Post-fire soil erosion mitigation: a review of the last research and techniques developed in Portugal

Prats, Sérgio; Malvar, Maruxa; Martins, Martinho A. S.; Keizer, Jan Jacob

doi:10.18172/cig.2519

Cited by 22 publications

(14 citation statements)

References 91 publications

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“…As post-fire management, we selected application of mulch because it was suggested by local-experts as the most cost-effective post-fire conservation measure in this region, which is consistent with the findings of studies in the region [28,29,32,55] as well as in other parts of Iberian Peninsula [56,57].…”

Section: Land Use and Management Scenariossupporting

confidence: 66%

Projecting Future Impacts of Global Change Including Fires on Soil Erosion to Anticipate Better Land Management in the Forests of NW Portugal

Pastor

Nunes

Ciampalini

et al. 2019

Water

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Wildfire is known to create the pre-conditions leading to accelerated soil erosion. Unfortunately, its occurrence is expected to increase with climate change. The objective of this study was to assess the impacts of fire on runoff and soil erosion in a context of global change, and to evaluate the effectiveness of mulching as a post-fire erosion mitigation measure. For this, the long-term soil erosion model LandSoil was calibrated for a Mediterranean catchment in north-central Portugal that burnt in 2011. LandSoil was then applied for a 20-year period to quantify the separate and combined hydrological and erosion impacts of fire frequency and of post-fire mulching using four plausible site-specific land use and management scenarios (S1. business-as-usual, S2. market-oriented, S3. environmental protection and S4. sustainable trade-off) and an intermediate climate change scenario Representative Concentration Pathway (RCP) 4.5 by 2050. The obtained results showed that: (i) fire had a reduced impact on runoff generation in the studied catchment (<5%) but a marked impact on sediment yield (SY) by about 30%; (ii) eucalypt intensification combined with climate change and fires can increase SY by threefold and (iii) post-fire mulching, combined with riparian vegetation maintenance/restoration and reduced tillage at the landscape level, was highly effective to mitigate soil erosion under global change and associated, increased fire frequency (up to 50% reduction). This study shows how field monitoring data can be combined with numerical erosion modeling to segregate the prominent processes occurring in post forest fire conditions and find the best management pathways to meet international goals on achieving land degradation neutrality (LDN).

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Section: Land Use and Management Scenariossupporting

confidence: 66%

Projecting Future Impacts of Global Change Including Fires on Soil Erosion to Anticipate Better Land Management in the Forests of NW Portugal

Pastor

Nunes

Ciampalini

et al. 2019

Water

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“…Post-fire rehabilitation measures that are applied during the initial stages of the window-of-disturbance typically aim at reducing runoff generation and the associated transport of sediments as well as organic matter, nutrients and pollutants. Especially the application of mulch, whether straw or forest slash residues, has proved to be effective in reducing post-fire erosion, provided that mulch cover exceeds a certain threshold (Bautista et al, 1996;Badía & Martí, 2000;Wagenbrenner et al, 2006;Prats et al, 2014). The use of straw as a protective mulch layer is a long-standing agricultural practice and is well known to improve plant growth conditions by changing soil physical (temperature, moisture), chemical (organic matter, nitrogen) and biological (microbial activity) properties (Gill et al, 2011;Chalker-Scott, 2007;Westerman & Bicudo, 2005;Altieri & Nicholls, 2003).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Long‐Term Impacts of Post‐Fire Mulching on Ground‐Dwelling Arthropod Communities in a Eucalypt Plantation

et al. 2016

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In the past decades, Portugal like several other Mediterranean countries has been affected by frequent wildfires. This has led to various field tests of post‐fire soil conservation measures and, in particular, mulching with forest slash residues. While forest residue mulching was shown to be highly effective in reducing post‐fire erosion, its side effects on soil fauna communities have not been studied and are also difficult to predict from the – scarce – literature on mulch effects in general. Therefore, this study compared the abundance, diversity and taxonomic and functional composition of the ground‐dwelling arthropod communities of three mulched and, as control, three untreated erosion plots of roughly 100 m2 that had been installed in a eucalypt plantation almost immediately after a wildfire in 2010, some five years earlier. This was done using three pitfall traps per plot, placed at the lower, middle and upper part of the study slope. Roughly five years after mulching, its impacts on the ground‐dwelling arthropod were rather limited, especially compared to its effect on overall soil erosion rates. One of the few exceptions was the abundance of the Hymenoptera – one of the most frequently occurring orders – which was significantly lower in the mulched than control plots. This and other near significant mulching impacts found in this study plainly justify a follow‐up study on short‐term effects. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

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“…Due to inadequate road network, lack of industry and other socio-economics reasons [5], the population of Portuguese mountain areas has decreased since de second half of the 20th century [4]. In addition to the consequent farmland abandonment, which has favoured horizontal and vertical fuel continuity, the introduction of commercial plantations of fire-prone species, namely maritime pine (Pinus pinaster) and eucalypt (Eucalyptus globulus), also increases the frequency and extent of wildfires [6]. The Centre-North of the country gathers all the previous characteristics, thus being particularly affected by the fire season, namely the region where the Portuguese central mountain range stands out.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Post-wildfire slope stability effects and mitigation: a case study from hilly terrains with unmanaged forest

2020

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The combined effects of wildfires and storms strongly induce slopes stability phenomena, thus requiring mitigation measures to manage long-lasting wildfire-induced risks. In Portugal, thousands of increasingly destructive wildfires occur during the hottest months. In the last two decades, almost 3,000,000 ha of forest, bush and agricultural land burned in Portugal, 20% of which caused by massive wildfires that occurred in 2017. Portuguese central mountain range was one of the most affected areas, namely the study area of Serra do Açor and Serra da Estrela, where extreme rainfall events in 2018 and 2019 caused extensive slope instability phenomena that created a unique opportunity for assessing long-term field performance of treated and untreated burnt areas. The registered phenomena as well as the treatment solutions applied to mitigate instability effects on slopes were studied in two sites. Over 3 years, several field research trips were carried out to scientifically assess the situation over time. By comparing areas with distinct response to the extreme rainfall events and based on the data collected, namely prior to 2017, it was been possible to link the registered instability events and the October 2017 wildfires and qualitatively evaluate the effectiveness of the adopted mitigation solutions. This study not only confirms that the study area is prone to slope instability wildfire-related phenomena, with a 13-year return period between similar events in the study area, but also validates the use of protective barriers as a mitigation measure, contrary to previous studies carried out in other countries.

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Post-fire soil erosion mitigation: a review of the last research and techniques developed in Portugal

Cited by 22 publications

References 91 publications

Projecting Future Impacts of Global Change Including Fires on Soil Erosion to Anticipate Better Land Management in the Forests of NW Portugal

Projecting Future Impacts of Global Change Including Fires on Soil Erosion to Anticipate Better Land Management in the Forests of NW Portugal

Long‐Term Impacts of Post‐Fire Mulching on Ground‐Dwelling Arthropod Communities in a Eucalypt Plantation

Post-wildfire slope stability effects and mitigation: a case study from hilly terrains with unmanaged forest

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