Plant regeneration functional groups modulate the response to fire of soil enzyme activities in a Mediterranean shrubland |
| |
| Affiliation: | 1. Higher Technical School of Agricultural and Forestry Engineering, Castilla-La Mancha University, Campus Universitario s/n, 02071 Albacete, Spain;2. Centre de Recerca Ecològica i Aplicacions Forestals (CREAF), Barcelona, Spain;3. Department AGRARIA, Mediterranean University of Reggio Calabria, Reggio Calabria, Italy;1. Department of Environment, Persian Gulf Dust Research Center, Ahvaz Branch, Islamic Azad University, Ahvaz, Iran;2. Department of Forest Science, Faculty of Agriculture, Ilam University, Ilam, Iran;3. Department of Biology, Missouri State University, Springfield, MO 65897, USA;4. Institute of Forestry and Environmental Sciences, University of Chittagong, Chittagong 4331, Bangladesh;5. Escuela Técnica Superior Ingenieros Agrónomos y Montes, Universidad de Castilla-La Mancha, Campus Universitario, E-02071 Albacete, Spain;6. U.S. Geological Survey, Western Ecological Research Center, Sequoia-Kings Canyon Field Station, Three Rivers, California 93271, USA;7. Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of California, Los Angeles, California 90095, USA;1. Soil Physics and Land Management Group, Wageningen University, Wageningen 6708 PB, The Netherlands;2. Faculty of Biology, Barcelona University, Av. Diagonal 643, Barcelona 08028, Spain;1. Departamento de Ciencias Ambientales, Universidad de Castilla–La Mancha, Campus Fábrica de Armas, E-45071 Toledo, Spain;2. Dipartimento Scienze Agrarie e Forestali, Università degli Studi di Palermo, Viale delle Scienze, Edificio 4, I-90128 Palermo, Italy |
| |
| Abstract: | Soil enzymes are critical to soil nutrient cycling function but knowledge on the factors that control their response to major disturbances such as wildfires remains very limited. We evaluated the effect of fire-related plant functional traits (resprouting and seeding) on the resistance and resilience to fire of two soil enzyme activities involved in phosphorus and carbon cycling (acid phosphatase and β-glucosidase) in a Mediterranean shrublands in SE Spain. Using experimental fires, we compared four types of shrubland microsites: SS (vegetation patches dominated by seeder species), RR (patches dominated by resprouter species), SR (patches co-dominated by seeder and resprouter species), and IP (shrub interpatches). We assessed pre- and post-fire activities of the target soil enzymes, available P, soil organic C, and plant cover dynamics over three years after the fire. Post-fire regeneration functional groups (resprouter, seeder) modulated both pre- and post-fire activity of acid phosphatase and β-glucosidase, with higher activity in RR and SR patches than in SS patches and IP. However, we found no major differences in enzyme resistance and resilience between microsite types, except for a trend towards less resilience in SS patches. Fire similarly reduced the activity of both enzymes. However, acid phosphatase and β-glucosidase showed contrasting post-fire dynamics. While β-glucosidase proved to be rather resilient to fire, fully recovering three years after fire, acid phosphatase showed no signs of recovery in that period. Overall, the results indicate a positive influence of resprouter species on soil enzyme activity that is very resistant to fire. Long-lasting decrease in acid phosphatase activity probably resulted from the combined effect of P availability and post-fire drought. Our results provide insights on how plant functional traits modulate soil biochemical and microbiological response to fire in Mediterranean fire-prone shrublands. |
| |
| Keywords: | Acid phosphatase β-glucosidase Fire effects Post-fire Resprouter Seeder Soil enzyme |
| 本文献已被 ScienceDirect 等数据库收录！ |
|
