Moisture content variations in soil and plant of post-fire regenerating forests in central Yunnan Plateau, Southwest China

doi:10.1007/s11442-019-1652-8

Abstract

Abstract:

Plant moisture content (PMC) is used as an indicator of forest flammability, which is assumed to be affected by climate drought. However, the fire-induced drought stress on PMC and its spatial and temporal variations are unclear. Based on a parallel monitoring experiment from 2014 to 2015, this study compared the PMCs and soil moisture contents (SMC) at five post-fire sites in central Yunnan Plateau, Southwest China. The number of years since last fire (YSF), season, topographic position, plant species and tissue type (leaf and branch) were selected as causal factors of the variations in PMC and SMC. A whole year parallel monitoring and sampling in the post-fire communities of 1, 2, 5, 11 and 30 YSF indicated that drought stress in surface soils was the strongest in spring within the first 5 years after burning, and the SMC was regulated by topography, with 64.6% variation in soil moisture accounted for by YSF (25.7%), slope position (22.1%) and season (10.8%). The temporal variations of PMC and SMC differed at both interannual and seasonal scales, but the patterns were consistent across topographic positions. PMC differed significantly between leaves and branches, and among three growth-forms. The mean PMC was lower in broad-leaved evergreen species and higher in conifer species. Season and soil temperature were the primary determinants of PMC, accounting for 19.1% and 8.3% of variation in PMC, respectively. This indicated phenology-related growth rather than drought stress in soil as the primary driver of seasonal changes in PMC. The significant variations of PMC among growth forms and species revealed that seasonal soil temperature change and dominant species in forest communities are useful indicators of fire risk assessment in this region.

Key words: plant moisture content, soil moisture content, topography, season, soil temperature, year since last fire, drought stress

Lifang CHEN, Qun DOU, Zhiming ZHANG, Zehao SHEN. Moisture content variations in soil and plant of post-fire regenerating forests in central Yunnan Plateau, Southwest China[J].Journal of Geographical Sciences, 2019, 29(7): 1179-1192.

