PARENT SESSION
Poster Session #18: Fire Ecology I.
Tuesday, August 6. Presentation from 5:00 PM to 6:30 PM. Exhibit Hall B & C, TCC
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Post-fire logging effects and soil degradation in Mediterranean pine forests.
Mayor, Ángeles*,1, Bautista, Susana1,2, Gimeno, Teresa2, 1 University of Alicante, Alicante, Spain2 Centro de Estudios Ambientales del Mediterráneo (CEAM), Valencia, Spain
ABSTRACT- We studied the consequences of post-fire logging on soil surface degradation by sheet and rill erosion in eight burnt pine forests in eastern Spain. Since post-fire logging effects could potentially vary depending on site characteristics, we selected a wide range of environmental conditions in order to (1) gain in representativeness for analyzing treatment effect and (2) to assess the factors that modulate the treatment effects. The experimental sites varied in dominant pine species Pinus halepensis and Pinus pinaster, bedrock and soil types, climate and geomorphic conditions, and stand characteristics such as basal area and pine density. All the selected sites included logging and control -no logging- areas. Within each site, we established one experimental plot (1000 m2 in size) per treatment (logging and control). Logging treatment promoted a significant increase in the percent of soil surface that was affected by degradation indicators such as erosion crusts, shallow rills, and small-scale landslides. Savage logging promoted large-scale deep-rill erosion in most of the study sites. The severity of the effects depended mainly on the type of substrate, with soils developed over sandstone and marls showing the highest soil loss values. In these areas, soil loss by rill erosion ranged between 51.2 and 10.5 Mg ha-1 year-1 along the first three years after savage logging. Logging practices involving soil conservation measures minimized rill erosion effects.
KEY WORDS: wildfire, savage logging, rill erosion, surficial processes