3.2.3. Available calcium

Available calcium in soil increases with fire intensity (Figure 5), higher intensity fires result in more available calcium present. There was a noticeable increase after F2 and F3, over 1000 mg/kg more calcium measured than after F1 (Table 3). Each fire treatment showed a significant increase at *p* < 0.01 in comparison to F0 (Table 1). The coe fficient of variation for calcium was 2% for F0, F1 and F2; while F3 was 0.3%. The reference material accuracy was 97% for calcium. This was the highest out of all the parameters measured (Table 3), meaning the accuracy of the Atomic Absorption Spectroscopy was very high. Fire therefore, has a significant e ffect on the amount of calcium present in Haplic Luvisol immediately after a fire event of any intensity.
