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Fire history influences on the spatial heterogeneity of soil nitrogen transformations in three adjacent stands in a dry tropical forest in Thailand

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Abstract

Spatial patterns of soil nitrogen (N) transformations were examined using geostatistical analysis in three adjacent stands with different fire history (0, 10 and 35 years since the latest fire, respectively) in a dry tropical forest in Thailand. A larger pool of total inorganic N and a faster rate of N mineralization were recorded in the stand with longer fire prevention. At the spatial scale analyzed, the proportion of spatially dependent variance to the total variance of N mineralization and nitrification increased from 0.39 to 0.73, and from 0.40 to 0.77, respectively, with the time since the latest fire. The spatial autocorrelation ranges of N mineralization and nitrification decreased from ≥9.0 to 3.28 m, and ≥9.0 to 2.77 m, respectively, with the time since the latest fire. These results suggested that fire history affected not only the level of available soil N, but also the spatial heterogeneity of soil N transformations, presumably due to the difference in plant influences on soil.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Laboratory of Forest Ecology, Division of Environmental Science and Technology, Graduate School of Agriculture, Kyoto University, Kyoto, 606-8502, Japan

    Muneto Hirobe, Naoko Tokuchi & Hiroshi Takeda

  2. Department of Silviculture, Faculty of Forestry, Kasetsert University, Bangkok, 10900, Thailand

    Chongrak Wachrinrat

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  1. Muneto Hirobe
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  2. Naoko Tokuchi
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  3. Chongrak Wachrinrat
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  4. Hiroshi Takeda
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Correspondence to Muneto Hirobe.

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Hirobe, M., Tokuchi, N., Wachrinrat, C. et al. Fire history influences on the spatial heterogeneity of soil nitrogen transformations in three adjacent stands in a dry tropical forest in Thailand. Plant and Soil 249, 309–318 (2003). https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1022804326662

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