Environmental effects of a management method used after fire on development of temperate Scots pine ecosystem: a 15-year study from Poland

Abstract

Due to the ongoing climate changes, temperate forests are increasingly exposed to fires. However, until now the functioning of post-fire temperate forest ecosystems with regard to used forest management method has been weakly recognized. Here, we examined three variants of forest restoration after fire (two variants of natural regeneration with no soil preparation—NR, and artificial restoration by planting following soil preparation—AR) regarding their environmental consequences in development of post-fire Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris) ecosystem. The study was conducted using a 15-year timespan in a long-term research site located in the Cierpiszewo area (N Poland) being one of the biggest post-fire grounds in European temperate forests in last decades. We focused on soil and microclimatic variables as well as on growth dynamics of post-fire pines generation. We found that the restoration rates of soil organic matter, carbon and most studied nutritional elements stocks were higher in NR plots than in AR. This could be primarily linked to the higher (p < 0.05) density of pines in naturally regenerated plots, and the subsequent faster organic horizon reconstruction after fire. The difference in tree density also involved regular differences in air and soil temperature among plots: consistently higher in AR than in both NR plots. In turn, lower water uptake by trees in AR implied that soil moisture was constantly the highest in this plot. Our study delivers strong arguments to pay more attention to restore post-fire forest areas with the use of natural regeneration with no soil preparation.

Assessment of soil organic carbon stocks differentiation in humus horizons of clay-illuvial soils within young morainic landscapes, northern Poland

“…Research conducted on various forest habitats in central Poland by Zwydak et al (2017) showed that overgrown by broadleaf forests Luvisols had significantly lower carbon resources, compared even to the less fertile Arenosols and Podzols covered by Scots pine stands which led the formation of ectohumus and higher C accumulation in surface horizons. Apart from those research, the variability of carbon pools was more often determined for mountainous, forested or reclaimed areas where clay-illuvial soils do not represent a significant share (Józefowska and Miechówka, 2011;Świtoniak et al, 2011;Szopka et al, 2016;Greinert et al, 2018;Łabęda and Kondras, 2020;Porębska et al, 2021;Sewerniak et al 2023). The results of the all above mentioned studies shows that clay-illuviated soils of Poland are generally characterized by lower storage capacity of humus in comparison with most of other types.…”