total N concentration was observed from preburn (T0) to postburn (T1, T4, and T10) conditions (nonsignificant at p > .05, Table 1). Previous studies reported that burning can increase nitrate‐N through the release of plant‐available N in the soil (Bárcenas‐Moreno, García‐Orenes, Mataix‐Solera, Mataix‐Beneyto, & Bååth, 2011; Heydari et al., 2017) and proliferation of N‐fixing microorganisms in burned areas (Johnson & Curtis, 2001).…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Effects of prescribed fire on soil properties in a pine rockland ecosystem

Freidenreich

Harris

Dattamudi

et al. 2020

Agricultural & Env Letters

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

We investigated the impact of a single prescribed fire on soil properties of a pine rockland (PR) ecosystem (South Florida, USA) that had never been burned since establishment in 1978. Soil samples were collected before the prescribed fire (T0) and 1 wk (T1), 4 wk (T4), and 10 wk (T10) postburn and analyzed for chemical characteristics (pH, C, N, P, organic matter) and culturable bacterial and fungal cells. Soil organic matter showed a significant decrease after the burn as a result of fuel combustion. However, a significant increase in soil fungal and bacterial communities in postburn samples was observed, possibly resulting from higher P, N, and micronutrient availability in the soil after burning. Our study indicates that culturable soil microbes can respond to even small and undetectable soil chemical changes. This case study suggests that fast‐growing soil microbes respond more rapidly than chemical properties to a prescribed burn and may have an impact on recovering of native vegetation communities.

show abstract

Effects of fire disturbance on alpha and beta diversity and on beta diversity components of soil seed banks and aboveground vegetation

Cited by 41 publications

References 10 publications

Increased fire severity alters initial vegetation regeneration across Calluna-dominated ecosystems

Increased fire severity alters initial vegetation regeneration across Calluna-dominated ecosystems

Interaction between climate and management on beta diversity components of vegetation in relation to soil properties in arid and semi-arid oak forests, Iran

Effects of prescribed fire on soil properties in a pine rockland ecosystem

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About