Figures/Tables 7

Figure 1

Figure 2

Figure 3

Table 1

Figure 4

Figure 5

Table 2

References 66

1	Ågren G̈ I, 2008. Stoichiometry and nutrition of plant growth in natural communities. Annual Review of Ecology & Systematics, 39: 153-170.
2	Albertson K, Aylen J, Cavan G et al., 2010. Climate change and the future occurrence of moorland wildfires in the Peak District of the UK. Climate Research, 45: 105-118. doi: 10.3354/cr00926
3	Bonnet V H, Schoettle A W, Shepperd W D, 2005. Postfire environmental conditions influence the spatial pattern of regeneration for Pinus ponderosa.Canadian Journal of Forest Research, 35: 37-47.
4	Bowman D M, Murphy B P, 2010. Conservation Biology for All: Fire and Biodiversity. Beijing: Oxford University Press Inc., 163.
5	Bradstock R A, Hammill K A, Collins L et al., 2009. Effects of weather, fuel and terrain on fire severity in topographically diverse landscapes of south-eastern Australia. Landscape Ecology, 25: 607-619.
6	Bretz F, Hothorn T, Westfall P, 2016. Multiple Comparisons Using R. Florida: CRC Press, 41-42.
7	Burger N, Bond W J, 2015. Flammability traits of Cape shrubland species with different post-fire recruitment strategies. South African Journal of Botany, 101: 40-48. doi: 10.1016/j.sajb.2015.05.026
8	Castagneri D, Esposito A, Bovio G et al., 2013. Fuel vertical structure affects fire sustainability and behavior of prescribed burning in Spartiumjunceum shrublands. Annals of Forest Science, 70: 863-871.
9	Castro F X, Tudela A, Sebastià M T, 2003. Modeling moisture content in shrubs to predict fire risk in Catalonia, Spain. Agricultural and Forest Meteorology, 116(1/2): 49-59. doi: 10.1016/S0168-1923(02)00248-4
10	Cavender-Bares J, Reich P B, 2012. Shocks to the system: Community assembly of the oak savanna in a 40-year fire frequency experiment. Ecology, 93(8): S52-S69. doi: 10.1890/11-0502.1
11	Chen F, Fan Z, Niu S, Zheng J, 2014. The influence of precipitation and consecutive dry days on burned areas in Yunnan Province, Southwestern China. Advances in Meteorology, 2014: 748923.
12	Chevan A, Sutherland M, 1991. Hierarchical partitioning. The American Statistician, 45(2): 90-96.
13	Chuvieco E, Cocero D, Aguado I et al., 2004a. Improving burning efficiency estimates through satellite assessment of fuel moisture content. Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres, 109: D14S07.
14	Chuvieco E, Cocero D, Riano D et al., 2004b. Combining NDVI and surface temperature for the estimation of live fuel moisture content in forest fire danger rating. Remote Sensing of Environment, 92: 322-331. doi: 10.1016/j.rse.2004.01.019
15	Cumming S G, 2001. Forest type and wildfire in the Alberta boreal mixed wood what do fires burn?Ecology Applications, 11(1): 97-110. doi: 10.1890/1051-0761(2001)011[0097:FTAWIT]2.0.CO;2
16	DeLuca T H, MacKenzie M D, Gundale M J et al., 2006. Wildfire-produced charcoal directly influences nitrogen cycling in ponderosa pine forests. Soil Science Society of America, 70: 448-453. doi: 10.2136/sssaj2005.0096
17	Dimitrakopoulos A P, Papaioannou K K, 2001. Flammability assessment of Mediterranean forest fuels. Fire Technology, 37(2): 143-152. doi: 10.1023/A:1011641601076
18	Fan Z X, Bräuning A, Thomas A et al., 2011. Spatial and temporal temperature trends on the Yunnan Plateau, Southwest China, during 1961-2004. International Journal of Climatology, 31: 2078-2090. doi: 10.1002/joc.v31.14
19	Fang L, Yang J, Zu J et al., 2015. Quantifying influences and relative importance of fire weather, topography, and vegetation on fire size and fire severity in a Chinese boreal forest landscape. Forest Ecology and Management, 356: 2-12. doi: 10.1016/j.foreco.2015.01.011
20	Flannigan M D, Krawchuk M A, de Groot W J et al., 2009. Implications of changing climate for global wildland fire. International Journal of Wildland Fire, 18: 483-507.
21	Han J, Shen Z, Ying L et al., 2015. Early post-fire regeneration of a fire-prone subtropical mixed Yunnan pine forest in Southwest China: Effects of pre-fire vegetation, fire severity and topographic factors. Forest Ecology and Management, 356: 31-40. doi: 10.1016/j.foreco.2015.06.016
