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Short-term impact of a wildfire on net and gross N transformation rates

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Abstract

Wildfires often modify soil properties, including the N status and net N mineralization rates, but their impacts on gross N fluxes have been scarcely evaluated. We aimed to ascertain the immediate effects of a medium–high severity wildfire on soil N transformations. Net and gross N rates were analytically and numerically (FLUAZ) quantified in burned (BS) and unburned (US) topsoils from the temperate–humid region (NW Spain). Analytical and numerical solutions were significantly correlated for both gross N mineralization (m) (r 2 = 0.815; p < 0.001) and gross nitrification (n) (r 2 = 0.950; p < 0.001). In BS, all NH4 +-N fluxes (net m, gross m and gross NH4 +-N immobilization, ‘ia’) increased, while those of NO3 −-N decreased (gross n and gross NO3 −-N immobilization, ‘in’) or did not vary (net n). In US and BS, gross m (0.26–3.60 and 4.70–15.42 mg N kg−1 day−1, respectively) predominated over gross n (0.026–2.45 and 0.001–0.002 mg N kg−1 day−1, respectively), and the same was true for the net fluxes. Compared with the few available data on recently burned soils (m = 8–55 mg N kg−1 day−1; n = 0.50–1.83 mg N kg−1 day−1), our gross m and n rates were similar and very low, respectively; gross n showed that nitrifiers were active in US and also in BS, despite the 98 % reduction observed immediately after the fire. For gross fluxes, m increased more than ia suggesting an NH4 +-N accumulation, but there is no risk of NO3 −-N leaching because n decreased more than in.

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Acknowledgments

We thank Jorge Benítez and M. Teresa Pérez for their technical assistance in the laboratory. This research was supported by the Spanish Ministry of Education and Science through project number AGL2008–02823. The participation of M.X. Gómez-Rey was supported by a post-doctoral JAE-DOC contract cofinanced by the European Social Fund. The isotopic ratio mass spectrometer was partly financed by the European Regional Development Fund (EU).

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  1. Instituto de Investigaciones Agrobiológicas de Galicia, IIAG-CSIC, Apartado, 122 15780, Santiago de Compostela, Spain

    María Xesús Gómez-Rey & Serafin Jesús Gonzalez-Prieto

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  1. María Xesús Gómez-Rey
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  2. Serafin Jesús Gonzalez-Prieto
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Correspondence to María Xesús Gómez-Rey.

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Gómez-Rey, M.X., Gonzalez-Prieto, S.J. Short-term impact of a wildfire on net and gross N transformation rates. Biol Fertil Soils 49, 1065–1075 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00374-013-0806-6

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