Mineral Soil Chemical Properties as Influenced by Long-Term Use of Prescribed Fire with Differing Frequencies in a Southeastern Coastal Plain Pine Forest

Abstract

Recent studies suggest increased fire frequency may impair soil chemistry, but few studies have examined long-term effects of repeated, frequent prescribed fires on forest soil properties in the southeastern Coastal Plain, USA. In this study, forest soil chemistry at the 0–10 and 10–20 cm mineral soil depths of sandy surface horizons (Entisols and Spodosols) were compared among units burned 0, 4, 6, and 8 times between 2004 and 2015 and 0 and 20 times between 1978 and 2015 in a longleaf (Pinus palustris Mill.)–loblolly (Pinus taeda L.) pine savanna at the Tom Yawkey Wildlife Center (Georgetown, SC, USA). At the 0–10 cm soil depth, soil pH (p = 0.00), sulfur (p = 0.01), calcium (p = 0.01), iron (p < 0.01), manganese (p < 0.01), and aluminum (p = 0.02) treatment means differed (2004–2015). Calcium and manganese displayed positive, significant relationships and sulfur displayed a negative, significant relationship with increasing fire frequency (p < 0.05). However, correlation of these relationships was low (r2 ≤ 0.23). Using linear contrasts to compare the mean of all fire treatments (20 fires from 1978 to 2015) to the mean of the unburned compartment, sulfur (p = 0.01) and iron (p < 0.01) were less in soils from the burned compartments. At the 10–20 cm soil depth, soil pH (p = 0.01), manganese (p = 0.04), phosphorus (p = 0.01), potassium (p = 0.02), and iron (p < 0.01) treatment means differed (2004–2015). Potassium displayed a negative, significant relationship and soil pH displayed a positive, significant relationship with increasing fire frequency (p < 0.05). Correlation of these relationships was low (r2 ≤ 0.16), however. Using linear contrasts to compare the mean of all fire treatments (20 fires from 1978 to 2015) to the unburned compartment, potassium (p = 0.00) and iron (p < 0.01) were less in soils from burned compartments. These results are inconsistent with studies suggesting that forest soil chemistry is substantially altered by increased fire frequency and support other studies from this region that have documented minimal or temporary soil chemical changes associated with frequent prescribed fires.

Mating dynamics and multiple paternity in a long‐lived vertebrate

“…Despite this similarity in occurrence of multiple paternity, these sites are characterized by substantial ecological differences. Whereas RNWR is dominated by open marsh, YWC is a series of coastal islands fragmented into diverse habitat types (Coates et al, 2018;Joanen, 1969;Obernuefemann, Collazo, & Lyons, 2013;Wilkinson et al, 2016), suggesting that habitat characteristics may not be an important determinant of multiple paternity frequency across American alligator populations. Uller and Olsson (2008) suggest that within the nonavian reptiles, the occurrence of multiple paternity may reflect the number of males encountered by a female during her reproductive cycle.…”

Intra-Annual Variation in Soil C, N and Nutrients Pools after Prescribed Fire in a Mississippi Longleaf Pine (Pinus palustris Mill.) Plantation

“…While longleaf pine are well adapted to soils with low nitrogen availability and low N contents [42], particular regions in the lower Coastal Plain and Gulf Coast are noted for severe P deficiencies and very responsive to P additions [40,43]. We observed a temporary spike in soil P at depths of 0-5 cm and a significant decline from pre-burn levels at depths of 5-10 cm after 12 months, though longer term studies of multiple burn cycles show no effect of fire on soil P [6,44]. Schafer and Mack [24] reported an immediate increase in extractable phosphate after prescribed burning in a palmetto flatwood that returned to pre-burn conditions after 129 days.…”

Long-Term Effects of Repeated Prescribed Fire and Fire Surrogate Treatments on Forest Soil Chemistry in the Southern Appalachian Mountains (USA)

“…Burning in Coastal Plain pine forests had little effect on long-term mineral soil P values in several research studies [8,37]. These varying results strengthen the discussion that pre-treatment soil conditions and factors such as initial base saturation, fire intensity, fire residence time, and time since fire can affect potential mineral soil P [5,6]. Mineral soil K, Mg, and pH did not differ between treatments at Green River (Table 2).…”

“…Wildland fires may impact soil physical, biological, and chemical properties in a multitude of ways [1][2][3][4][5]. These impacts may be related to factors such as fire intensity, severity, and frequency; vegetative species composition; soil sampling period (i.e., time since fire occurred); soil property investigated (i.e., O horizon properties vs. mineral soil properties); and many other factors [4][5][6]. These variables differ greatly between most wildfires and prescribed fires in a given ecosystem, therefore, soil responses to wildfires and prescribed fires may also differ [2,6,7].…”

“…These impacts may be related to factors such as fire intensity, severity, and frequency; vegetative species composition; soil sampling period (i.e., time since fire occurred); soil property investigated (i.e., O horizon properties vs. mineral soil properties); and many other factors [4][5][6]. These variables differ greatly between most wildfires and prescribed fires in a given ecosystem, therefore, soil responses to wildfires and prescribed fires may also differ [2,6,7]. Generally, low-intensity, low-severity prescribed surface fires impact soils less than high-intensity, high-severity wildfires [3,7,8].…”