Decadal effect of post-fire management treatments on soil carbon and nutrient concentrations in a burnt Mediterranean forest

Juan-Ovejero, Raquel; Molinas-González, Carlos R.; Leverkus, Alexandro B.; Peinado, F. Martín; Castro, Jorge

doi:10.1016/j.foreco.2021.119570

Cited by 16 publications

(3 citation statements)

References 51 publications

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“…Leverkus et al [40] recommended extracting wood from stands judged to be most susceptible to future wildfires while retaining dead wood in more ecologically sensitive sites. Following the same line, Juan-Ovejero et al [41] reported that dead wood can act as a reservoir of carbon and nutrients in the long term and thus protect the soil, since they found that carbon and nutrient concentrations were higher in sites where the wood was scattered on the ground during a decade of post-fire and salvage logging. In addition, Castro et al [42] considered that the permanence of burned wood does not increase the risk of fire, since the part that could act as the source of ignition decomposes in a relatively short period.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 88%

Severity, Logging and Microsite Influence Post-Fire Regeneration of Maritime Pine

Carrillo-García,

Hernando,

Díez

et al. 2024

Fire

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We investigated the influence of fire severity, logging of burnt wood, local ecological factors and their interaction on the natural regeneration, survival and growth of maritime pine (Pinus pinaster Ait.), following a fire that took place in 2005. During the period 2006–2020, a sample of 1900 seedlings were monitored, in which three post-fire treatments were applied: (1) Early logging (before seedling emergence); (2) Delayed logging (after emergence); and (3) No management. Multivariate semi-parametric and non-parametric techniques were used to model seedling survival, estimated density and growth of natural pine regeneration. Seedling survival was 31% with a mean density of more than 2000 seedlings/ha at the end of the study period. Logging before seedling emergence was positively related with pine survival and density. Delayed logging resulted in the lowest seedling density and regeneration. Fire severity had a negative influence on regeneration density. The findings indicate that site conditions and fire severity have a stronger influence on natural regeneration of maritime pine than subsequent post-fire management treatments. In order to ensure the presence of maritime pine in pure or mixed stands, silvicultural work is required to control competition from other species and reduce the risk of new wildfires.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 88%

Severity, Logging and Microsite Influence Post-Fire Regeneration of Maritime Pine

Carrillo-García,

Hernando,

Díez

et al. 2024

Fire

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“…On the other hand, burnt wood is a biological legacy of key relevance in burned forests (Thorn et al, 2018). The burnt wood act as a barrier for sediments against water erosion, constitutes a stock of nutrients that slowly fertilize soil through decomposition, and ameliorates the stress conditions by increasing soil moisture, enabling vegetation and microbial development and sustaining biodiversity and ecosystem services (Baldrian, 2017;Thorn et al, 2018;García-Carmona et al, 2021a;Juan-Ovejero et al, 2021). However, timber activities in Mediterranean forests are important from a social perspective, being non-interventionism is highly controversial .…”

Section: Post-fire Management In Mediterranean Forests: Restoring or ...mentioning

confidence: 99%

The Recovery of Mediterranean Soils After Post-Fire Management: The Role of Biocrusts and Soil Microbial Communities

García-Carmona¹,

García‐Orenes²,

Arcenegui³

et al. 2023

Span. J. Soil Sci.

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Although Mediterranean ecosystems are adapted to fire disturbances, soils are prone to degradation. Therefore, post-fire forest management is a critical step for ecosystem recovery: it can either reduce soil degradation or add a new disturbance. Post-fire management in Mediterranean burnt forests includes interventions with contrasting approaches, including the management of burnt trees, soil protection, or practices devoted to ecosystem restoration via the improvement of components or processes in the affected ecosystem. The consequences of forest management on soils are complex, thereby, in the context of the intensification of fire events and climate change, understanding the response of key soil components in managed ecosystems is critical for prioritizing soil conservation. One interesting component in the early post-fire stages is moss biocrust. The rapid colonization of biocrust-forming mosses in early successional stages post-disturbance stabilizes soils in their most vulnerable period. However, it is completely unknown further implications as active agents in the recovery and resilience of soils, in the transient stage before vascular vegetation regrowth. In combination with the biocrust, the response of soil microbial communities to forest management is crucial for evaluating the soil recovery progress, given their active role in fundamental ecosystem functions. The additive consequences of fires and forest management on biocrust emergence or microbial composition and functionality are usually neglected in the investigation of post-fire systems, although of major relevance to support strategies to preserve soils against functionality loss.

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“…Although the biomass per unit area might be relatively small in shrubland ecosystems, land degradation due to wildfires represents a significant change in live aboveground carbon pools in this region [7]. Wildfire disturbance causes direct pyrogenic carbon release of the aboveground and belowground pools to the atmosphere through combustion and modifies the distribution of live and dead aboveground carbon stocks and their associated fluxes through mortality and regeneration [8][9][10][11][12][13][14]. In shrubland ecosystems, indirect carbon emissions resulting from wildfire-induced mortality and subsequent decomposition are not expected to be determinant for net ecosystem carbon balance since net primary productivity (NPP) would offset in the short to medium-term the decomposition carbon flux, which is relatively small to shape carbon exchange at that temporal scale [15].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Short-Term Recovery of the Aboveground Carbon Stock in Iberian Shrublands at the Extremes of an Environmental Gradient and as a Function of Burn Severity

Fernández‐Guisuraga

Calvo

Fernandes

et al. 2022

Forests

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The degree to which burn severity influences the recovery of aboveground carbon density (ACD) of live pools in shrublands remains unclear. Multitemporal LiDAR data was used to evaluate ACD recovery three years after fire in shrubland ecosystems as a function of burn severity immediately after fire across an environmental and productivity gradient in the western Mediterranean Basin. Two large mixed-severity wildfires were assessed: an Atlantic site, dominated by resprouter shrubs and located at the most productive extreme of the gradient, and a Mediterranean site, dominated by obligate seeders and located at the less productive extreme. Initial assessment of burn severity was performed using the differenced Normalized Burn Ratio index computed from Landsat imagery. Thresholds for low and high burn severity categories were established using the Composite Burn Index (CBI). LiDAR canopy metrics were calibrated with field measurements of mean shrub height and cover at plot level in a post-fire situation. Pre-fire and post-fire ACD estimates, and their ratio (ACDr) to calculate carbon stock recovery, were computed from the predictions of LiDAR grid metrics at landscape level using shrubland allometric relationships. Overall, ACDr decreased both with high burn severity and low productivity, although the burn severity impact was not homogeneous within the gradient. In the Atlantic site, ACDr was similar under low and high burn severity, whereas it decreased with burn severity in the Mediterranean site. These results suggest that carbon cycling models could be biased by not accounting for both fire severity and species composition of shrublands under different environmental conditions.

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Decadal effect of post-fire management treatments on soil carbon and nutrient concentrations in a burnt Mediterranean forest

Cited by 16 publications

References 51 publications

Severity, Logging and Microsite Influence Post-Fire Regeneration of Maritime Pine

Severity, Logging and Microsite Influence Post-Fire Regeneration of Maritime Pine

The Recovery of Mediterranean Soils After Post-Fire Management: The Role of Biocrusts and Soil Microbial Communities

Short-Term Recovery of the Aboveground Carbon Stock in Iberian Shrublands at the Extremes of an Environmental Gradient and as a Function of Burn Severity

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