Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Patterns of soil water repellency in response to coarse woody debris and fire: implications for eucalypt regeneration in dry forests

  • Regular Article
  • Published:
Plant and Soil Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Aims

The severity of soil water repellency (WR) is affected by fire in dry eucalypt forests in Australia. This study aimed to investigate the variability of soil WR and moisture in and around typical seedling microsites after fire: in ashbeds near coarse woody debris (CWD).

Methods

Values of soil WR severity and moisture content were measured adjacent to and at multiple distances from CWD in ashbeds and in unburnt soils. Soils were measured at depths of 0 to 5 cm in 1 cm increments for 8 individual CWD samples in ashbeds. Data were analysed to determine whether WR varied significantly among soil depths and distances from CWD.

Results

In microsites subjected to a severe burn, WR differed significantly among depths but not distance from CWD. Next to CWD, soil was wettable for 1–2 cm below the surface and this wettable layer was underlain by a severely water repellent layer of at least 1 cm thickness with less repellent soil below that. In areas of less severe and no burn, surface layers were moderately to extremely water repellent.

Conclusions

The interaction between fire and CWD and the resultant severe burn, leads to spatially restricted regions where surface soil WR is reduced, moisture accumulates and seedling establishment is promoted.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Ashton DH (2000) Ecology of eucalypt regeneration. In: Keane PJ, Kile GA, Podger FD, Brown BN (eds) Diseases and pathogens of eucalypts. CSIRO Publishing, Collingwood Australia

    Google Scholar 

  • Australian Bureau of Meteorology (2011) Climate data online. Daily rainfall Epping Forest (Forton). Australian Bureau of Meteorology. Available at http://www.bom.gov.au/jsp/ncc/cdio/weatherData/av?p_nccObsCode=136&p_display_type=dailyDataFile&p_startYear=2009&p_c=657424911&p_stn_num=091032 (accessed 15 August 2011)

  • Bailey TG (2012) Eucalypt regeneration and ecological restoration of remnant woodlands in Tasmania, Australia. PhD thesis. School of Plant Science. University of Tasmania, Hobart. http://eprints.utas.edu.au/14728/1/whole-Bailey-thesis-exc-pub-mat.pdf

  • Bailey TG, Davidson NJ, Close DC (2012) Understanding the regeneration niche: microsite attributes and recruitment of eucalypts in dry forests. For Ecol Manag 269:229–238

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Crockford H, Topalidis S, Richardson DP (1991) Water repellency in a dry sclerophyll eucalypt forest - measurements and processes. Hydrol Process 5:405–420

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • DeBano LF (2000) The role of fire and soil heating on water repellency in wildland environments: a review. J Hydrol 231:195–206

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Dekker LW, Ritsema CJ (1994) How water moves in a water repellent sandy soil.1.Potential and actual water repellency. Water Resour Res 30:2507–2517

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Doerr SH (1998) On standardizing the water drop penetration time and the molarity of an ethanol droplet techniques to classify soil hydrophobicity: a case study using medium textured soils. Earth Surf Process Landf 23:663–668

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Doerr SH, Blake WH, Shakesby RA, Stagnitti F, Vuurens SH, Humphreys GS, Wallbrink P (2004) Heating effects on water repellency in Australian eucalypt forest soils and their value in estimating wildfire soil temperatures. Int J Wildland Fire 13:157–163

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Doerr SH, Moody JA (2004) Hydrological effects of soil water repellency: on spatial and temporal uncertainties. Hydrol Process 18:829–832

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Doerr SH, Shakesby RA, Blake WH, Chafer CJ, Humphreys GS, Wallbrink PJ (2006) Effects of differing wildfire severities on soil wettability and implications for hydrological response. J Hydrol 319:295–311

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Doerr SH, Shakesby RA, Walsh RPD (2000) Soil water repellency: its causes, characteristics and hydro-geomorphological significance. Earth-Sci Rev 51:33–65

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fischer J, Stott J, Zerger A, Warren G, Sherren K, Forrester RI (2009) Reversing a tree regeneration crisis in an endangered ecoregion. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 106:10386–10391

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Giraudoux P (2010) R documentation: Package ‘pgirmess’. http://cran.r-project.org/web/packages/pgirmess/pgirmess.pdf (accessed 22/11/ 2011)

  • Goldin SR, Hutchinson MF (2013) Coarse woody debris modifies surface soils of degraded temperate eucalypt woodlands. Plant Soil 370:461–469. doi:10.1007/s11104-013-1642-z

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Goldin SR, Hutchinson MF (2014) Coarse woody debris reduces the rate of moisture loss from surface soils of cleared temperate Australian woodlands. Soil Res 52:637–644. doi:10.1071/sr13337

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Harper JL (1977) Population biology of plants. Academic, London

    Google Scholar 

  • Hobbs RJ, Cramer VA (2003) Natural ecosystems: pattern and process in relation to local and landscape diversity in southwestern Australian woodlands. Plant Soil 257:371–378

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Howell J, Humphreys GS, Mitchell PB (2006) Changes in soil water repellence and its distribution in relation to surface microtopographic units after a low severity fire in eucalypt woodland, Sydney, Australia. Aust J Soil Res 44:205–217

