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Title: Does the presence of large down wood at the time of a forest fire impact soil recovery?

Abstract

Fire may remove or create dead wood aboveground, but it is less clear how high severity burning of soils affects belowground microbial communities and soil processes, and for how long. Here, we investigated soil fungal and bacterial communities and biogeochemical responses of severely burned red soil and less severely burned black soil from a burned forest on the eastern slope of the Cascade Range in Oregon. We examined the effects of burn severity on soil nutrients and microbial communi- ties for 14 years after wildfire. Soil nutrients were significantly reduced in red soils. Soil fungi and bac teria, assessed with molecular methods, steadily colonized both burn severities and soil biodiversity increased throughout the study showing that microbial communities seem to have the capacity to quickly adjust to extreme disturbances. Although richness did not vary by soil type, the fungal and bacterial community compositions varied with burn severity. This difference was greatest in the early time points following the fire and decreased with time. But, nutrient-limited conditions of red soils were detected for four years after the wildfire and raise concern about soil productivity at these sites.

Authors:
 [1];  [2];  [1];  [1];  [3];  [4]
  1. Pacific Northwest National Lab. (PNNL), Richland, WA (United States). Forestry Sciences Lab.
  2. Oak Ridge National Lab. (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States). Biosciences Division
  3. Pacific Analytics LLC, Scio, OR (United States)
  4. Oregon State Univ., Corvallis, OR (United States). Dept. of Crop and Soil Science
Publication Date:
Research Org.:
Oak Ridge National Lab. (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States)
Sponsoring Org.:
USDOE
OSTI Identifier:
1346685
Grant/Contract Number:  
AC05-00OR22725
Resource Type:
Journal Article: Accepted Manuscript
Journal Name:
Forest Ecology and Management
Additional Journal Information:
Journal Volume: 391; Journal Issue: C; Journal ID: ISSN 0378-1127
Publisher:
Elsevier
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Subject:
54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES; wildfire; soil burn severity; soil fungi; soil bacteria; soil chemical, biochemical, and physics properties

Citation Formats

Smith, Jane E., Kluber, Laurel A., Jennings, Tara N., McKay, Donaraye, Brenner, Greg, and Sulzman, Elizabeth W. Does the presence of large down wood at the time of a forest fire impact soil recovery?. United States: N. p., 2017. Web. doi:10.1016/j.foreco.2017.02.013.
Smith, Jane E., Kluber, Laurel A., Jennings, Tara N., McKay, Donaraye, Brenner, Greg, & Sulzman, Elizabeth W. Does the presence of large down wood at the time of a forest fire impact soil recovery?. United States. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.foreco.2017.02.013
Smith, Jane E., Kluber, Laurel A., Jennings, Tara N., McKay, Donaraye, Brenner, Greg, and Sulzman, Elizabeth W. 2017. "Does the presence of large down wood at the time of a forest fire impact soil recovery?". United States. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.foreco.2017.02.013. https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1346685.
@article{osti_1346685,
title = {Does the presence of large down wood at the time of a forest fire impact soil recovery?},
author = {Smith, Jane E. and Kluber, Laurel A. and Jennings, Tara N. and McKay, Donaraye and Brenner, Greg and Sulzman, Elizabeth W.},
abstractNote = {Fire may remove or create dead wood aboveground, but it is less clear how high severity burning of soils affects belowground microbial communities and soil processes, and for how long. Here, we investigated soil fungal and bacterial communities and biogeochemical responses of severely burned red soil and less severely burned black soil from a burned forest on the eastern slope of the Cascade Range in Oregon. We examined the effects of burn severity on soil nutrients and microbial communi- ties for 14 years after wildfire. Soil nutrients were significantly reduced in red soils. Soil fungi and bac teria, assessed with molecular methods, steadily colonized both burn severities and soil biodiversity increased throughout the study showing that microbial communities seem to have the capacity to quickly adjust to extreme disturbances. Although richness did not vary by soil type, the fungal and bacterial community compositions varied with burn severity. This difference was greatest in the early time points following the fire and decreased with time. But, nutrient-limited conditions of red soils were detected for four years after the wildfire and raise concern about soil productivity at these sites.},
doi = {10.1016/j.foreco.2017.02.013},
url = {https://www.osti.gov/biblio/1346685}, journal = {Forest Ecology and Management},
issn = {0378-1127},
number = C,
volume = 391,
place = {United States},
year = {Thu Feb 23 00:00:00 EST 2017},
month = {Thu Feb 23 00:00:00 EST 2017}
}

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Cited by: 15 works
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Works referencing / citing this record:

Resilience to fire of phylogenetic diversity across biological domains
journal, June 2018