Impacts of Fire and Restoration Techniques on Soil Properties

The protection and conservation of burnt forest areas require specific actions in the short, medium and long term, that must be developed with a strong awareness of the local reality concerning climate, hydrogeology, social expectations and the economy. Recent studies show that the ecological effects of post-fire rehabilitation techniques must be considered and taken into account when defining forest management models since some options can increase the soil degradation level. Post-fire impacts on soil degradation extent and magnitude depend on the fire history, environmental conditions of the fire-affected area and human management. These interactions are very difficult to generalize because they are interdependent. Consequently, if we want to prevent future problems from today’s solutions, it is urgent to assess the ecological consequences of the options applied and to ensure that they are included in the treatment of the decision-making process. The main objective of this mini-review is to summarize the fire effect on physic-chemical and microbial soil properties. Moreover, it is intended to describe some of the most common restoration techniques and their possible impacts on soil properties.

Keywords: Fire; Soil properties; Restoration; Changes in climate; Fire regime