Do Soil Chemical Changes Contribute to the Dominance of Blady Grass (Imperata cylindrica) in Surface Fire-Affected Forests?

Orpheus M Butler; Tom Lewis; Chengrong Chen

doi:10.3390/fire4020023

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Do Soil Chemical Changes Contribute to the Dominance of Blady Grass (Imperata cylindrica) in Surface Fire-Affected Forests?

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Do Soil Chemical Changes Contribute to the Dominance of Blady Grass (Imperata cylindrica) in Surface Fire-Affected Forests?

Orpheus M Butler, Tom Lewis and Chengrong Chen

Fire, Vol.4(2), pp.1-18

2021

DOI: https://doi.org/10.3390/fire4020023

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Abstract

alang-alang

burning

nitrogen

nutrient limitation

phosphorus

stoichiometry

Imperata cylindrica is a perennial grass that often proliferates in fire-affected forests. Recent fire events have been consistently associated with a lowering of soil nitrogen (N) to phosphorus (P) ratios. Thus, I. cylindrica might have a tendency toward P-limited growth and/or tolerance for low soil N availability that confers a competitive advantage post-fire. We contrasted soil and I. cylindrica chemistry between recently burned and unburned areas in eastern Australia. Imperata cylindrica foliar N:P ratios were 21% lower in burned areas than in unburned areas, reflecting an increase in the uptake of P, but not N, post-fire, consistent with P-limitation. We then grew I. cylindrica seedlings in soils with differing fire-exposure histories and subjected them to various resource amendments (including N and P addition). Survival of I. cylindrica seedlings was not affected by the fire-exposure history of soil, but was reduced by 66% through N-addition. Soil fire history did not significantly affect I. cylindrica growth, but addition of P greatly enhanced I. cylindrica growth, particularly on unburned soils. Our results indicate that the association between I. cylindrica and forest fire regime could be facilitated, in part, by the short-term positive effect of fire on soil phosphorus and the long-term positive effect of fire-exclusion on soil nitrogen, particularly on well-weathered soils.

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Title: Do Soil Chemical Changes Contribute to the Dominance of Blady Grass (Imperata cylindrica) in Surface Fire-Affected Forests?
Authors: Orpheus M Butler (Author) - Griffith University
Tom Lewis (Author) - University of the Sunshine Coast, Queensland, Forest Research Institute
Chengrong Chen (Author) - Griffith University
Publication details: Fire, Vol.4(2), pp.1-18
Publisher: MDPI AG
Date published: 2021
DOI: 10.3390/fire4020023
ISSN: 2571-6255
Copyright note: Copyright: © 2021 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
Organisation Unit: University of the Sunshine Coast, Queensland; Forest Research Institute
Language: English
Record Identifier: 99533508102621
Output Type: Journal article