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Field and laboratory research was conducted to measure changes in extractable anions following wildfire in sagebrush (Artemisia tridentata Nutt.)-grass communities. Two sites were studied along the eastern Sierra Nevada front in northeastern California on coarse-textured Haploxerolls and Haplargids formed from granitic parent materials. Soils were extracted with 0.15% KCl and analyzed with high-performance anion exchange chromatography. Compared with unburned soils, significant (P < or = 0.05) decreases in NO-3 and orthophosphate, and significant increases in SO2-4, acetate, formate, oxalate, and glycolate occurred immediately after wildfire in the surface 5 cm of under-shrub soil. Concentrations of organic acids in burned under-shrub soils increased significantly (P < or = 0.05) in the weeks following a wildfire. In shrub interspaces, largely occupied by cheatgrass (Bromus tectorum L.), concentrations of anions were similar in unburned and post-wildfire soils. Laboratory heating of under-shrub soil indicated that maximum amounts of KCl-extractable organic anions are produced at temperatures between 150 and 350°C, and that the length of time (up to 30 min) the soil was exposed to a given temperature considerably affected these amounts. Elevated concentrations of organic acids may influence seed germination, plant establishment, and mineral nutrition.
Cataloging Information
- arid regions
- Artemisia
- Artemisia tridentata
- Bromus
- Bromus tectorum
- chemical compounds
- fire exclusion
- germination
- grasses
- heat effects
- litter
- mosaic
- natural areas management
- nitrogen
- nutrition
- P - phosphorus
- plant nutrients
- S - sulfur
- sagebrush
- seed germination
- shrublands
- shrubs
- Sierra Nevada
- soil nutrients
- soils
- statistical analysis
- temperature
- wildfires
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