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Keizer JJ, Ferreira AJD, Coelho COA, Doerr SH, Malvar MC, Domingues CSP, Perez IMB, Ruiz C, Ferrari K (2005) The role of tree stem proximity in the spatial variability of soil water repellency in a eucalypt plantation in coastal Portugal. Aust J Soil Res 43:251–259

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Leighton-Boyce G, Doerr SH, Shakesby RA, Walsh RPD, Ferreira AJD, Boulet AK, Coelho COA (2005) Temporal dynamics of water repellency and soil moisture in eucalypt plantations, Portugal. Aust J Soil Res 43:269–280

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Letey J (2001) Causes and consequences of fire-induced soil water repellency. Hydrol Process 15:2867–2875

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Letey J, Carrillo MLK, Pang XP (2000) Approaches to characterize the degree of water repellency. J Hydrol 231:61–65

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Madsen MD, Petersen SL, Fernelius KJ, Roundy BA, Taylor AG, Hopkins BG (2012) Influence of soil water repellency on seedling emergence and plant survival in a burned semi-arid woodland. Arid Land Res Manag 26:236–249. doi:10.1080/15324982.2012.680655

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • McGhie DA, Posner AM (1980) Water repellence of a heavy textured Western Australian surface soil. Aust J Soil Res 18:309–323. doi:10.1071/SR9800309

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Miller J (2001) Conservation of threatened woodlands and dry forests by management of firewood collection. World Wide Fund For Nature Australia, Sydney

    Google Scholar 

  • Nicolls KD (1958) Reconnaissance soil map of Tasmania. Sheet 47 - Longford. Divisional Report 14/57. CSIRO Divison of Soils

  • Osborn J, Letey J, DeBano F, Terry E (1967) Seed germination and establishment as affected by non-wettable soils and wetting agents. Ecology 48:494–497

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Quinn GP, Keough MJ (2002) Experimental Design and Data Analysis for Biologists. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • R Development Core Team (2009) R: A language and environment for statistical computing. R Foundation for Statistical Computing, Vienna, Austria., http://www.R-project.org

  • RPDC (2006) State of the Environment Tasmania Indicators: Firewood Collection and Usage. http://soer.justice.tas.gov.au/2003/bio/4/issue/10/index.php

  • Scott DF (2000) Soil wettability in forested catchments in South Africa; as measured by different methods and as affected by vegetation cover and soil characteristics. J Hydrol 231:87–104

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Shakesby RA, Wallbrink PJ, Doerr SH, English PM, Chafer CJ, Humphreys GS, Blake WH, Tomkins KM (2007) Distinctiveness of wildfire effects on soil erosion in south-east Australian eucalypt forests assessed in a global context. For Ecol Manag 238:347–364

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Stoneman GL (1994) Ecology and physiology of establishment of eucalypt seedlings from seed: a review. Aust For 57:11–30

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Weinberg A, Gibbons P, Briggs SV, Bonser SP (2011) The extent and pattern of Eucalyptus regeneration in an agricultural landscape. Biol Conserv 144:227–233. doi:10.1016/j.biocon.2010.08.020

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Yates CJ, Hobbs RJ, Bell RW (1996) Factors limiting the recruitment of Eucalyptus salmonophloia in remnant woodlands.3. Conditions necessary for seed germination. Aust J Bot 44:283–296

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Young TP, Petersen DA, Clary JJ (2005) The ecology of restoration: historical links, emerging issues and unexplored realms. Ecol Lett 8:662–673

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgments

We thank the landowner of Forton farm, Antony Gunn, for providing access to study sites. We are also grateful to Patrick Sutczak for assistance with field work. Tanya Bailey was financially supported through a University of Tasmania Cuthbertson Ph.D. scholarship top-up and Australian Research Council Linkage Grants (LP0991026 and LP120200380) with project implementation funds from the Cooperative Research Centre for Forestry.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. CRC for Forestry, Private Bag 12, Hobart, TAS, 7001, Australia

    Tanya G. Bailey & Neil J. Davidson

  2. School of Biological Science, University of Tasmania, Private Bag 55, Hobart, 7001, TAS, Australia

    Tanya G. Bailey & Neil J. Davidson

  3. Bushfire CRC, University of Tasmania, Private Bag 55, Hobart, 7001, TAS, Australia

    Neil J. Davidson & Dugald C. Close

  4. Tasmanian Institute of Agriculture, School of Land and Food, University of Tasmania, Private Bag 98, Hobart, 7001, TAS, Australia

    Dugald C. Close

  5. Greening Australia, GPO Box 1191, Hobart, 7001, TAS, Australia

    Tanya G. Bailey & Neil J. Davidson

Authors
  1. Tanya G. Bailey
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Neil J. Davidson
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Dugald C. Close
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Tanya G. Bailey.

Additional information

Responsible Editor: Jeffrey Walck.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Bailey, T.G., Davidson, N.J. & Close, D.C. Patterns of soil water repellency in response to coarse woody debris and fire: implications for eucalypt regeneration in dry forests. Plant Soil 397, 93–102 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11104-015-2605-3

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11104-015-2605-3

Keywords

Search

Navigation