Prescribed burning effects on soil enzyme activity in a southern Ohio hardwood forest: a landscape-scale analysis (original) (raw)
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Soil Biology and Biochemistry, 2005
This study examined variations in soil organic C content and the activity of acid phosphatase, a-glucosidase, phenol oxidase, chitinase, and L-glutaminase in ultisols of burned and unburned areas in Quercus-dominated forests in Ohio, USA. The low intensity, prescribed fires were conducted in April 2001, with temperature 10 cm above the forest floor averaging 160-240 8C. Sampling was conducted throughout the six month growing season (May-October) of 2003, two years after the fire. Organic C content in these ultisols varied between 20 and 30 g C/kg soil, and varied little through the growing season, except for a late season increase to w32 g C/kg soil in the burned areas. When enzyme activity was expressed per unit soil organic C, there was no statistically significant variation among sample dates in soil enzyme activity except L-glutaminase, which demonstrated a distinct maximum in activity in spring. Non-metric multidimensional scaling (NMS) ordination resulted in no clear separation of burned and unburned sample areas based on soil organic C and enzyme activity. When the growing season was divided into three segments (early spring, late spring/early summer, and late summer/early autumn), there was again a lack of separation between burned and unburned areas in the earlier two segments, whereas in the late summer/early autumn segment the burned and unburned areas were clearly separated on the basis of differences in soil organic C and L-glutaminase activity. As environmental factors (e.g. soil temperature, moisture) and substrate availability do not vary in parallel through the growing season in this region, seasonal patterns often differ among enzyme systems based on their predominant control mechanism. Sampling time during the growing season appears to have little effect on holistic judgments of fire effects based on soil enzymes, except under restrictive conditions.
Selected soil enzyme activities in an oak-hickory forest following long-term prescribed burning
1993
The biochemical reactions within the soil are mediated by soil flora and fauna, and are catalyzed by enzymes. Therefore, enzymes play a significant role in nutrient cycling. Enzymes are specific for the type of chemical reactions in which they participate. Arylsulfatase is the enzyme that catalyzes the hydrolysis of an arylsulfate anion by fission of the oxygen-sulfur (0-5) bond. ?-Glucosidase catalyzes the hydrolysis of ?-D-glucopyranosides and is involved in the hydrolysis of maltose. s-Glucosidase catalyzes the hydrolysis of s-D-glucopyranosides and is involved in the hydrolysis of cellobiose. The hydrolysis products of glycosidases are believed to be an important energy source for microorganisms in soils (Tabatabai, 1982). Acid phosphatase mediates the release of inorganic phosphorus (P) from organically-bound P returned to the soil as litter and other organic debris. Urease catalyzes the hydrolysis of urea to carbon dioxide and ammonia. It acts on carbon-nitrogen (C-N) bonds ot...
Canadian Journal of Forest Research, 2006
We quantified the effects of three wildfire hazard reduction treatments (prescribed fire, thinning from below, and the combination of fire and thinning), and passive management (control) on mineral soil organic C, and enzyme activity in loblolly pine (Pinus taeda L.) forests on the Piedmont of South Carolina. Soil organic C was reduced by thinning, either alone or with prescribed fire, and this effect persisted through the fourth post-treatment year. Fire also resulted in reduced soil organic C, but not until several years after treatment. Soil C/N ratio initially increased after fire, either alone or with thinning, but this difference did not persist. The activities of three soil enzymes (acid phosphatase, chitinase, and phenol oxidase) in the upper mineral soil were quantified as measures of microbial activity. During the fourth post-treatment year we observed significant stimulation of all three enzyme systems as a result of thinning or thinning and burning. Although the patterns...
Canadian Journal of Forest Research, 2006
We quantified the effects of three wildfire hazard reduction treatments (prescribed fire, thinning from below, and the combination of fire and thinning), and passive management (control) on mineral soil organic C, and enzyme activity in loblolly pine (Pinus taeda L.) forests on the Piedmont of South Carolina. Soil organic C was reduced by thinning, either alone or with prescribed fire, and this effect persisted through the fourth post-treatment year. Fire also resulted in reduced soil organic C, but not until several years after treatment. Soil C/N ratio initially increased after fire, either alone or with thinning, but this difference did not persist. The activities of three soil enzymes (acid phosphatase, chitinase, and phenol oxidase) in the upper mineral soil were quantified as measures of microbial activity. During the fourth post-treatment year we observed significant stimulation of all three enzyme systems as a result of thinning or thinning and burning. Although the patterns of variation in acid phosphatase and chitinase activity among treatments were similar during the first and fourth post-treatment years, the first-year treatment effects were not statistically significant. Given the management objective of utilizing these stands for timber production, the increased potential for rapid nutrient turnover offered by thinning gives this approach advantages over prescribed fire; however, management for maximum long-term storage of soil C may be better facilitated by prescribed fire. Résumé : Nous avons quantifié les effets de trois traitements pour réduire les risques d'incendie de forêt (brûlage dirigé, éclaircie par le bas et combinaison du brûlage et de l'éclaircie), d'un aménagement passif (témoin) sur le C organique du sol minéral et l'activité enzymatique dans les forêts de pin à encens (Pinus taeda L.) dans le Piémont de la Caroline du Sud. Le C organique du sol a diminué à la suite de l'éclaircie, seule ou combinée au brûlage dirigé, et cet effet a persisté jusqu'à la 4 e année après le traitement. Le