Journal
NATURAL AREAS JOURNAL
Volume 30, Issue 1, Pages 82-94Publisher
NATURAL AREAS ASSOC
DOI: 10.3375/043.030.0109
Keywords
longleaf pine; prescribed fire; slash pine; soil nutrient availability; understory vegetation
Funding
- Biological and Environmental Research (BER) Program
- National Institute for Global Environmental Change (NIGEC) [DE-FC03-90ER61010]
- USFS [05-CA-11242343-123]
- Mellon Foundation Young Investigators Award to Michelle C. Mack
- Le Fonds quebecois de la recherche sur la nature et les technologies (FQRNT)
Ask authors/readers for more resources
We quantified fire-driven loss and post-fire recovery of understory and soil carbon (C) and nutrient pools for one to three years following a single prescribed fire in a naturally regenerated longleaf (Pinus palustris Mill.) and slash pine (Pintis elliottii Engelm. var. elliottii) forest located in north central Florida. Fire immediately reduced total aboveground understory C and nitrogen (N) pools, but these pools recovered to pre-fire levels after three years. Our results also showed that the effect of fire on the understory composition and structure was only short-lived. Prescribed fire significantly reduced total C and N pools in the forest floor (F and H horizon,,), and this effect persisted for at least one year postfire. Available NH4+, PO43-, Ca2+, Mg-2, and K+ concentrations in the forest floor decreased immediately after fire, but increased in the surface mineral soil (0 to 5 cm depth); Ca2+, Mg2+, and K+ remained elevated for the first year after fire. Fire immediately reduced total ecosystem C and N pools by 40% and 27%, respectively, emitting 3860 g C m(-2) and 170 g N m(-2) to the atmosphere. The pools recovered to 67% and 76% of pre-fire C and N pools, respectively, after one year. Of the pools measured, C and N recovery in forest floor materials was the slowest, and projections of initial recovery rates suggest that it will take more than six years, the previous fire interval, to reach pre-fire levels. This slow recovery may indicate variation in past rates of forest floor accumulation due to management practices as well as effects of the severity of this or previous fires.
Authors
I am an author on this paper
Click your name to claim this paper and add it to your profile.
Reviews
Recommended
No Data Available