Effect of forest fire on natural regeneration and soil properties on Chir pine forest ofGarhwal Himalaya
Loading...
Date
2021
Authors
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
College of Forestry, Ranichauri Campus, V.C.S.G. Uttarakhand University of Horticulture and Forestry
Abstract
The study was carried out to assess the effect of fire on natural regeneration and soil physiochemical properties at different altitudes viz. 400-600 and 1300-1600 masl before fire(pre-fire) and after fire (post-fire) during January to September 2019 in the Pinus roxburghii(Chir pine) forest in Tehri Forest Division . The soil properties were analyzed at different soildepths viz. 0–10, 10-20 and 20-30 cm. The results of the present study indicated that fire plays animportant role in influencing natural regeneration and soil properties of the Chir pine forest.Density of trees was recorded same in both conditions. At both the elevations incrementinshrubsandherbsdensitywereobservedafterfire.Decreaseindensityofseedlingwasobservedat lower elevation however, it increased in upper elevation. At higher elevation species diversityof shrubs, seedlings and herbs increased after fire while, at lower elevation shrubs diversityincreased while, seedlings and herbs diversity decreased after fire. At both the elevations speciesrichness of shrubs was increased however, species richness of seedlings decreased after fire. Incase of herbs species richness was observed more after fire at higher elevation while, reduced atlowerelevation.TheforestfiresignificantlyincreasedsoilpH,electricconductivityandavailablepotassiumwhile,significantly decreased organiccarbon and available enitrogen incomparison with unburned soil at both elevations soil depths. After fire, available sulphur and phosphorous increment recorded at 0-10 and 10-20 cm soil depth while, it decreased at 20-30 cmsoil depth at lower elevation while, It also decreased at higher elevation in all soil depth. Ove rall,forest fire affects on soil were directly related to the depth of burn and forest fire has significant positive effect on surface layer of soil (0-10 cm) and it results in higher availability of nutrients.Forest fire have positive impact on regeneration.
Description
M.Sc.Forestry