Dep. of Forestry and Environmental Conservation, Clemson Univ., Clemson, SC, 29634, USA.
Dep. of Plant and Environmental Sciences, Clemson Univ., Clemson, SC, 29634, USA.
J Environ Qual. 2020 Jul;49(4):793-811. doi: 10.1002/jeq2.20108. Epub 2020 Jun 22.
This review examines the impact of prescribed fire on the water quality variables (a) sediment load and (b) limiting macronutrients in forested environments globally. We aim to characterize the forested environments subject to prescribed fire, to discuss factors of the fire regime that contribute to water quality concerns, and to offer insight into the effect of precipitation timing and study scale on constituent exports. High fuel consumption during fire increases the risk of erosion and constituent export during precipitation, though high fuel consumption during prescribed fire is uncommon in forested environments. Small-scale studies examining sediment yield after prescribed fire may fail to capture the effect of landscape-scale spatial variability, and watershed-scale studies accounting for such variability are lacking. Although small-plot studies confirm that prescribed fire can alter hydrologic inputs, the environmental impact of these increases is minimal, particularly when compared with other land-use systems. Generally, prescribed fire is a beneficial and low-impact disturbance that likely improves fire-adapted forest health. However, gaps in knowledge exist at various spatial and temporal scales; this review suggests two avenues of future research, including (a) greater understanding of fire regime interactions that control surface runoff and erosion at the watershed scale, and (b) monitoring forest health and ecological function after prescribed fire rather than direct nutrient exports.
本综述考察了控制性火烧对森林环境中水质变量（a）泥沙负荷和（b）限制养分的影响。我们旨在描述受到控制性火烧的森林环境，讨论火行为因素对水质问题的影响，并深入了解降水时间和研究尺度对成分输出的影响。火烧期间高燃料消耗增加了侵蚀和成分在降水期间输出的风险，尽管在森林环境中火烧期间高燃料消耗并不常见。小规模研究在检验控制性火烧后泥沙产量时，可能无法捕捉到景观尺度空间变异性的影响，而缺乏考虑这种变异性的流域尺度研究。尽管小尺度研究证实了控制性火烧可以改变水文输入，但这些增加的环境影响是微不足道的，尤其是与其他土地利用系统相比。一般来说，控制性火烧是一种有益且低影响的干扰，可能会改善适应火灾的森林健康。然而，在各种时空尺度上都存在知识差距；本综述提出了未来研究的两个方向，包括（a）更好地了解火行为相互作用，这些相互作用控制着流域尺度的地表径流和侵蚀，以及（b）在控制性火烧后监测森林健康和生态功能，而不是直接监测养分输出。
