Post-wildfire moss colonisation and soil functional enhancement in forests of the southwestern USA
Henry S. Grover
A C , Matthew A. Bowker A , Peter Z. Fulé A , Kyle D. Doherty A , Carolyn H. Sieg B and Anita J. Antoninka A
+ Author Affiliations
- Author Affiliations
A Northern Arizona University, School of Forestry, 200 East Pine Knoll Drive, Flagstaff, AZ 86011, USA.
B Rocky Mountain Research Station, Flagstaff Forest Sciences Laboratory, 2500 South Pine Knoll Drive, Flagstaff, AZ 86001, USA.
C Corresponding author. Email: henrygrover@nau.edu
International Journal of Wildland Fire 29(6) 530-540 https://doi.org/10.1071/WF19106
Submitted: 12 July 2019 Accepted: 24 December 2019 Published: 19 February 2020
Abstract
Fire mosses, including Ceratodon purpureus, Funaria hygrometrica and Bryum argenteum, can achieve high cover within months to years after high-severity fire, but do so heterogeneously across space and time. We conducted a survey of moss cover and erosion-related functions after 10 wildfires in Pinus ponderosa and mixed-conifer forests of the southwestern USA. We sampled 65 plots in high-severity patches, stratifying by elevation and insolation over each fire. Using three landscape-scale predictor variables and one temporal predictor, we explained 37% of the variance in fire moss cover using a random forest model. The predictors in order of importance were: equinox insolation (sunlight/day), pre-fire vegetation type, pre-fire soil organic carbon and time since fire. Within each plot we examined differences between bare and moss-covered soil surface microsites and found moss-covered microsites had a mean increase of 55% water infiltration, 106% shear strength, 162% compressive strength and 195% aggregate stability. We tested a suite of nutrients, finding 35% less manganese in the moss-covered soil. This research demonstrated that post-fire colonisation by moss is predictable and that colonisation improves soil surface erosion resistance and hydrological function, with implications for managing severely burned landscapes.
Additional keywords: Bryum argenteum, Ceratodon purpureus, Funaria hygrometrica, mixed-conifer forest, ponderosa pine forest, post fire, soil erosion.
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