Effects of a high-severity wildfire and post-fire straw mulching on gross nitrogen dynamics in Mediterranean shrubland soil

• Published in: Geoderma 2017-11, Vol.305, p.328-335
• Main Authors: Fernández-Fernández, M., Rütting, T., González-Prieto, S.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: 15N tracing; acid soils; Agriculture; Autotrophic nitrification; central idaho; coniferous; Earth and Related Environmental Sciences; Emergency stabilization techniques; fire; forests; Geovetenskap och miljövetenskap; Heterotrophic nitrification; Mineralisation-immobilisation turnover; n-15 pool dilution; N-15 tracing; n-transformations; n2o emissions; nitrification; transformation rates; wheat-straw
• ISSN: 0016-7061; 1872-6259
• DOI: 10.1016/j.geoderma.2017.06.023

Little is known about the combined impacts of fire and straw mulching, a widely used post-fire emergency measure, on the soil nitrogen (N) cycle. Unburnt (US) and severely-burnt soils without (BS) and with straw mulching (BSM) were preincubated (3 and 6months) in the laboratory before fire and mulching effects on gross N transformations were investigated with a paired 15N-labelling experiment. The ammonium-to-nitrate (NH4+/NO3−) ratio of burnt soils decreased with preincubation time from 21 to 1.3, consistent with a shift of the N cycle towards net nitrification. After 3months of preincubation, gross mineralisation (MSON) and gross NH4+ immobilisation (INH4) in BS more than doubled compared to US, in the latter being MSON 4.82mgNkg−1day−1 and INH4 3.01mgNkg−1day−1. Mulching partly mitigated this stimulation in the mineralisation-immobilisation turnover (MIT). After 6months, MIT differences among treatments disappeared and gross rates approached those in US after 3months. After three months, autotrophic nitrification (NH4+ oxidation) in all treatments was 0.41–0.52mgNkg−1day−1, while after 6months it remained similar in US but increased 8-fold in burnt soils. Heterotrophic nitrification of organic N only occurred in burnt soils, and its importance was similar to autotrophic nitrification after 3months, but around 4-fold lower after 6months. To conclude, burning opened up the N cycle and NO3− accumulated, increasing the potential for ecosystem N losses. In the short term, straw mulching slightly mitigates the effects of fire on the N cycle. •Gross mineralisation and NH4+ immobilisation were more than doubled in burnt soils.•Heterotrophic nitrification only occurred in burnt soils.•Burning opened up the N cycle and NO3− accumulated, increasing potential N losses.•In the short term, mulching slightly mitigates the effects of fire on the N cycle.