Restoring riparian corridors with fire: effects on soil and vegetation

Blank, R. R.; Chambers, J. C.; Zamudio, D.

doi:10.2458/azu_jrm_v56i4_blank

Cited by 5 publications

(8 citation statements)

References 18 publications

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“…In this study, juniper coppices and tree zones were hydrologically stable components of the landscape pre‐fire and generated very minor soil loss (Figures and ). Fire‐induced reversal of these attributes (Tables and ) likely resulted in transfer of water and nutrient‐enriched soils (Blank et al ., , DeBano et al ., ; Blank et al ., ; Rau et al ., ) throughout the intercanopy by splash‐sheet processes in low‐intensity storms and may have contributed to post‐fire intercanopy plant recruitment.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Can wildfire serve as an ecohydrologic threshold‐reversal mechanism on juniper‐encroached shrublands

et al. 2013

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Woody plant encroachment on water-limited lands can induce a shift from biotic (plant)-controlled resource retention to abiotic (physical)-driven losses of critical soil resources. The biotic-to-abiotic shift occurs where encroachment propagates connectivity of runoff processes and amplified cross-scale erosion that, in-turn, promote ecohydrologic resilience of the post-encroachment community. We investigated these relationships for woodland-encroached sagebrush steppe in the Great Basin, USA, and evaluated wildfire as a mechanism to reverse the post-encroachment soil erosion feedback. We measured vegetation, soil properties, and runoff/ erosion from experimental plots on burned and unburned areas of a late-succession woodland 1 and 2 years post-fire. Our findings suggest that the biotic-to-abiotic shift and amplified cross-scale erosion occur where encroachment-induced bare ground exceeds 50-60% and bare gaps between plant bases frequently extend beyond 1 m. The trigger for amplified cross-scale erosion is formation of concentrated flow within the degraded intercanopy between trees. Burning in this study decreased ecohydrologic resilience of the latesuccession woodland through herbaceous recruitment 2 years post-fire. Increased intercanopy herbaceous productivity decreased connectivity of bare ground, improved infiltration, and reduced erosion, but the study site remained vulnerable to runoff and erosion from high-intensity rainfall. We conclude that burning can reduce woodland ecohydrologic resilience and that woodland encroachment-induced structural and functional ecohydrologic attributes may persist during high-intensity storms for an undetermined period post-fire. We cannot conclude whether wildfire reverses the woodland-induced soil erosion feedback on sagebrush rangelands. However, our results suggest that wildfire may provide a restoration pathway for sagebrush steppe by reducing woodland ecohydrologic resilience over time. Published 2013. This article is a U.S. Government work and is in the public domain in the USA.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Can wildfire serve as an ecohydrologic threshold‐reversal mechanism on juniper‐encroached shrublands

et al. 2013

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“…Fire generally does not have significant effects on soil texture and its spatial (i.e., microsite) patterning in sagebrush steppe [ Pierson et al , 2001, 2002; Davies et al , 2009; Hoover , 2010]. Fire can reduce soil organic matter and carbon, and decrease the extent to which soil bulk density and infiltration rates differ between undershrub and interspace microsites in sagebrush steppe [ Blank et al , 1994, 2003; Pierson et al , 2001, 2002, 2008; Davies et al , 2009; Hoover , 2010]. Direct effects of fire on soil aggregates and aggregate stability are not certain for sagebrush microsites and burned environments in general [ Boix Fayos , 1997; Giovannini and Lucchesi , 1997; García‐Oliva et al , 1999; Mataix‐Solera et al , 2002; Arcenegui et al , 2008; Varela et al , 2010].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Dust supply varies with sagebrush microsites and time since burning in experimental erosion events

2012

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Wind erosion and large dust plumes are an increasingly important attribute in cold‐desert rangelands, particularly as wildfire increases. Fire reduces vegetation, which increases erosivity. Whether sediment supply increases after fire has not been determined in this environment. We asked how sediment supply varied among sites burned 2‐months to 5‐years previously, in comparison to unburned sagebrush steppe, across 500 km of southern Idaho, USA. We measured potential dust emissions (PM10, particles <10μm diameter) in response to step changes in friction velocity (u*), with a field‐based wind tunnel analog (PI‐SWERL, Portable In Situ Wind Erosion Laboratory). We evaluated how emissions, sediment supply, and a proxy of erodibility varied among the microsite soil patterning in these sites (shrub islands and interspaces). Emissions were three orders of magnitude greater on burned compared to unburned surfaces, especially where shrubs had existed and sites burned more recently. Greater emission rates were due to greater sediment supply, whereas the proxy of erodibility did not vary among the surfaces for dry conditions that prevail during large wind erosion events (near −150 MPa at the surface). Wetter surface conditions, similar to those after precipitation or snowmelt, resulted in less dust emission on a recently burned site. Dust supply increases in initial postfire years especially on microsites that previously had shrubs. Abundance of shrubs is responsive to management practices that affect prefire vegetation, and grazing‐induced increases in shrubs might, for example, render a site more vulnerable to dust emissions following fire.

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“…On the one hand, there are concerns about the implications of higher water temperatures and increased erosion and sedimentation for conservation of sensitive species and protection of ecosystem services. On the other hand, wildfire can be important in both maintaining biodiversity and ecosystem function (e.g., and has been investigated as a potential restoration technique (e.g., Blank et al, 2003). …”

Section: Importance Of Stream-riparian Ecosystemsmentioning

confidence: 99%