TY - JOUR
T1 - Long-term frequent prescribed fire decreases surface soil carbon and nitrogen pools in a wet sclerophyll forest of Southeast Queensland, Australia
AU - Muqaddas, Bushra
AU - Zhou, Xiaoqi
AU - Lewis, Tom
AU - Wild, Clyde
AU - Chen, Chengrong
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2015 Elsevier B.V.
PY - 2015/12/1
Y1 - 2015/12/1
N2 - Prescribed fire is one of the most widely-used management tools for reducing fuel loads in managed forests. However the long-term effects of repeated prescribed fires on soil carbon (C) and nitrogen (N) pools are poorly understood. This study aimed to investigate how different fire frequency regimes influence C and N pools in the surface soils (0-10cm). A prescribed fire field experiment in a wet sclerophyll forest established in 1972 in southeast Queensland was used in this study. The fire frequency regimes included long unburnt (NB), burnt every 2years (2yrB) and burnt every 4years (4yrB), with four replications. Compared with the NB treatment, the 2yrB treatment lowered soil total C by 44%, total N by 54%, HCl hydrolysable C and N by 48% and 59%, KMnO4 oxidizable C by 81%, microbial biomass C and N by 42% and 33%, cumulative CO2-C by 28%, NaOCl-non-oxidizable C and N by 41% and 51%, and charcoal-C by 17%, respectively. The 4yrB and NB treatments showed no significant differences for these soil C and N pools. All soil labile, biologically active and recalcitrant and total C and N pools were correlated positively with each other and with soil moisture content, but negatively correlated with soil pH. The C:N ratios of different C and N pools were greater in the burned treatments than in the NB treatments. This study has highlighted that the prescribed burning at four year interval is a more sustainable management practice for this subtropical forest ecosystem.
AB - Prescribed fire is one of the most widely-used management tools for reducing fuel loads in managed forests. However the long-term effects of repeated prescribed fires on soil carbon (C) and nitrogen (N) pools are poorly understood. This study aimed to investigate how different fire frequency regimes influence C and N pools in the surface soils (0-10cm). A prescribed fire field experiment in a wet sclerophyll forest established in 1972 in southeast Queensland was used in this study. The fire frequency regimes included long unburnt (NB), burnt every 2years (2yrB) and burnt every 4years (4yrB), with four replications. Compared with the NB treatment, the 2yrB treatment lowered soil total C by 44%, total N by 54%, HCl hydrolysable C and N by 48% and 59%, KMnO4 oxidizable C by 81%, microbial biomass C and N by 42% and 33%, cumulative CO2-C by 28%, NaOCl-non-oxidizable C and N by 41% and 51%, and charcoal-C by 17%, respectively. The 4yrB and NB treatments showed no significant differences for these soil C and N pools. All soil labile, biologically active and recalcitrant and total C and N pools were correlated positively with each other and with soil moisture content, but negatively correlated with soil pH. The C:N ratios of different C and N pools were greater in the burned treatments than in the NB treatments. This study has highlighted that the prescribed burning at four year interval is a more sustainable management practice for this subtropical forest ecosystem.
KW - Burning frequencies
KW - Charcoal
KW - HCl hydrolysis
KW - KMnO<inf>4</inf> oxidation
UR - https://www.scopus.com/pages/publications/84937149397
U2 - 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2015.07.023
DO - 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2015.07.023
M3 - 文章
C2 - 26196067
AN - SCOPUS:84937149397
SN - 0048-9697
VL - 536
SP - 39
EP - 47
JO - Science of the Total Environment
JF - Science of the Total Environment
ER -