Soil microbiological properties and enzymatic activities of long-term post-fire recovery in dry and semiarid Aleppo pine (<i>Pinus halepensis</i> M.) forest stands

Abstract

Abstract. Wildfires affecting forest ecosystems and post-fire silvicultural treatments may cause considerable changes in soil properties. The capacity of different microbial groups to recolonise soil after disturbances is crucial for proper soil functioning. The aim of this work was to investigate some microbial soil properties and enzyme activities in semiarid and dry Aleppo pine (Pinus halepensis M.) forest stands. Different plots affected by a wildfire event 17 years ago without or with post-fire silvicultural treatments 5 years after the fire event were selected. A mature Aleppo pine stand, unaffected by wildfire and not thinned was used as a control. Physicochemical soil properties (soil texture, pH, carbonates, organic matter, electrical conductivity, total N and P), soil enzymes (urease, phosphatase, β-glucosidase and dehydrogenase activities), soil respiration and soil microbial biomass carbon were analysed in the selected forests areas and plots. The main finding was that long time after this fire event produces no differences in the microbiological soil properties and enzyme activities of soil after comparing burned and thinned, burned and not thinned, and mature plots. Moreover, significant site variation was generally seen in soil enzyme activities and microbiological parameters. We conclude that total vegetation recovery normalises post-fire soil microbial parameters, and that wildfire and post-fire silvicultural treatments are not significant factors affecting soil properties after 17 years.

Determinants of farmers' tree-planting investment decisions as a degraded landscape management strategy in the central highlands of Ethiopia

“…Research findings confirmed that vegetation restoration as a land management option is crucial to protect diverse degraded landscapes (Gong et al, 2015), accelerate the recovery of soil-forest functions (Hedo et al, 2015) and overwhelmingly control sediment delivery to the river systems (Keesstra, 2007). Vegetation cover also facilitates soil development over time, stabilizes the direct effect of raindrops on soil, deals with surface runoff, mitigates soil erosion by stabilizing soil aggregation, improves organic carbon sequestration in the soil, and enhances soil porosity and the infiltration rate of soils and is also useful for the conservation and management of soil and water resources (Lieskovský and Kenderessy, 2014;Yu and Jia, 2014;Bruun et al, 2015;Feng et al, 2015;Gong et al, 2015;Qiang et al, 2016).…”

The Effect of Re-Planting Trees on Soil Microbial Communities in a Wildfire-Induced Subalpine Grassland

“…Microbial biomass increases quickly in the early forest succession stage and then decreases and remains at a constant level with long-term forest restoration [10]. Hedo et al [11] reported that post-fire silvicultural treatment did not have a direct effect on soil microbial properties and soil enzyme activities. However, little is known about the response of microbial communities to the succession of vegetation after fire [12].…”

Direct Seeding of Pinus halepensis Mill. for Recovery of Burned Semi-Arid Forests: Implications for Post-Fire Management for Improving Natural Regeneration

“…Zagas et al [6] obtained similar results for the "aspect" in Aleppo pine seeding, so these authors also analyzed seedling success independently of topographic conditions. In addition, our soil sampling results revealed that there were no differences between soil parameters depending on aspect because soils need a long time to recover normal activity after a fire [53].…”