Deadwood Decay in a Burnt Mediterranean Pine Reforestation
1
Departamento de Ecología, Facultad de Ciencias, Universidad de Granada, E-18071 Granada, Spain
2
Departamento de Ciencias de la Vida, Edificio de Ciencias, Campus Universitario, Universidad de Alcalá, Alcalá de Henares E-28805, Spain
*
Authors to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Academic Editor: Raffaele Spinelli
Forests 2017, 8(5), 158; https://doi.org/10.3390/f8050158
Received: 6 March 2017 / Revised: 11 April 2017 / Accepted: 26 April 2017 / Published: 8 May 2017
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Forest Operations, Engineering and Management)
Dead wood remaining after wildfires represents a biological legacy for forest regeneration, and its decay is both cause and consequence of a large set of ecological processes. However, the rate of wood decomposition after fires is still poorly understood, particularly for Mediterranean-type ecosystems. In this study, we analyzed deadwood decomposition following a wildfire in a Mediterranean pine plantation in the Sierra Nevada Natural and National Park (southeast Spain). Three plots were established over an elevational/species gradient spanning from 1477 to 2053 m above sea level, in which burnt logs of three species of pines were experimentally laid out and wood densities were estimated five times over ten years. The logs lost an overall 23% of their density, although this value ranged from an average 11% at the highest-elevation plot (dominated by Pinus sylvestris) to 32% at an intermediate elevation (with P. nigra). Contrary to studies in other climates, large-diameter logs decomposed faster than small-diameter logs. Our results provide one of the longest time series for wood decomposition in Mediterranean ecosystems and suggest that this process provides spatial variability in the post-fire ecosystem at the scale of stands due to variable speeds of decay. Common management practices such as salvage logging diminish burnt wood and influence the rich ecological processes related to its decay.
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Keywords:
deadwood management; decay rate; decomposition; density loss; Mediterranean
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This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited
MDPI and ACS Style
Molinas-González, C.R.; Castro, J.; Leverkus, A.B. Deadwood Decay in a Burnt Mediterranean Pine Reforestation. Forests 2017, 8, 158.
AMA Style
Molinas-González CR, Castro J, Leverkus AB. Deadwood Decay in a Burnt Mediterranean Pine Reforestation. Forests. 2017; 8(5):158.
Chicago/Turabian StyleMolinas-González, Carlos R.; Castro, Jorge; Leverkus, Alexandro B. 2017. "Deadwood Decay in a Burnt Mediterranean Pine Reforestation" Forests 8, no. 5: 158.
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