22	Houghton R A, Hackler J L, Lawrence K T, 2000. Changes in terrestrial carbon storage in the United States (2): The role of fire and fire management. Global Ecology and Biogeography, 9: 145-170. doi: 10.1046/j.1365-2699.2000.00164.x
23	Hunt E R, Rock B N, Nobel P S, 1987. Measurement of leaf relative water content by infrared reflectance. Remote Sensing of Environment, 22: 429-435. doi: 10.1016/0034-4257(87)90094-0
24	Hunter M L, 1993. Natural fire regimes as spatial models for managing boreal forests. Biological Conservation, 65(2): 115-120. doi: 10.1016/0006-3207(93)90440-C
25	Huo Z, Liu H, 1987. The characteristics of forest fire in Yunnan Province. Forest Fire Prevention, 1: 12-14. (in Chinese)
26	Johnson E A, Fryer G I, Heathcott M J, 1990. The influence of man and climate on frequency of fire in the interior wet belt forest, British Columbia. Journal of Ecology, 78: 403-412. doi: 10.2307/2261120
27	Johnston D C, Turetsky M R, Benscoter B W et al., 2015. Fuel load, structure, and potential fire behavior in black spruce bogs. Canadian Journal of Forest Research, 45: 888-899. doi: 10.1139/cjfr-2014-0334
28	Krueger E S, Ochsner T E, Engle D M et al., 2015. Soil moisture affects growing-season wildfire size in the southern Great Plains. Soil Science Society of America, 79: 1567-1576. doi: 10.2136/sssaj2015.01.0041
29	Lamont B B, Witkowski E T F, Enright N J, 1993. Post-fire litter microsites safe for seeds, unsafe for seedlings. Ecology, 74: 501-512. doi: 10.2307/1939311
30	Legendre P, Fortin M J, 1989. Spatial pattern and ecological analysis. Vegetatio, 80(2): 107-138. doi: 10.1007/BF00048036
31	Li G, 2000. Forest fire causes analysis and management countermeasures in Yunnan province. Forest Fire Prevention, 7(2): 10-11. (in Chinese)
32	Li S Y, Wang Q H, Li B F et al., 2006. Comparative study on flammability of fresh leaves and living branches of 10 tree species in central Yunnan province. Journal of Southwest Forestry College, 26(1): 56-58. (in Chinese)
33	Li X, Wang Q H, Zhang Y Y, 2016. Studies on combustibility of 15 woody plants in the high fire risk area of central Yunnan. Forest Inventory and Planning, 41(2): 62-68. (in Chinese)
34	Li Z, Sun H, 1998. The architecture of leaves from dominant and common species of semi-humid evergreen broadleaved forest occurring in central Yunnan. Acta Botanica Yunnanica, 20(1): 49-57. (in Chinese)
35	Lloret F, Pausas J G, Vilà M, 2003. Responses of Mediterranean plant species to different fire frequencies in Garraf Natural Park, Catalonia, Spain, field observations and modeling predictions. Plant Ecology, 167: 223-235. doi: 10.1023/A:1023911031155
36	Lohman D J, Bickford D, Sodhi N S, 2007. The burning issue. Science, 316(5823): 376. doi: 10.1126/science.1140278
37	Maffei C, Menenti M, 2014. A MODIS-based perpendicular moisture index to retrieve leaf moisture content of forest canopies. International Journal of Remote Sensing, 35: 1829-1845. doi: 10.1080/01431161.2013.879348
38	Marlon J R, Bartlein P J, Carcaillet C et al., 2008. Climate and human influences on global biomass burning over the past two millennia. Nature Geoscience, 1: 697-702. doi: 10.1038/ngeo313
39	Martínez J, Vega-Garcia C, Chuvieco E, 2009. Human-caused wildfire risk rating for prevention planning in Spain. Journal of Environmental Management, 90: 1241-1252.
40	Matthews S, 2006. A process-based model of fine fuel moisture. International Journal of Wildland Fire, 15(2): 155-168. doi: 10.1071/WF05063
41	Menke S B, Gaulke E, Hamel A et al., 2015. The effects of restoration age and prescribed burns on grassland ant community structure. Environmental Entomology, 44(5): 1336-1347. doi: 10.1093/ee/nvv110.
42	Mondal N, Sukumar R, 2014. Characterizing weather patterns associated with fire in a seasonally dry tropical forest in southern India. International Journal of Wildland Fire, 23(2): 196-201. doi: 10.1071/WF13002
43	Morris J L, Mueller J R, Nurse A et al., 2014. Holocene fire regimes, vegetation and biogeochemistry of an ecotone site in the Great Lakes Region of North America. Journal of Vegetation Science, 25: 1450-1464. doi: 10.1111/jvs.2014.25.issue-6
44	Oliver C D, Larson B C, 1990. Forest Stand Dynamics. New York: McGraw-Hill Inc., 467.
