Wildfire Alters Spatial Patterns of Available Soil Nitrogen and Understory Environments in a Valley Boreal Larch Forest

doi:10.3390/f10020095

	Wildfire Alters Spatial Patterns of Available Soil Nitrogen and Understory Environments in a Valley Boreal Larch Forest
	Kong, Jianjian 1; Qi, Lin 3; Liu, Bo 3; Yang, Jian 2
刊名	FORESTS
	2019-02-01
卷号	10 期号:2 页码:16
关键词	disturbance nitrogen cycling spatial heterogeneity understory vegetation boreal forest
ISSN号	1999-4907
DOI	10.3390/f10020095
英文摘要	Wildfire, a primary natural disturbance in many forests, affects soil nutrient availability and spatial distributions of forest plants. However, post-fire changes in soil nutrients and spatial patterns of understory environments at fine scales are poorly understood. Here, we characterized spatial patterns of soil nitrogen availability and site characteristics at a 3-year-post-fire and an unburned site in a valley boreal larch forest. We also examined the relationship between soil nitrogen availability and site characteristics. The results showed that the burned site had higher NO3- and lower NH4+ than the control. The herb, litter and coarse wood debris cover was greater at the burned site than at the control site with higher soil pH, depth of the organic horizon (DOH) and shrub cover. Relative variability (coefficient of variation) in soil nitrogen and site characteristic variables at the control site was greater than at the burned site except for shrub and regeneration tree seedling cover. Spatial structure (quantified by semi-variograms) was lacking for soil nitrogen and site characteristic variables except for DOH, herb and shrub cover at the control site, but wildfire created a strong spatial structure for all variables. Shorter spatial autocorrelation ranges of soil nitrogen (1.6-3.5 m) and site characteristic variables (2.6-6.0 m) were detected at the burned site, indicating higher heterogeneity. The spatial scale of soil NH4+ was congruent with those of herb, shrub and regeneration tree seedling cover, indicating local coupling, while that of soil NO3- was not. The number of correlations between soil nitrogen and site characteristic variables in the burned site was greater than in the control. These results indicate that fire could not only create higher heterogeneity patches of soil resources, but also strengthen the local coupling between soil resources and understory vegetation, which may impact the establishment and growth of new individual plants.
资助项目	National Key Research and Development Program of China[2017YFA0604403] ; National Natural Science Foundation of China[41501200] ; National Natural Science Foundation of China[31800376] ; National Natural Science Foundation of China[31800395] ; Doctoral programs from Liaoning Province[201601151] ; Shenyang Normal University[bs201507]
WOS研究方向	Forestry
语种	英语
出版者	MDPI
WOS记录号	WOS:000460744000019
内容类型	期刊论文
源URL	[http://210.72.129.5/handle/321005/123973]
专题	中国科学院沈阳应用生态研究所
通讯作者	Yang, Jian
作者单位	1.Shenyang Normal Univ, Coll Life Sci, Shenyang 110034, Liaoning, Peoples R China 2.Univ Kentucky, Dept Forestry, TP Cooper Bldg, Lexington, KY 40546 USA 3.Chinese Acad Sci, Inst Appl Ecol, CAS Key Lab Forest Ecol & Management, Shenyang 110016, Liaoning, Peoples R China
推荐引用方式 GB/T 7714	Kong, Jianjian,Qi, Lin,Liu, Bo,et al. Wildfire Alters Spatial Patterns of Available Soil Nitrogen and Understory Environments in a Valley Boreal Larch Forest[J]. FORESTS,2019,10(2):16.
APA	Kong, Jianjian,Qi, Lin,Liu, Bo,&Yang, Jian.(2019).Wildfire Alters Spatial Patterns of Available Soil Nitrogen and Understory Environments in a Valley Boreal Larch Forest.FORESTS,10(2),16.
MLA	Kong, Jianjian,et al."Wildfire Alters Spatial Patterns of Available Soil Nitrogen and Understory Environments in a Valley Boreal Larch Forest".FORESTS 10.2(2019):16.