scholarly journals Soil Functional Responses to Natural Ecosystem Restoration of a Pine Forest Peucedano-Pinetum after a Fire

Forests ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 11 (3) ◽  
pp. 286 ◽  
Author(s):  
Edyta Hewelke ◽  
Ewa Beata Górska ◽  
Dariusz Gozdowski ◽  
Marian Korc ◽  
Izabella Olejniczak ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Forest Fires ◽  
Soil Depth ◽  
Water Drop ◽  
Soil Microbial Communities ◽  
Internal Transcribed Spacers ◽  
Water Infiltration ◽  
Species Structure ◽  
Natural Ecosystem ◽  
Functional Responses ◽  
Soil System

Progressing climate change increases the frequency of droughts and the risk of the occurrence of forest fires with an increasing range and a dramatic course. The availability of water and its movement within an ecosystem is a fundamental control of biological activity and physical properties, influencing many climatic processes, whereas soil water repellency (SWR) is a key phenomenon affecting water infiltration into the soil system. Focusing on wide-spectrum effects of fire on the soil system, the research was conducted on a pine stand (Peucedano-Pinetum W. Mat. (1962) 1973) in Kampinos National Park located in central Poland, affected by severe and weak fires, as well as control plots. The main aim of the study was to examine the regeneration of the ecosystem 28 months after the occurrence of a fire. The effect of SWR and soil moisture content, total organic carbon, nitrogen and pH, and gain an understanding of the environmental conditions and processes that shaped the evolution of the species structure of soil microorganism communities (fungal vs. bacterial) have been examined. The Water Drop Penetration Time (WDPT) test was used to assess spatial variability of SWR in 28 plots. Soil bacterial and fungal communities were analysed by Illumina’MISeq using 16S rRNA and Internal Transcribed Spacers 1 (ITS1) regions in six selected plots. After a relatively wet summer, elevated hydrophobicity occurred in areas affected by a weak fire as much as 20 cm into the soil depth. The severe fire and subsequent increase in the richness of the succession of non-forest species contributed to the elimination of hydrophobicity. SWR was more closely linked to the structure and diversity of soil microbial communities than soil physicochemical properties that took place in response to the fire. A statistically significant relationship between the relative occurrence of microorganisms (≥ 1.0% in at least one of the samples) and SWR was established for the following fungi and bacteria species: Archaeorhizomyces sp., Leotiomycetes sp., Byssonectria fusispora, Russula vesca, Geminibasidium sp., family Isosphaeraceae and Cyanobacteria (class 4C0d-2, order MLE1-12). Insight into the functional roles of the individual identified microbial taxa that may be responsible for the occurrence of hydrophobicity was also presented.

scholarly journals Comparison of Drivers of Soil Microbial Communities Developed in Karst Ecosystems with Shallow and Deep Soil Depths

Agronomy ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 173
Author(s):  
Huiling Guan ◽  
Jiangwen Fan ◽  
Haiyan Zhang ◽  
Warwick Harris
Keyword(s):  
Microbial Community ◽  
Microbial Communities ◽  
Soil Depth ◽  
Phospholipid Fatty Acid ◽  
Soil Microbial Communities ◽  
Deep Soil ◽  
Soil System ◽  
Soil Microbial ◽  
Total Soil ◽  
Karst Ecosystems

Soil erosion is prevalent in karst areas, but few studies have compared the differences in the drivers for soil microbial communities among karst ecosystems with different soil depths, and most studies have focused on the local scale. To fill this research gap, we investigated the upper 20 cm soil layers of 10 shallow–soil depth (shallow–SDC, total soil depth less than 100 cm) and 11 deep–soil depth communities (deep–SDC, total soil depth more than 100 cm), covering a broad range of vegetation types, soils, and climates. The microbial community characteristics of both the shallow–SDC and deep–SDC soils were tested by phospholipid fatty acid (PLFAs) analysis, and the key drivers of the microbial communities were illustrated by forward selection and variance partitioning analysis. Our findings demonstrated that more abundant soil nutrients supported higher fungal PLFA in shallow–SDC than in deep–SDC (p < 0.05). Furthermore, stronger correlation between the microbial community and the plant–soil system was found in shallow–SDC: the pure plant effect explained the 43.2% of variance in microbial biomass and 57.8% of the variance in the ratio of Gram–positive bacteria to Gram–negative bacteria (G+/G−), and the ratio of fungi to total bacteria (F/B); the pure soil effect accounted for 68.6% variance in the microbial diversity. The ratio of microbial PLFA cyclopropyl to precursors (Cy/Pr) and the ratio of saturated PLFA to monounsaturated PLFA (S/M) as indicators of microbial stress were controlled by pH, but high pH was not conducive to microorganisms in this area. Meanwhile, Cy/Pr in all communities was >0.1, indicating that microorganisms were under environmental stress. Therefore, the further ecological restoration of degraded karst communities is needed to improve their microbial communities.