rapport C/N dans le sol a d'abord augmenté après le feu, seul ou combiné à l'éclaircie, mais cette différence n'a pas persisté. L'activité de trois enzymes présentes dans le sol (la phosphatase acide, la chitinase et la phénol-oxydase) a été quantifiée dans la partie supérieure du sol minéral pour évaluer l'activité microbienne. Durant la 4 e année après le traitement, nous avons observé une augmentation de l'activité des trois enzymes à la suite de l'éclaircie ou de l'éclaircie et du brûlage. Bien que les patrons de variation de l'activité de la phosphatase acide et de la chitinase dans les différents traitements aient été similaires durant la 1 re année après les traitements à ceux qui ont été observés pendant la quatrième année, les effets observés pendant la 1 re année n'étaient pas statistiquement significatifs. Étant donné l'objectif d'aménagement qui consiste à utiliser ces peuplements pour la production de matière ligneuse, la possibilité accrue d'un recyclage rapide des nutriments offert par l'éclaircie confère à cette approche des avantages supérieurs à ceux du brûlage dirigé. Cependant, le brûlage dirigé serait plus efficace dans le cas d'un aménagement visant le stockage maximum du C du sol à long terme. [Traduit par la Rédaction] Boerner et al. 3154
Pedobiologia, 2014
Changes in land use frequently modify the capacity of ecosystems to provide services. The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of a specific land-use change, i.e. from meadows to pine plantations under temperate climate, on soil enzyme activities. To this aim, the variation of five key soil enzyme activities (dehydrogenase, -glucosidase, arylsulphatase, acid phosphatase and urease) was evaluated in different sites located in the Urdaibai Reserve of the Biosphere (northern Spain). Lower values of dehydrogenase [effect size, computed as 100 × (1 − mean value from pine plantations/mean value from meadows), was 82.9%], -glucosidase (52.9%) and urease (52.5%) activity were observed in soils from pine plantations versus meadows. Acid phosphatase and arylsulphatase activity showed a pattern of variation that was not dependent on land-use. The largest variation in enzyme activity values was due to changes at the small scale, not between the studied sites, an encouraging finding for the suitability of enzyme activities as bioindicators of the impact of land-use changes on soil functioning. Our results suggest that nutrient cycling (as reflected by the values of soil enzyme activities) might have been modified as a consequence of replacing meadows by pine plantations.
Acta Ecologica Sinica, 2007
Little is known about the responses of the activities of soil enzymes that are related to mass cycle to simulated climate change. Therefore, 72 intact soil columns from the primary fir (Abies faxoniana Rehder & E. H. Wilson) forest were parked in environment-controlled chambers with the CK (outside ambient CO 2 concentration and temperature), EC (elevated concentration CO 2 with (347.1±22.1) µmol•mol-1), ET (elevated temperature with (2.4±0.4)°C), and ECT (elevated CO 2 concentration with (352.8±27.6) µmol•mol-1 and temperature with (2.2±0.5)°C) treatments, and the activities of invertase, urease, nitrate reductase and acid phosphatase, which are related to the cycles of carbon, nitrogen and phosphorus in mineral soil (MS) and organic layer (OL) were measured simultaneously to understand the responses of these enzymes to climate change. Significant monthly variations on the activities of the studied enzymes were found in both OL and MS with the highest enzyme activities in summer, which were of ecological significance for soil nutrient availability and tree nutrition in the subalpine forest ecosystem. Different monthly patterns of enzyme activities were attributed to enzyme sources and soil layer. EC treatment had influenced slightly on the activities of the studied enzymes resulting from the higher CO 2 concentration in soil atmosphere and no indirect effect from the EC owing to a lack of trees planted on soils. ET treatment increased enzyme activities in comparison with the CK treatment because ET was beneficial to microbial growth and propagation. The increments of the enzyme activities in OL were higher than those in MS, implying that OL is more sensitive to climate change. ECT treatment sharply increased enzyme activities in comparison with the EC and CK, but there was no significant difference between ET and ECT, which was also attributed to no indirect effect by EC treatment owing to trees not planted on soils, implying that the increment of enzyme activities resulted from the temperature effect. However, further studies on indirect effect and complex effect on soil enzyme activity caused by EC, ET and ECT are needed to understand the soil enzyme responses to the climate change.
Soil Biology and Biochemistry, 2008
This study assessed the first-year effect of three ecosystem restoration treatments (prescribed fire, mechanical thinning, and their combination) on soil enzyme activity, soil N transformations, and C:N ratios of soil organic matter and mineral soil in eight North American forested ecosystems. The ecosystems we studied were part of the larger Fire and Fire Surrogate (FFS) network, and all had a history of frequent fire that has been altered by almost a century of organized fire suppression. Across all eight sites there were no statistically significant effects of the three manipulative treatments on phosphatase activity or chitinase activity; in contrast, at the network-scale phenol oxidase activity was reduced by fire alone, relative to the control. There was no significant network-scale effect of the three treatments on net N mineralization or net nitrification. Soil C:N ratio increased modestly after mechanical thinning, but not after prescribed fire or the combination of fire and thinning. There was a statistically significant reduction in forest floor C:N ratio as a result of all three treatments. Ordination of the differences between the treated and control areas indicated that fire alone resulted in greater changes in phenol oxidase activity and net nitrification than did the other two treatments. Large-scale restoration treatments such as those utilized in this study produce modest proximate effects on soil microbial activity and N transformations.