Fire shifts the soil fertility and the vegetation composition in a natural high-altitude grassland in Brazil
The Serra da Calçada Mountain (Minas Gerais State, Brazil) hosts a natural grassland with high biodiversity and endemism, locally known as campo rupestre, which grows over hematite and quartzite outcrops, protecting several headwaters. However, this mountain has been severely threatened by anthropog...
| Main Authors: | , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Elsevier
2022-12-01
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| Series: | Environmental Challenges |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2667010022001949 |
| _version_ | 1811185412714004480 |
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| author | Ione S. Hannas Salim André F.S. Reis Cassiano A.D. Welker Maria Rita Scotti |
| author_facet | Ione S. Hannas Salim André F.S. Reis Cassiano A.D. Welker Maria Rita Scotti |
| author_sort | Ione S. Hannas Salim |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | The Serra da Calçada Mountain (Minas Gerais State, Brazil) hosts a natural grassland with high biodiversity and endemism, locally known as campo rupestre, which grows over hematite and quartzite outcrops, protecting several headwaters. However, this mountain has been severely threatened by anthropogenic fires and its restoration has been challenged by the lack of knowledge on the effect of fire on plant species and soil fertility. Thus, this study aimed to assess a burned campo rupestre site after 1 year concerning plant biodiversity and soil properties as compared to a preserved site. Aside from the high plant biodiversity, the preserved site (with no fire history) showed a high natural soil fertility, particularly regarding soil organic matter (SOM): ∼3.48%, Cationic Exchange Capacity (CEC): ∼8.4 meq/100g, soil ammonium (NH4+-N): ∼11 ppm and soil phosphorus (P): ∼6.9 mg/Kg. However, the fire reduced not only the plant species composition, abundance, richness and biodiversity, but also disrupted the natural soil fertility. There was a change in N chemical species from ammonium to nitrate as well as an increase in sodium (Na) content, in addition to a depletion of SOM and CEC. The variations of nitrogen chemical species, sodium, SOM, CEC and soil moisture explained 79% of the changes in plant composition as revealed by the Mantel matrix permutation test. Increased soil nitrate and sodium were considered the main factors determining changes in vegetation composition after fire. Therefore, fires should be strictly avoided for the management of the campo rupestre grassland, and for the rehabilitation purposes, the improvement of SOM and ammonium in detriment of nitrate is recommended. |
| first_indexed | 2024-04-11T13:30:10Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-9e065bd146494fa38dc8f47f42ab61ee |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2667-0100 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-04-11T13:30:10Z |
| publishDate | 2022-12-01 |
| publisher | Elsevier |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Environmental Challenges |
| spelling | doaj.art-9e065bd146494fa38dc8f47f42ab61ee2022-12-22T04:21:52ZengElsevierEnvironmental Challenges2667-01002022-12-019100638Fire shifts the soil fertility and the vegetation composition in a natural high-altitude grassland in BrazilIone S. Hannas Salim0André F.S. Reis1Cassiano A.D. Welker2Maria Rita Scotti3Department of Botany /ICB/Federal University of Minas Gerais, BrazilDepartment of Botany /ICB/Federal University of Minas Gerais, BrazilInstitute of Biology/ Federal University of Uberlândia, BrazilDepartment of Botany /ICB/Federal University of Minas Gerais, Brazil; Corresponding author.The Serra da Calçada Mountain (Minas Gerais State, Brazil) hosts a natural grassland with high biodiversity and endemism, locally known as campo rupestre, which grows over hematite and quartzite outcrops, protecting several headwaters. However, this mountain has been severely threatened by anthropogenic fires and its restoration has been challenged by the lack of knowledge on the effect of fire on plant species and soil fertility. Thus, this study aimed to assess a burned campo rupestre site after 1 year concerning plant biodiversity and soil properties as compared to a preserved site. Aside from the high plant biodiversity, the preserved site (with no fire history) showed a high natural soil fertility, particularly regarding soil organic matter (SOM): ∼3.48%, Cationic Exchange Capacity (CEC): ∼8.4 meq/100g, soil ammonium (NH4+-N): ∼11 ppm and soil phosphorus (P): ∼6.9 mg/Kg. However, the fire reduced not only the plant species composition, abundance, richness and biodiversity, but also disrupted the natural soil fertility. There was a change in N chemical species from ammonium to nitrate as well as an increase in sodium (Na) content, in addition to a depletion of SOM and CEC. The variations of nitrogen chemical species, sodium, SOM, CEC and soil moisture explained 79% of the changes in plant composition as revealed by the Mantel matrix permutation test. Increased soil nitrate and sodium were considered the main factors determining changes in vegetation composition after fire. Therefore, fires should be strictly avoided for the management of the campo rupestre grassland, and for the rehabilitation purposes, the improvement of SOM and ammonium in detriment of nitrate is recommended.http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2667010022001949AmmoniumCampo rupestreCECNitrateSodiumSoil organic matter |
| spellingShingle | Ione S. Hannas Salim André F.S. Reis Cassiano A.D. Welker Maria Rita Scotti Fire shifts the soil fertility and the vegetation composition in a natural high-altitude grassland in Brazil Environmental Challenges Ammonium Campo rupestre CEC Nitrate Sodium Soil organic matter |
| title | Fire shifts the soil fertility and the vegetation composition in a natural high-altitude grassland in Brazil |
| title_full | Fire shifts the soil fertility and the vegetation composition in a natural high-altitude grassland in Brazil |
| title_fullStr | Fire shifts the soil fertility and the vegetation composition in a natural high-altitude grassland in Brazil |
| title_full_unstemmed | Fire shifts the soil fertility and the vegetation composition in a natural high-altitude grassland in Brazil |
| title_short | Fire shifts the soil fertility and the vegetation composition in a natural high-altitude grassland in Brazil |
| title_sort | fire shifts the soil fertility and the vegetation composition in a natural high altitude grassland in brazil |
| topic | Ammonium Campo rupestre CEC Nitrate Sodium Soil organic matter |
| url | http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2667010022001949 |
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