Effect of Prescribed Fire on Soil Permeability in a Neotropical Savanna

Abstract

Prescribed re is a manner to decrease the amount of fuel which, otherwise, would be subjected to wild res. However, the effect of such practice on soil physical properties still needs attention. The objective of the present study was to assess the effect of prescribed re on some physical variables of a soil under the Brazilian Tropical Savanna, a re-prone ecosystem. To do so, we sampled water repellency, in ltration capacity, and soil resistance to penetration in burned (prescribed re) and unburned adjacent plots. There were no signi cant differences between burned and unburned plots for any of the variables. Therefore, in addition to the clear effects with respect to ecosystem ammability, here we demonstrated that prescribed re does not signi cantly alter soil physical properties in the Brazilian Tropical Savanna. This demonstrates the soil physical properties maintenance under low intensity re regimes.