scholarly journals Contrasting Community Assembly Forces Drive Microbial Structural and Potential Functional Responses to Precipitation in an Incipient Soil System

2021 ◽  
Vol 12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Aditi Sengupta ◽  
Till H. M. Volkmann ◽  
Robert E. Danczak ◽  
James C. Stegen ◽  
Katerina Dontsova ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Community Structure ◽  
Community Assembly ◽  
Carbon Fixation ◽  
Soil Depth ◽  
Parent Material ◽  
Functional Responses ◽  
Short Term ◽  
Soil System ◽  
Landscape Characteristics ◽  
Environmental Fluctuations

Microbial communities in incipient soil systems serve as the only biotic force shaping landscape evolution. However, the underlying ecological forces shaping microbial community structure and function are inadequately understood. We used amplicon sequencing to determine microbial taxonomic assembly and metagenome sequencing to evaluate microbial functional assembly in incipient basaltic soil subjected to precipitation. Community composition was stratified with soil depth in the pre-precipitation samples, with surficial communities maintaining their distinct structure and diversity after precipitation, while the deeper soil samples appeared to become more uniform. The structural community assembly remained deterministic in pre- and post-precipitation periods, with homogenous selection being dominant. Metagenome analysis revealed that carbon and nitrogen functional potential was assembled stochastically. Sub-populations putatively involved in the nitrogen cycle and carbon fixation experienced counteracting assembly pressures at the deepest depths, suggesting the communities may functionally assemble to respond to short-term environmental fluctuations and impact the landscape-scale response to perturbations. We propose that contrasting assembly forces impact microbial structure and potential function in an incipient landscape; in situ landscape characteristics (here homogenous parent material) drive community structure assembly, while short-term environmental fluctuations (here precipitation) shape environmental variations that are random in the soil depth profile and drive stochastic sub-population functional dynamics.

Soil water repellency persistence after recurrent forest fires on Mount Carmel, Israel

2013 ◽  
Vol 22 (4) ◽  
pp. 515 ◽  
Author(s):  
Naama Tessler ◽  
Lea Wittenberg ◽  
Noam Greenbaum
Keyword(s):  
Organic Matter ◽  
Soil Water ◽  
Forest Fires ◽  
Water Drop ◽  
Chemical Properties ◽  
Water Repellency ◽  
Mediterranean Ecosystem ◽  
Long Term Effects ◽  
Soil Water Repellency ◽  
Chemical Properties Of Soils

Variations in forest fires regime affect: (1) the natural patterns of community structure and vegetation; (2) the physico-chemical properties of soils and consequently (3) runoff, erosion and sediment yield. In recent decades the Mediterranean ecosystem of Mount Carmel, north-western Israel, is subjected to an increasing number of forest fires, thus, the objectives of the study were to evaluate the long-term effects of single and recurrent fires on soil water repellency (WR) and organic matter (OM) content. Water repellency was studied by applying water drop penetration time (WDPT) tests at sites burnt by single-fire, two fires, three fires and unburnt control sites. Water repellency in the burnt sites was significantly lower than in the unburnt control sites, and the soil maintained its wettability for more than 2 decades, whereas after recurrent fires, the rehabilitation was more complicated and protracted. The OM content was significantly lower after recurrent than after a single fire, causing a clear proportional decrease in WR. The rehabilitation of WR to natural values is highly dependent on restoration of organic matter and revegetation. Recurrent fires may cause a delay in recovery and reduced productivity of the soil for a long period.

Experiments and Numerical Simulations of Flow Patterns of Water Droplets From Fire-Fighting Helicopters

2000 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kohyu Satoh ◽  
Kohei Sagae ◽  
Kunio Kuwahara ◽  
K. T. Yang
Keyword(s):  
Numerical Simulations ◽  
Forest Fires ◽  
Water Drop ◽  
Real Life ◽  
Large Earthquake ◽  
Flow Patterns ◽  
Design Tool ◽  
Fire Fighting ◽  
Water Application ◽  
Water Droplets

Abstract In large forest fires over wide areas, aerial fire fighting with water drop from helicopters has been widely employed in the world. After the large earthquake fires in Japan, possibilities were raised to employ similar fire-fighting technique to city fires. However, forest and city fires were inherently different in nature and require different fire-fighting implementations. Since the city fires are concentrated in extent and isolated, thus requiring more dense water application to extinguish fires. As a result, accurate engineering data on the optimum water application relative to a given fire are critically needed to design fire-fighting strategies. This study describes the experiments carried out in open fields using real-life helicopters, in comparison with the 3-D numerical simulations. Numerical simulations can provide reasonable flow patterns of the water droplets from the helicopters, and can be used as a design tool for implementing the fire-fighting technique for real city fires.

