The impact of traditional fire management on soil carbon and nitrogen pools in a montane forest, southern Ethiopia
Dong-Gill Kim A C , Habitamu Taddese A , Abrham Belay A and Randy Kolka B
+ Author Affiliations
- Author Affiliations
A Wondo Genet College of Forestry and Natural Resources, Hawassa University, PO Box 128, Shashemene, Ethiopia.
B USDA Forest Service, Northern Research Station, 1831 US Highway 169 East, Grand Rapids, MN 55744, USA.
C Corresponding author. Email: donggillkim@gmail.com
International Journal of Wildland Fire 25(10) 1110-1116 https://doi.org/10.1071/WF16022
Submitted: 25 January 2015 Accepted: 30 June 2016 Published: 21 July 2017
Abstract
We conducted studies to assess the impact of traditional fire management on soil organic carbon and total nitrogen pools. We compared organic carbon and total nitrogen pools in forest floor and mineral soil (0–100-cm depth) in three areas burned by local communities (B) with adjacent unburned areas (UB) (three paired sites; 1, 5 and 9 years since fire; hereafter B1-UB, B5-UB and B9-UB) in a montane forest in southern Ethiopia. Despite differences in time since fire and dominant post-fire vegetation, forest floor and mineral soil organic carbon and total nitrogen concentrations and pools were not significantly different between burned and unburned pairs or across sites. However, mineral soil carbon : nitrogen ratio was significantly higher in the burned area of B9-UB (0–10 cm) and B5-UB (10–20 cm), indicating small losses of nitrogen relative to carbon, likely from plant uptake or possibly leaching of nitrogen post fire. Combined, the data suggest that traditional fire management did not dramatically affect forest floor and mineral soil organic carbon and total nitrogen dynamics at these sites.
Additional keywords: C : N ratio, forest floor, mineral soil layers, Wondo Genet Forest.
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