45	Ormeño E, Baldy V, Ballini C et al., 2008. Production and diversity of volatile terpenes from plants on calcareous and siliceous soils: Effect of soil nutrients. Journal of Chemical Ecology, 34: 1219-1229. doi: 10.1007/s10886-008-9515-2
46	Pausas J G, 2015. Evolutionary fire ecology lessons learned from pines. Trends in Plant Science, 20: 318-324. doi: 10.1016/j.tplants.2015.03.001
47	Pausas J G, Paula S, 2012. Fuel shapes the fire-climate relationship: Evidence from Mediterranean ecosystems. Global Ecology and Biogeography, 21: 1074-1082. doi: 10.1111/geb.2012.21.issue-11
48	Pellizzaro G, Duce P, Ventura A et al., 2007. Seasonal variations of live moisture content and ignitability in shrubs of the Mediterranean Basin. International Journal of Wildland Fire, 16(5): 633-641. doi: 10.1071/WF05088
49	Reid A M, Robertson K M, Hmielowski T L, 2012. Predicting litter and live herb fuel consumption during prescribed fires in native and old-field upland pine communities of the southeastern United States. Canadian Journal of Forest Research, 42(8): 1611-1622. doi: 10.1139/x2012-096
50	Sanjuan G, Brun C, Margalef T et al., 2014. Wind field uncertainty in forest fire propagation prediction. Procedia Computer Science, 29: 1535-1545. doi: 10.1016/j.procs.2014.05.139
51	Schutte A L, Vlok J H J, Van Wyk B E, 1995. Fire-survival strategy: A character of taxonomic, ecological and evolutionary importance of fynbos legumes. Plant Systematics and Evolution, 195(3): 243-259. doi: 10.1007/BF00989299. doi: 10.1007/BF00989299
52	Slavik B, 1974. Methods of Studying Plant Water Relations. Berlin: Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg, 173-174.
53	Su W, Shi Z, Zhou R et al., 2015. The role of fire in the central Yunnan Plateau ecosystem, southwestern China. Forest Ecology and Management, 356: 22-30. doi: 10.1016/j.foreco.2015.05.015
54	Tanase M A, Panciera R, Lowell K et al., 2015. Monitoring live fuel moisture in semiarid environments using L-band radar data. International Journal of Wildland Fire, 24(4): 560-572. doi: 10.1071/WF14149
55	Taylor A H, Skinner C N, 2003. Spatial patterns and controls on historical fire regimes and forest structure in the Klamath Mountains. Ecological Applications, 13(3): 704-719. doi: 10.1890/1051-0761(2003)013[0704:SPACOH]2.0.CO;2
56	Trouet V, Taylor A H, Carleton A M et al., 2009. Interannual variations in fire weather, fire extent, and synoptic-scale circulation patterns in northern California and Oregon. Theoretical and Applied Climatology, 95(3/4): 349-360. doi: 10.1007/s00704-008-0012-x
57	Valette J C, 1993. Flammabilities of Mediterranean species INRA’s methodology. INRA Document interne PIF9328.
58	Varner J M, Kane J M, Kreye J K et al., 2015. The flammability of forest and woodland litter: A synthesis. Current Forestry Reports, 1(2): 91-99. doi: 10.1007/s40725-015-0012-x
59	Viegas D X, Viegas M, Ferreira A D, 1992. Moisture content of fine forest fuels and fire occurrence in central Portugal. International Journal of Wildland Fire, 2(2): 69-86. doi: 10.1071/WF9920069
60	Walsh C, Mac Nally R, Walsh M C, 2003. The hier. Part package. Hierarchical Partitioning. R project for statistical computing. URL .
61	Wang Q H, Li W, Liu S Y et al., 2015. A study on the fire environment of forest fire in Kunming Area. Acta Agriculturae Universitatis Jiangxiensis, 37(1): 108-113. (in Chinese)
62	Wang Q H, Xiao H J, Li S Y et al., 2016. Retrogressive study and analysis of the burning features of the shrubs in the fire taking place on 29 March, 2006, in Anning, Yunnan. Journal of Safety and Environment, 16(1): 138-141. (in Chinese)
63	Zhang Y T, Duan X, Li J F, 1994. The partition in the forest conflagration and climate in the middle of Yunnan Province. Journal of Southwest Forestry College, 14(3): 172-176. (in Chinese)
64	Zhao F, Shu L, Tiao X et al., 2009. Change trends of forest fire danger in Yunnan Province in 1957-2007. Chinese Journal of Ecology, 28(11): 2333-2338. (in Chinese)
65	Zheng H, Di X, Yao S, 1994. Forest fire and control strategy in China. Journal of Natural Disasters, 3(3): 37-40. (in Chinese)
66	Zimmer H, Auld T, Hughes L et al., 2015. Fuel flammability and fire responses of juvenile canopy species in a temperate rainforest ecosystem. International Journal of Wildland Fire, 24(3): 349-360. doi: 10.1071/WF14054