Molecular and functional responses of soil microbial communities under grassland restoration

2008 ◽  
Vol 127 (3-4) ◽  
pp. 286-293 ◽  
Author(s):  
Pierre Plassart ◽  
Marthe Akpa Vinceslas ◽  
Christophe Gangneux ◽  
Anne Mercier ◽  
Sylvie Barray ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Microbial Communities ◽  
Soil Microbial Communities ◽  
Grassland Restoration ◽  
Functional Responses ◽  
Soil Microbial

Effects of crop and pasture rotations and surface cover on rainfall infiltration on a Kandosol in south-west Queensland

Soil Research ◽  
2008 ◽  
Vol 46 (3) ◽  
pp. 203 ◽  
Author(s):  
G. A. Thomas ◽  
D. N. Orange ◽  
A. J. King
Keyword(s):  
Soil Profile ◽  
Soil Depth ◽  
Rainfall Infiltration ◽  
Water Infiltration ◽  
Zero Tillage ◽  
Pasture Production ◽  
Rainfall Simulator ◽  
Fallow Period ◽  
Surface Cover ◽  
South West

An experiment was conducted on a Kandosol in south-west Queensland from 2001 to 2005 to determine the effects of fallow management practices and crop and pasture rotations on soil properties and crop production. In April 2004, infiltration measurements were made using a rainfall simulator at the end of a 6-month fallow period following harvest of crop phases (wheat under reduced tillage and zero tillage, chickpea under zero tillage) and following termination of pasture phases (2-year legume and grass + legume leys) with herbicide application and zero tillage during the fallow period. Measurements were made at 3 surface cover levels in each treatment: (i) where crop or pasture dry matter was cut at ground level and removed to approximate 0% cover, (ii) at existing cover percentage, and (iii) where wheat straw was added to give 100% cover. In a separate study to monitor water infiltration, the movement of bromide applied to the soil surface in November 2003 was monitored in the soil profile to 1.5 m soil depth in April 2004 and February 2005. Mean cumulative infiltration after 100 mm rainfall over 1 h was 35, 42, and 69 mm (l.s.d. P = 0.05, 6) with 0%, existing, and 100% cover, respectively, and was greater following wheat (52 mm) than following chickpea (39 mm) under zero tillage (l.s.d. P = 0.05, 13). Short-term pasture leys did not appear to improve infiltration characteristics of the soil under the conditions of this study. In the rainfall simulator study, mean drainage of water below 1.5 m soil depth was 8.5% of applied rainfall. In the bromide tracer study, only ~12% of the applied bromide could be accounted for in the 0–1.5 m soil depth 15 months after application. Rainfall received during this period was similar to the long-term mean amount. Results demonstrate the importance of surface cover in increasing rainfall infiltration on this soil, thereby potentially improving soil water storage for crop and pasture production and reducing the risk of runoff and soil erosion. However, the relatively rapid movement of water and solutes through the soil profile has implications for possible adverse effects of drainage to lower parts of the landscape and for nutrient leaching below the root-zone, decreasing the availability of soil and applied nutrients to crops and pastures.

A Numerical Study of Forest Fire Progression and Fire Suppression by Aerial Fire Fighting

2004 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kohyu Satoh ◽  
Kunio Kuwahara ◽  
K. T. Yang
Keyword(s):  
Forest Fire ◽  
Forest Fires ◽  
High Speed ◽  
Laboratory Experiments ◽  
Numerical Study ◽  
Water Drop ◽  
Fire Suppression ◽  
Critical Issue ◽  
Fire Fighting ◽  
Cfd Simulations

