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RESEARCH ARTICLE
Contents Vol 44(3)

Changes in soil water repellence and its distribution in relation to surface microtopographic units after a low severity fire in eucalypt woodland, Sydney, Australia

Jocelyn Howell A B , Geoff S. Humphreys A and Peter B. Mitchell A
+ Author Affiliations
- Author Affiliations

A Department of Physical Geography, Macquarie University, Sydney, NSW 2109, Australia.

B Corresponding author. Email: jhowell@cat.org.au

Australian Journal of Soil Research 44(3) 205-217 https://doi.org/10.1071/SR04176
Submitted: 9 December 2004  Accepted: 2 February 2006   Published: 5 May 2006

Abstract

The distribution and persistence of water repellence was altered by low severity fire and subsequent rain in soil supporting eucalypt woodland on sandstone terrain in Sydney, south-eastern Australia. Water drop penetration times were recorded to depths of 0.08 m in situ 9 months before the experimental fire, immediately after fire, 4 weeks later when rainfall had modified the soil surface but the soil was dry, and 5 weeks after the fire when the soil was moist. Spatial variation in water repellence was high in all cases except immediately after the fire, when soil was almost uniformly strongly repellent to 0.03 m depth, and less uniformly repellent at 0.04–0.06 m depth. Heavy rain moved litter, ash, and mineral soil, modifying the soil surface into microtopographic units including litter dams, microterraces, and other areas with differing proportions of litter, bare soil, and gravel. Post-rain water drop penetration measurements were taken on and beneath these different surface conditions, in order to investigate the possible contribution of water repellence to the formation and maintenance of litter dams and microterraces characteristic of this terrain after fire. Water repellence did not appear to be directly correlated with the presence or absence of surface litter. Results suggest the long-term and spatially variable water repellence found in soils associated with vegetation dominated by eucalypts in Australia is maintained by factors different from those causing extreme and uniform water repellence after fire. Variable water repellence at the soil surface and within the profile may contribute to differential survival of seedlings after fire. The possible breakdown of water repellent compounds formed after fire and the distribution and development of hydrophobic biotic structures including fungal hyphae and proteoid roots need to be investigated.

Additional keywords: hydrophobicity, litter, litter dam, microterrace, mycorrhiza, proteoid root mats.


Acknowledgments

We thank Stefan Doerr for guidance on data analysis, Lesley Hughes for organising the experimental fire, officers of the Metropolitan Fire Brigade for conducting the fire, Tony Auld and Ross Bradstock for soil temperature data, Malcolm Reed for extensive field assistance, Matthew Arnison for technical help, and Doug Benson and Brett Summerell for support at a vital time.


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Appendix table 1. Soil water repellence (median and range of WR classes spanned) as measured by WDPT in situ to 0.08 m depth in long unburnt pre-fire and undifferentiated post-fire soil
WR Classes as in Table 3; N, sample size
A1


Appendix table 2. Soil water repellence (median WR class and range of classes spanned) as measured by WDPT in situ to 0.08 m depth under 6 microtopographic units (MTUs) in dry post-fire soil differentiated by rain
WR Classes as in Table 3; MTUs as in Table 4; N, sample size
A2


Appendix table 3 Soil water repellence (median WR class and range of classes spanned) as measured by WDPT in situ to 0.08 m depth under 6 microtopographic units (MTUs) in wet post-fire soil differentiated by rain
WR Classes as in Table 3; MTUs as in Table 4; N, sample size
A3