Plant tissue		Branch (%)				Leaf (%)
Growth form		DB	EB	EC		DB	EB	EC
YSF	1st	60.8^b±8.5	57.7^d±8.8		61.3^cd±7.9	60.0^c±8.2	59.0^b±8.5	66.3^d±8.1
	2nd	57.7^b±8.3	53.3^c±8.5		61.7^d±8.9	59.1^b±8.2	54.7^a±8.6	63.6^c±8.5
	5th	50.5^a±7.7	49.5^b±7.3		57.9^bc±7.8	54.6^a±7.6	55.4^a±7.5	57.2^b±7.4
	11th	50.0^a±8.1	47.5^a±6.9		56.7^ab±8.5	57.9^b±8.9	55.2^a±7.1	59.8^a±7.9
	30th	51.6^a±7.8	50.6^b±7.7		54.3^a±7.9	57.0^b±7.3	58.9^b±8.1	60.8^a±6.9
Season	Spring	62.1^d±8.5	59.7^c±8.8		67.7^c±7.9	67.3^c±8.2	62.9^c±8.5	62.7^c±8.1
	Summer	56.2^c±8.2	54.0^b±8.1		60.1^b±7.8	55.3^b±7.4	55.1^b±7.7	61.1^b±76
	Autumn	53.1^b±8.2	53.4^b±7.8		59.6^b±8.3	54.0^b±8.8	55.8^b±7.2	61.3^b±8.3
	Winter	38.3^a±7.4	36.6^a±7.0		40.1^a±7.0	51.3^a±7.2	52.4^a±7.0	58.1^a±7.5
Topographic feature	North	52.9^a±8.5	51.8^bc±8.8		58.3^a±7.9	57.2^a±8.2	57.3^b±8.5	61.8^b±8.1
	South	53.5^a±8.9	49.6^a±8.4		57.9^a±8.3	58.1^a±9.1	55.2^a±8.7	60.8^ab±8.3
	Top	53.3^a±8.4	50.6^ab±8.6		57.0^a±8.1	57.5^a±8.2	55.0^a±8.4	60.2^a±8.6
	Valley	53.7^a±8.6	52.7^c±8.7		59.4^a±8.4	56.8^a±8.3	58.2^b±8.8	61.3^ab±8.7

