TY - JOUR
T1 - Post-wildfire moss colonisation and soil functional enhancement in forests of the southwestern USA
AU - Grover, Henry S.
AU - Bowker, Matthew A.
AU - Fulé, Peter Z.
AU - Doherty, Kyle D.
AU - Sieg, Carolyn H.
AU - Antoninka, Anita J.
N1 - Funding Information:
The authors thank Christopher MacDonald and Robert Parmenter for providing access and support with obtaining permits. Suzanne Owen and Steven Overby designed, and Danna Muise and Sedona Spann conducted the nutrient analysis. This work would not have been possible without the technicians and volunteers who provided field and laboratory support, including Channing Laturno, Daniel’le DeVoss, Kara Gibson, Dean Grover, Dustin Kebble, Landon Kuestersteffen, Pablo Ortiz, Carla Roybal, Sedona Spann and Michael Sloan. Finally, we wish to thank Peter Robichaud, Shannon Kay, Derek Sonderegger and two anonymous reviewers for input that greatly improved this manuscript. This work was supported by the McIntire-Stennis Cooperative Forestry Research Program (grant no. USDA-NIFA-10202-MSCFRXXX-19-001 / project accession no. 1007836) from the USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture. Additional funding was provided by Valles Caldera National Preserve, Jemez, NM (Agreement ID: P16AC00911); the ARCS foundation scholar award, Phoenix, AZ; and the Joint Fire Science Program, Graduate Research Innovation (GRIN) award (Grant ID: 18-1-01-55). Field technician support and soil sample analysis were provided by the Rocky Mountain Research Station, Flagstaff, AZ.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2020 IAWF.
PY - 2020/6
Y1 - 2020/6
N2 - 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.
AB - 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.
KW - Bryum argenteum
KW - Ceratodon purpureus
KW - Funaria hygrometrica
KW - mixed-conifer forest
KW - ponderosa pine forest
KW - post fire
KW - soil erosion
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U2 - 10.1071/WF19106
DO - 10.1071/WF19106
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85081341747
SN - 1049-8001
VL - 29
SP - 530
EP - 540
JO - International Journal of Wildland Fire
JF - International Journal of Wildland Fire
IS - 6
ER -