Short-term changes in soil properties after prescribed fire and mulching with fern in Mediterranean forests

Carrà, Bruno Gianmarco; Bombino, Giuseppe; Lucas‐Borja, Manuel Esteban; Muscolo, Adele; Romeo, Federico; Zema, Demetrio Antonio

doi:10.1007/s11676-021-01431-8

Cited by 13 publications

(12 citation statements)

References 79 publications

(139 reference statements)

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“…Some research supports this explanation, since increases in the organic carbon content in burned areas compared to the unburned sites have been recorded also for low-to moderate-intensity fires, such as the prescribed fires [87]. Another possible reason for the OM increase of our experiment may be the addition of partially pyrolyzed plant residues [82,88], the incorporation of ash into the soil [81], and the forest floor decomposition [89]. Overall, the OM content is one of the most important quality indicators among the physico-chemical properties of soil, considering its influence on plant growth and other soil processes, such as water retention, nutrient exchange, and soil structure [50,79].…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 69%

“…In a study by [44] that was carried out in a burned pine stand of Central Eastern Spain, the soil pH was slightly affected by fire and post-fire logging. In burned forests of Southern Italy, [81] found significant reductions in pH of soils that were treated with fern mulching immediately after the fire, but the pH values were not restored after one year compared to the unburned areas. The authors concluded that mulching was not successful to limit the changes in these soil properties, although it should bear in mind the low severity of the fire.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 96%

“…Due to this variability, it is hard to disentangle whether the treatments were effective or not at exerting effects on the soil pH. According to the literature, soil pH increases after burning (e.g., [9,80], but both these properties progressively return to the pre-fire values due to leaching [7,81]. Regarding the post-fire treatments, the low variability of pH in mulched and/or logged sites may be ascribed to the good buffering capacity of the soil.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 2 more Smart Citations

The Impacts of Post-Fire Straw Mulching and Salvage Logging on Soil Properties and Plant Diversity in a Mediterranean Burned Pine Forest

Ortega¹,

Zema²,

Valiente

et al. 2022

SSRN Journal

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 69%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 96%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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The Impacts of Post-Fire Straw Mulching and Salvage Logging on Soil Properties and Plant Diversity in a Mediterranean Burned Pine Forest

Ortega¹,

Zema²,

Valiente

et al. 2022

SSRN Journal

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“…The main chemical properties of the soil samples (pH, electrical conductivity, contents of organic carbon, total nitrogen, potassium, magnesium, calcium, and phosphates) were analyzed in laboratory (Table A1). The analytical methods are described in [52].…”

Section: Chemical Propertiesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Exploring and Modeling the Short-Term Influence of Soil Properties and Covers on Hydrology of Mediterranean Forests after Prescribed Fire and Mulching

2022

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Several studies have analyzed the changes in individual soil properties and covers and quantified the hydrological response of burned forest soils (with or without post-fire treatment). Less research exists on the influence of these changes on runoff and erosion rates immediately after a prescribed fire and post-fire treatment. Moreover, hydrological modeling of burned areas is based on complex models rather than relying on simple regression equations. This study carries out a combined analysis of the hydrological response of soil and its driving factors in three forests (pine, oak, and chestnut) of Southern Italy that were subjected to prescribed fire and post-fire treatment with mulching. Moreover, simple regression models based on a limited set of soil properties/covers are proposed to predict runoff and erosion. The Principal Component Analysis has shown that the runoff coefficients increase when the water infiltration rate and litter cover decrease and repellency, ash cover, organic carbon content, and bare soil area increase. All the analyzed variables play a secondary role in influencing the sediment concentration. Due to these properties, clear differences in soil properties and covers have been found between unburned and burned soils. The distinctions between the burned soils (mulched or not) are much lower. The proposed regression models use a very low number of soil covers and two dummy variables as input parameters. These models are very accurate in simulating the surface runoff and soil erosion in all soil conditions in the short term.

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“…Moreover, forest fires result in ash deposition, changes in the structure, concentrations and forms of soil elements or compounds (Badía et al, 2017;Zavala et al, 2014) as well as in alterations of its biological properties (Agbeshie et al, 2022;Pellegrini et al, 2018). For instance, organic matter and nutrient contents decrease after fire, and changes in microbial communities composition and enzymatic activity are common (Carra et al, 2021;Inbar et al, 2014;Lucas-Borja et al, 2020c). The forest type (natural or reforested stand), age (young or old stands) and management practices (that is, forest operations) can play an important role in driving the soil properties after fire (Jarvis et al, 2013;Neary et al, 1999;Zema, 2021;Zema et al, 2021bZema et al, , 2021a.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Variability of soil properties with fire severity in pine forests and reforested areas under Mediterranean conditions

Lucas‐Borja

Fernández

Plaza‐Álvarez

et al. 2022

Journal of Hydrology and Hydromechanics

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It is well known how fires affect the properties of forest soils depending on its severity. A better understanding of the magnitude of these impacts is essential to setup effective management actions after fire against the losses of soil and biodiversity. However, physical, chemical and biological processes in burnt soils are complex, resulting in a diversity of fire-induced changes, as acknowledged in many literature studies. Moreover, these changes may be even variable between natural forests and reforested areas. This study explores the changes in the most important soil properties with fire severity, from low to high. The main chemical parameters of soils were measured after field sampling in different pine forests (burnt natural stands, reforested areas as well as unburnt sites) of Castilla La Mancha (Central Eastern Spain). In comparison to the unburnt soils, the investigation has shown in the burnt areas: (i) no evident changes in soil pH at all fire severities, except in natural stands burnt at a very high severity (showing an increase of about 10%); (ii) increases in the organic carbon content (by about 70%) of soils burnt at a moderate fire severity under both forest ecosystems, and in reforested areas at very high fire severities (+95%); (iii) small differences in the nitrogen content of soil, except for a significant increase measured in soils burnt at an moderate fire severity under both the natural pine stand and reforested area (about +300%); (iv) a limited variability of the phosphorous content in the soil, with only an increase in soils under natural pine stands burnt at moderate fire severity (by 250%); (v) increases in magnesium and potassium contents in soils burnt at the highest fire severities for both land conditions, and decreases in calcium content in reforested areas burnt at the highest severity. Due to some negative impacts (increase in pH and decrease in organic carbon), the implementation of post-fire management actions at natural pine stands burnt at the highest fire severity should be a priority over reforested areas. Overall, this study did not show a straightforward pattern between soil properties, fire severity and land condition. This means that other parameters (for instance, the hydrological properties of soils) that were not explored in this investigation could have played an important role, and therefore must be taken into consideration when defining post-fire management actions.

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Short-term changes in soil properties after prescribed fire and mulching with fern in Mediterranean forests

Cited by 13 publications

References 79 publications

The Impacts of Post-Fire Straw Mulching and Salvage Logging on Soil Properties and Plant Diversity in a Mediterranean Burned Pine Forest

The Impacts of Post-Fire Straw Mulching and Salvage Logging on Soil Properties and Plant Diversity in a Mediterranean Burned Pine Forest

Exploring and Modeling the Short-Term Influence of Soil Properties and Covers on Hydrology of Mediterranean Forests after Prescribed Fire and Mulching

Variability of soil properties with fire severity in pine forests and reforested areas under Mediterranean conditions

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