Forest fires are of common occurrence all over the world, which cause severe damages to valuable natural resources and human lives. In the recent California Fire, which burned 300,000 hectors of land, the disaster danger could reasonably be predicted, but early control of fires by means of aerial fire fighting might have been failed in that situation. Also in Japan, there are similar problems in the aerial fire fighting. Most forest fires occur in the daytime and the fires are freely in progress without any control during the nighttime. Therefore, it is important to attack the fires when there is daylight. The water dropped by helicopters is not always sufficient to control fires, since the quantity of water that can be carried aloft is a critical issue. Large amount of water can be dropped from aircrafts, but the high-speed flight of aircrafts may be dangerous in the mountain, where tall trees and steel towers with electric wires may exist. Therefore, those aircrafts have to fly at much higher altitudes than helicopters, while the water drop at high altitudes changes water into mist in the air. The objective of this study is to examine the methods to prevent the ignition by firebrands in the downwind area by applying water through the aerial fire fighting. However, tests by real aircrafts to obtain such information would be too costly. Therefore, the patterns of water drop from aircrafts were examined in CFD simulations, together with the investigation of needed water drop rate based on the forest fire statistics, the previous real aircraft tests and laboratory experiments. It has been found in the simulations that the water supply with the water density of 2 L/m2 is effective to control fires and the patterns of dropping water are reasonable.

scholarly journals Effect of soil texture on water infiltration in semiarid reclaimed land

2015 ◽  
Vol 51 (1) ◽  
pp. 33-41 ◽  
Author(s):  
Wenmei Ma ◽  
Xingchang Zhang ◽  
Qing Zhen ◽  
Yanjiang Zhang
Keyword(s):  
Hydraulic Conductivity ◽  
Soil Properties ◽  
Soil Texture ◽  
Soil Depth ◽  
Water Infiltration ◽  
Empirical Coefficient ◽  
Reclaimed Land ◽  
Essential Information ◽  
Disturbed Land ◽  
Cumulative Infiltration

The infiltration of water and its influencing factors in disturbed or reclaimed land are not well understood. A better understanding would provide essential information for assessing the hydrological processes in disturbed ecosystems. We measured the infiltration of water in soils from loamy and sandy reclaimed land. The relationships between infiltration and soil properties were analyzed based on three models: the Kostiakov, Philip, and Green–Ampt equations. Our objectives were to understand water infiltration in reclaimed land with a variety of soil textures and to establish the dependence of water infiltration on soil properties. Both the rate of infiltration and the cumulative infiltration were higher in sandy than in loamy soils. The rate of infiltration and the cumulative infiltration decreased with soil depth in undisturbed land. The sorptivity rate (S) from the Philip equation, empirical coefficient (K) from the Kostiakov equation, and the satiated hydraulic conductivity (Ksl) from the Green–Ampt equation were 22%, 16%, and 7.1% higher, respectively, in sandy than in loamy soils. The Ksl increased significantly with Ks (saturated hydraulic conductivity) in both sandy and loamy soils. These indicated that the Green–Ampt equation can be used to describe Ks and the characteristics of infiltration for soils on disturbed land.

scholarly journals Physio-morphological Characteristics of Soil of Akure, Ondo State SW, Nigeria

2020 ◽  
pp. 82-97
Author(s):  
B. F. Dada ◽  
B. S. Ewulo ◽  
M. A. Awodun ◽  
T. D. Adebisi ◽  
S. O. Ajayi
Keyword(s):  
Particle Size ◽  
Physical Properties ◽  
Spatial Organization ◽  
Soil Depth ◽  
Size Fraction ◽  
Morphological Characteristics ◽  
Clay Content ◽  
Infiltration Rate ◽  
Water Infiltration ◽  
Rooting Depth

Soil physical properties influence soil water infiltration rate, plant rooting depth, amount of available water, air and nutrients which are of utmost importance in agricultural production and, hence there is need to describe in-situ spatial organization and physical properties of soil in Akure. Sixteen profile pits were dug. The soils were characterized and described on the field and samples collected for textural analysis. The area occurs on level plain with little slope gradient, the surface horizons (A1 and A­2) were weak medium crumby to moderate medium crumby structures while the subsurface horizons (Bt1 and Bt2­) showed moderate medium blocky structure. The soils are generally deep and well drained at the top soil with coarse texture; the subsoils are characterized by prominent presence of mottles, which suggest that the subsoils are poorly drained. The distribution of clay content increased with soil depth for all pedons. Most of the Pedons had reddish gray colour (2.5YR 4/1) and dull reddish brown 2.5YR 4/3 at the surface horizons (A1 and A2), over brownish colour (7.5YR 4/4) and dull reddish brown (5YR 4/4) sub soil. The particle size distribution revealed that sand dominated the particle size fraction of the soil in all the profiles, which could be managed with appropriate organic manure.

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