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Fire
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Unravelling the Diverse Effects of Fire on Soil Processes
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Unravelling the Diverse Effects of Fire on Soil Processes

A special issue of Fire (ISSN 2571-6255).

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 March 2021) | Viewed by 6281

Special Issue Editor

Dr. Adam Pellegrini

E-Mail Website1 Website2
Guest Editor
1. Department of Earth System Science, Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305, USA
2. Department of Plant Sciences, University of Cambridge, Cambridge CB2 3EA, United Kingdom
Interests: ecology; Savanna; Tropical; theoretical ecology; biogeochemistry

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

We are soliciting contributions to a Special Issue in the journal Fire which will incorporate topics related to fire effects on ecosystems through a belowground lens focused on the responses of soils. Some of the largest uncertainties in how changing fire regimes will affect ecosystems arise from the variable responses in soil, which span a diversity of processes. Such topics may include: the response of decomposer communities, such as the dominant taxa sensitive to fire, the timescale of community turnover, what factors determine community recovery, and how changes in microbes influence biogeochemical cycling. Along these lines, the effect of fire on soil organic matter is highly variable and controlled by several processes such as the physicochemical properties of soil minerals and organic matter. Additionally, fire can lead to changes in soil water retention and cycling, as burning shifts pore structure, wax formation, soil compaction, and evapotranspiration. Changes belowground have important implications for aboveground processes, such as nutrient availability affecting the composition of plant strategies and plant productivity. The responses of plants can have cascading effects on animal populations, as palatability and biomass production changes. Consequently, understanding the mechanisms leading to the widespread variability in fire effects on soil properties and processes has broad implications for ecosystem functioning.

Dr. Adam Pellegrini
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Fire is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2400 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • fire
  • soil biogeochemistry
  • soil carbon and nutrients
  • microbes
  • soil water
  • plant composition
  • plant stoichiometry

Published Papers (2 papers)

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Research

18 pages, 986 KiB  
Article
Do Soil Chemical Changes Contribute to the Dominance of Blady Grass (Imperata cylindrica) in Surface Fire-Affected Forests?
by Orpheus M. Butler, Tom Lewis and Chengrong Chen
Fire 2021, 4(2), 23; https://doi.org/10.3390/fire4020023 - 2 May 2021
Cited by 2 | Viewed by 3041
Abstract
Imperata cylindrica is a perennial grass that often proliferates in fire-affected forests. Recent fire events have been consistently associated with a lowering of soil nitrogen (N) to phosphorus (P) ratios. Thus, I. cylindrica might have a tendency toward P-limited growth and/or tolerance for [...] Read more.
Imperata cylindrica is a perennial grass that often proliferates in fire-affected forests. Recent fire events have been consistently associated with a lowering of soil nitrogen (N) to phosphorus (P) ratios. Thus, I. cylindrica might have a tendency toward P-limited growth and/or tolerance for low soil N availability that confers a competitive advantage post-fire. We contrasted soil and I. cylindrica chemistry between recently burned and unburned areas in eastern Australia. Imperata cylindrica foliar N:P ratios were 21% lower in burned areas than in unburned areas, reflecting an increase in the uptake of P, but not N, post-fire, consistent with P-limitation. We then grew I. cylindrica seedlings in soils with differing fire-exposure histories and subjected them to various resource amendments (including N and P addition). Survival of I. cylindrica seedlings was not affected by the fire-exposure history of soil, but was reduced by 66% through N-addition. Soil fire history did not significantly affect I. cylindrica growth, but addition of P greatly enhanced I. cylindrica growth, particularly on unburned soils. Our results indicate that the association between I. cylindrica and forest fire regime could be facilitated, in part, by the short-term positive effect of fire on soil phosphorus and the long-term positive effect of fire-exclusion on soil nitrogen, particularly on well-weathered soils. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Unravelling the Diverse Effects of Fire on Soil Processes)
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15 pages, 1732 KiB  
Article
Long-Term Effects of Repeated Prescribed Fire and Fire Surrogate Treatments on Forest Soil Chemistry in the Southern Appalachian Mountains (USA)
by Christopher J. Dukes, T. Adam Coates, Donald L. Hagan, W. Michael Aust, Thomas A. Waldrop and Dean M. Simon
Fire 2020, 3(2), 20; https://doi.org/10.3390/fire3020020 - 6 Jun 2020
Cited by 2 | Viewed by 2612
Abstract
From 2001–2018, a series of fuel reduction and ecosystem restoration treatments were implemented in the southern Appalachian Mountains near Asheville, North Carolina, USA. Treatments consisted of prescribed fire (four burns), mechanical cutting of understory shrubs and mid-story trees (two cuttings), and a combination [...] Read more.
From 2001–2018, a series of fuel reduction and ecosystem restoration treatments were implemented in the southern Appalachian Mountains near Asheville, North Carolina, USA. Treatments consisted of prescribed fire (four burns), mechanical cutting of understory shrubs and mid-story trees (two cuttings), and a combination of both cutting and prescribed fire (two cuts + four burns). Soils were sampled in 2018 to determine potential treatment impacts for O horizon and mineral soil (0–10 cm depth) carbon (C) and nitrogen (N) and mineral soil calcium (Ca), magnesium (Mg), phosphorus (P), potassium (K), and pH. Results suggested that mean changes in O horizon C and N and mineral soil C, N, C:N, Ca, and P from 2001–2018 differed between the treatments, but only mineral soil C, N, C:N, and Ca displayed differences between at least one fuel reduction treatment and the untreated control. One soils-related restoration objective was mineral soil N reduction and the cut + burn treatment best achieved this result. Increased organic matter recalcitrance was another priority, but this was not obtained with any treatment. When paired with previously reported fuels and vegetation results from this site, it appeared that continued use of the cut + burn treatment may best achieve long-term management objectives for this site and other locations being managed for similar long-term restoration and fuels management objectives. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Unravelling the Diverse Effects of Fire on Soil Processes)
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