Plant community influence on soil microbial response after a wildfire in Sierra Nevada National Park (Spain).

Plant community influence on microbial response after fire has been studied in a Sierra Nevada National Park area affected by a wildfire in 2005. Two different plant communities adapted to different altitudes were selected to analyse possible differences on soil microbial recolonisation process after fire, in oak forest and high mountain shrub communities. Microbial abundance, activity and community composition were monitored to evaluate medium-term changes. Microbial abundance was studied by mean of microbial biomass carbon and plate count methods; microbial activity was analysed by microbial respiration and bacterial growth while microbial community composition was determined by analysing phospholipid fatty acid pattern. Under unburnt conditions oak forest showed higher nutrient content, pH and microbial abundance and activity values than the high mountain shrubs community. Different parameters studied showed different trends with time, highlighting important changes in microbial community composition in high mountain shrubs from first sampling to the second one. Post-fire recolonisation process was different depending on plant community studied. Highlighting fungal response and microbial activity were stimulated in burnt high mountain shrubs community whilst it was negatively affected in oak forest. Fire induced changes in oak forest were almost neutralized 20months after the fire, while high mountain shrubs community still showed fire-induced changes at the end of the study.

Sensitivity of glomalin-related soil protein to wildfires: Immediate and medium-term changes.

Forest fires are part of many ecosystems, especially in the Mediterranean Basin. Depending on the fire severity, they can be a great disturbance, so it is of special importance to know their impact on the ecosystem elements. In this study, we measured the sensitivity of glomalin related soil protein (GRSP), a glycoprotein produced by arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF), to fire perturbation. Two wildfire-affected areas in the SE Spain (Gata and Gorga) were studied. Soil organic carbon (SOC) was also measured. Effects on GRSP immediately after fire were analyzed in both areas, while in Gorga a monitoring of GRSP stocks over a year period after the fire was also carried out. Soil samplings were carried out every 4months. Plots (1×2m2) were installed beneath pines and shrubs in burned and an adjacent control area. Results of GRSP content immediately after a fire only showed significant differences for shrub plots (burned vs control) (p<0.01) in the Gorga site. However, a year of monitoring showed significant fire effect on GRSP content in both plot types (pines and shrubs). Control plots varied considerably over time, while in burned plots GRSP content remained constant during the whole studied period. This research provides evidence of the sensitivity of GRSP to a wildfire perturbation.

Physiological behaviour of loquat and anger rootstocks in relation to salinity and calcium addition.

The salinity tolerance of two commercial rootstocks used for loquat plants (Eribotrya japonica Lindl.), loquat and anger, was studied in a pot experiment. The plants were irrigated using solutions containing 5 and 50mM NaCl and 5 and 25mM calcium acetate for 4 months. The growth, tissue mineral content, water status, and leaf gas exchange responses to salt treatment with and without additional calcium were examined. Plant growth was not modified by salinity in anger (50mM), but was reduced in loquat; leaf biomass and stem diameter were particularly affected. However, Cl(-) levels leaf increased with salinity to a greater extent in anger, while the Na(+) content increased to the same extent in both species, indicating that ion transport from root to leaves was not inhibited in either species. Additional calcium (25mM) reduced Na(+) and Cl(-) concentrations in both species, but did not minimise the effects of salinity on the growth of salt-treated loquat plants. The decrease in K(+) concentrations had no effect on growth, as anger was the most tolerant rootstock and had lowest leaf K(+) content. Salinity reduced the Ca(2+) concentration in the roots of both species. However, when calcium was added, the concentration of Ca(2+) increased in the roots of salinised plants. Leaf water potential at pre-dawn decreased significantly in both species under saline conditions. Leaf gas exchange, stomatal conductance and, in particular, net CO(2) assimilation, decreased with salinity only in loquat, indicating that photosynthesis could be the growth-limiting factor in this species.

Evaluation of soil quality using multiple lineal regression based on physical, chemical and biochemical properties.

The aim of this work is to obtain an expression using multiple lineal regressions (MLR) to evaluate environmental soil quality. We used four forest soils from Alicante province (SE Spain), comprising three Mollisols and one Entisol, developed under natural vegetation with minimum human disturbance, considered as reference soils of high quality. We carried out MLR integrating different soil physical, chemical and biochemical properties, and we searched those regressions with Kjeldahl nitrogen (N(k)), soil organic carbon (SOC) or microbial biomass carbon (MBC) as predicted parameter. We observed that Mollisols and Entisols presented different relationships among their properties. Thus, we searched different equations for both groups of soils. The selected equation for Mollisols was N=0.448 (P) + 0.017 (water holding capacity) + 0.410(phosphatase) - 0.567 (urease) + 0.001 (MBC) + 0.410 (beta - glucosidase) - 0.980, and for the Entisol SOC = 4.247 (P) + 8.183 (beta-glucosidase) -7.949 (urease) + 17.333. Equations were applied to samples from two forest soils in advanced degree of degradation, one for Mollisols and the other one for the Entisol. We observed a clear deviation in the predicted parameters values related to the real properties. The obtained results show that MLR is a good tool for soil quality evaluation, because it seems to be capable of reflecting the balance among its properties, as well as deviations from it.