Exp. variable	DB		EB		EC		Branch		Leaf
Exp. variable	Indep.	Joint	Indep.	Joint	Indep.	Joint	Indep.	Joint	Indep.	Joint
Plant tissue	3.74	0.00	6.85	0.00	2.29	0.00	^—	^—	^—	^—
Growth-form	^—	^—	^—	^—	^—	^—	3.55	0.06	4.35	0.40
Season	25.91	15.89	19.57	9.99	15.51	11.92	13.30	3.86	27.93	20.19
Slope position	1.17	-1.09	2.60	-1.15	1.82	-1.37	1.24	-0.60	2.57	-2.33
YSF	0.69	0.49	0.17	-0.16	1.17	1.18	0.52	-0.26	1.12	0.73
SMC	3.88	5.58	1.23	0.63	2.43	3.29	0.81	0.18	3.10	4.62
T_soil	11.35	12.78	7.48	6.46	9.82	9.15	2.76	1.85	17.49	15.95

[1]	MA Bin, ZHANG Bo, JIA Lige. Spatio-temporal variation in China’s climatic seasons from 1951 to 2017 [J]. Journal of Geographical Sciences, 2020, 30(9): 1387-1400.
[2]	ZHAO Ting, BAI Hongying, YUAN Yuan, DENG Chenhui, QI Guizeng, ZHAI Danping. Spatio-temporal differentiation of climate warming (1959-2016) in the middle Qinling Mountains of China [J]. Journal of Geographical Sciences, 2020, 30(4): 657-668.
[3]	NING Lixin, CHENG Changxiu, SHEN Shi. Spatial-temporal variability of the fluctuation of soil temperature in the Babao River Basin, Northwest China [J]. Journal of Geographical Sciences, 2019, 29(9): 1475-1490.
[4]	WANG Pei, LI Xiaoyan, TONG Yaqin, HUANG Yongmei, YANG Xiaofan, WU Xiuchen. Vegetation dynamics dominate the energy flux partitioning across typical ecosystem in the Heihe River Basin: Observation with numerical modeling [J]. Journal of Geographical Sciences, 2019, 29(9): 1565-1577.
[5]	Lingling ZHAO, Changming LIU, Leszek SOBKOWIAK, Xiaoxiao WU, Jiafu LIU. A review of underlying surface parameterization methods in hydrologic models [J]. Journal of Geographical Sciences, 2019, 29(6): 1039-1060.
[6]	Xi CHEN, Shanshan WANG, Zengyun HU, Qiming ZHOU, Qi HU. Spatiotemporal characteristics of seasonal precipitation and their relationships with ENSO in Central Asia during 1901-2013 [J]. Journal of Geographical Sciences, 2018, 28(9): 1341-1368.
[7]	Wenxia ZHANG, , Qingrong FENG, Tianguang WANG, Tianqiang WANG. The spatiotemporal responses of Populus euphratica to global warming in Chinese oases between 1960 and 2015 [J]. Journal of Geographical Sciences, 2018, 28(5): 579-594.
[8]	Yousheng WANG, Shi TAN, Baoyuan *LIU, Yang YANG. Estimating rainfall erosivity by incorporating seasonal variations in parameters into the Richardson model [J]. Journal of Geographical Sciences, 2017, 27(3): 275-296.
[9]	Xue DAI, Rongrong WAN, Guishan YANG. Non-stationary water-level fluctuation in China’s Poyang Lake and its interactions with Yangtze River [J]. Journal of Geographical Sciences, 2015, 25(3): 274-288.
[10]	BERGONSE Rafaello, REIS Eusébio. Reconstructing pre-erosion topography using spatial interpolation techniques: A validation-based approach [J]. Journal of Geographical Sciences, 2015, 25(2): 196-210.
[11]	Mingjun DING, Lanhui LI, Yili ZHANG, Xiaomin SUN, Linshan LIU, Jungang GAO, Zhaofeng WANG, Yingnian LI. Start of vegetation growing season on the Tibetan Plateau inferred from multiple methods based on GIMMS and SPOT NDVI data [J]. Journal of Geographical Sciences, 2015, 25(2): 131-148.
[12]	Lingling DING, Quansheng GE, Jingyun ZHENG, Zhixin HAO. Variations in the starting date of the pre-summer rainy season in South China, 1736-2010 [J]. Journal of Geographical Sciences, 2014, 24(5): 845-857.
[13]	Mette V. ODGAARD, Peder K. BøCHER, Tommy DALGAARD, Jesper E. MOESLUND, Jens-Christian SVENNING. Human-driven topographic effects on the distribution of forest in a flat, lowland agricultural region [J]. , 2014, 24(1): 76-92.
[14]	MA Xin, WU Shaohong, LI Yu’e, ZHANG Xueyan, GAO Qingzhu, WU Yang. Rice re-cultivation in southern China: An option for enhanced climate change resilience in rice production [J]. Journal of Geographical Sciences, 2013, 23(1): 67-84.
[15]	LUO Yanyun, LIU Tingxi, WANG Xixi, DUAN Limin, ZHANG Shengwei, SHI Junxiao. Landform classification using soil data and remote sensing in northern Ordos Plateau of China [J]. Journal of Geographical Sciences, 2012, 22(4): 681-698.