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Soil Microbial Functions After Forest Fires Affected by the Compost Quality
Author(s) -
Gué René,
Gros Raphaël
Publication year - 2016
Publication title -
land degradation and development
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.403
H-Index - 81
eISSN - 1099-145X
pISSN - 1085-3278
DOI - 10.1002/ldr.2393
Subject(s) - compost , amendment , chronosequence , nitrification , environmental science , ecosystem , agronomy , nutrient , soil respiration , biology , chemistry , ecology , nitrogen , law , organic chemistry , political science
Composts are frequently used to restore various degraded lands especially after fire. We investigated how different organic amendments after frequent wildfires can affect soil microbial functions. We crossed three times since fire (1, 5 and 18 years) with three different compost qualities (i.e. young, intermediate and old). After 5 months, alkaline phosphatase increased by the intermediate compost in early post‐fire chronosequence (1 and 5 year after fires). This increase was confirmed 10 months after amendment with the three composts but only for the most recent fire. The net nitrification increased 5 months after amendment under both the young and intermediate composts in the 5 and 18 years of time since fire plots. This increase was confirmed 10 months after amendment with the intermediate and old compost treatments for the 1 and 5 years of time since fire plots. In this case, compost amendment even induced positive nitrification rates for the 5 years of time since fire plots. Moreover, older composts affected catabolic diversity after 5 months, whereas at the same time, we detected an increase in biomass of cultivable bacteria. Urease activity gradually increased with the age of composts after 10 months. β‐glucosidase activity increased under the young and intermediate composts and did not change with the older. This study suggests compost addition can result in an artificial acceleration of the nutrient cycles. Thus organic amendments in burned ecosystems should be reasoned according to both the step of the Mediterranean post‐fire recovery and the quality of organic amendments. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.