Investigation of natural resilience capacity of soil features affected by low severity ground wildfire after three years in Mediterranean forest ecosystem

Authors : Turgay DİNDAROĞLU, Fatma TURAN

Pages : 145-156

Doi:10.31195/ejejfs.568734

View : 38 | Download : 10

Publication Date : 2019-08-20

Article Type : Research Paper

Abstract :Wildfires are one of the succession dynamics in the ecosystem, however forest ecosystems have natural resilience capacity to combat with natural disturbance regimes depend on local ecologic properties. This study was conducted to evaluate natural resilience capacity status of the soil’s physical, chemical and hydrological features exposed to low severity ground wildfire after three years in the Bulutoglu village, Kahramanmaras. Particle size distribution, soil reaction insert ignore into journalissuearticles values(pH);, electrical conductivity insert ignore into journalissuearticles values(EC);, organic matter content insert ignore into journalissuearticles values(OM);, dispersion ratio insert ignore into journalissuearticles values(DR);, moisture content insert ignore into journalissuearticles values(MC);, field capacity insert ignore into journalissuearticles values(FC);, colloid/moisture equivalent insert ignore into journalissuearticles values(CM);, particle density insert ignore into journalissuearticles values(PD);, bulk density insert ignore into journalissuearticles values(BD); and porosity ratio insert ignore into journalissuearticles values(PR); analysis were performed on two groups of soils insert ignore into journalissuearticles values(burned and unburned counterpart);. The environmental sensitivity index insert ignore into journalissuearticles values(ESI); include soil, vegetation, climate, and management quality of the study area was determined by MEDALUS methodology. According to the results, there is no environmental sensitivity in the study area. It was determined that the negative effects of soil properties improved significantly after three years from the wildfire except for the PR and BD values. There was no statistically significant difference between the analyzed two soil samples groups. It was concluded that the difference between the bulk density and porosity ratios is not only due to the effects of the fire but also with grazing pressure, especially on the unburned area. According to the results, the  burned area suffered from low severity ground wildfire has substantially been naturally rehabilitated itself within th ree years. Environmentally sensitivity insert ignore into journalissuearticles values(ESI); of the study area was a play an important role in the recovery of soil features. Additionally recommended avoiding some activities that will compress the soil for increasing natural resilience capacity after a wildfire.
Keywords : Ground wildfire, Soil ecology, Resilience capacity, Fire ecology

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