The effect of fire on the vegetation and soil properties of ungrazed shortgrasssteppe rangeland of the Eastern Anatolia region of Turkey

Abstract

Fire is an important driver of ecological processes and a management tool in humid rangelands, but it is less known in semiarid rangelands at cool temperatures. The aim of this study was to determine the effect of fire on some vegetation and soil properties of the highland steppe rangelands of the Eastern Anatolia region of Turkey. Canopy coverage, botanical composition as a functional group, aboveground biomass, litter mass, bacteria and fungi numbers, soil moisture, pH, organic matter, available NO 3 , available NH 4 , total nitrogen, total phosphorus, total calcium, total potassium, total magnesium, total sodium, cation exchange capacity, and calcium carbonate contents were determined at the studied locations in 2012 and 2013. The effects of fire in early autumn had significantly different responses between the locations. Aboveground biomass and litter mass decreased in the year following the fire, but they tended to increase in the second year following the fire. While for perennial grasses the percentage increased in the years after the fire, forbs decreased in burned plots, especially at the university location. Fire did not have an effect on the investigated soil properties because the variation observed between the treatments was not consistent between the locations. These results showed that fire is an undesirable application in semiarid highland rangelands with respect to aboveground plant production, but it can be considered as a tool for changing botanical composition.

Changes in Botanical Composition of Rangeland Sites Grazed at Different Intensities

“…In addition to the fact that the area per livestock for a grazing season is less in the heavily grazed site as shown in Table 1, the fact that this site is at a higher altitude may have been effective in the high rate of undesirable species among the identified species. As a matter of fact, in many studies (Erkovan, 2000;Erkovan et al, 2003;Koç et al, 2008;Wassie et al, 2018), it was stated that the increase in altitude has a significant effect on the decrease in the proportion of quality species in the botanical composition, which is in line with the results obtained in our study.…”

Effects of Low-Severity Fire on Soil Physico-Chemical Properties in an Andean Páramo in Southern Ecuador

“…Consequently, low-severity burns in AnP do not negatively affect soil physical properties, as the destruction of soil aggregates by low-severity fires is not to be expected [85]. Furthermore, low-severity fires do not compromise the hydrological properties of AnP soils, even though fire usually reduces soil moisture by evaporation [86]. Although soil moisture decreased over time in the study area, this cannot be related to the experimental fire, as it depends on the fire temperature and soil heating, which were minimal in this AnP study, and due to climatic conditions, which show high annual and interannual variations in the Andes of southern Ecuador [87].…”

Determination of germination characteristics and salinity and drought tolerances of Mountain Swan (Atriplex nitens Schkuhr)

“…The environmental factors affecting seed germination are temperature, water and oxygen (Emiralioğlu and Acar 2022). Temperature is the most important among these factors (Erkovan et al 2017). Because temperature affects germination by changing water absorption, diffusion of mobile substances and enzyme activity.…”