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Fire and the chemistry of a South African mountain stream

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Abstract

The effects of a late-summer prescribed burn on the chemistry of a second-order mountain stream in the south-western Cape, South Africa, were investigated. Nitrate concentrations in stream water were significantly higher during the winter of the post-burn year. Increased concentrations of chloride, bicarbonate, polyphenols and potassium and decreased sodium concentrations were also recorded. Concentrations of ammonium, phosphate, calcium, magnesium, total dissolved solids and hydrogen ions were not significantly affected by the burn. Ionic export from the catchment was generally greater in the post-burn year. Apart from nitrate, however, values probably lie within the natural range of year-to-year variation. It is predicted that enhanced losses of nitrate will decrease progressively with the recovery of the vegetation and the re-establishment of soil/plant nutrient cycles. Atmospheric losses of nutrients in smoke were unquantified, but may be of more significance to site productivity than losses through surface runoff, which, in the case of nitrogen, appear to be compensated by precipitation inputs.

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  1. Freshwater Research Unit, Zoology Department, University of Cape Town, 7700, Rondebosch, South Africa

    D. L. Britton

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Britton, D.L. Fire and the chemistry of a South African mountain stream. Hydrobiologia 218, 177–192 (1991). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00038834

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