The effects of fire on the soil in a degraded semi-arid woodland, 3. Nutrient pool sizes, biological activity and herbage response [New South Wales]
1992
Tongway, D.J. | Hodgkinson, K.C. (Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation, Lyneham (Australia). Div. of Wildlife and Ecology)
Artificial fuel was burnt in spring on plots to achieve intervals of 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 and 10 years between fires. No differences between fire regimes were detected below 1 cm for any of the measured soil variables. Soil respiration declined linearly with increasing number of fires and increasing total fuel load. There were no differences or trend for available or total soil N, organic C or soil wettability in the 0-1 cm horizon, but relatively refractory elements such as P and K, derived from the ash from the artificial fuel, built up in the soil proportionately with increased fire number and total fuel load. The surface condition status of the soil as assessed by a monitoring method was strongly inversely related to the number of fires and total fuel load. Differences in herbage growth between fire treatments were not significant. Low herbage yields in control plots were attributed to the high biomass of mature shrubs, whilst increasing variability with number of fires was caused by the combination of patchy decreased shrub biomass and small-scale erosion-deposition cells which differentially distribute seeds across the soil surface.
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