Plaza-Álvarez Pedro Antonio, Lucas-Borja Manuel Esteban, Carmona-Yáñez María Dolores, Cortés Domingo Calderón, Rodríguez Hidalgo Miguel Ángel, Zema Demetrio Antonio
Escuela Técnica Superior Ingenieros Agrónomos y Montes, Universidad de Castilla-La Mancha, Campus Universitario, E-02071, Albacete, Spain.
Escuela Técnica Superior Ingenieros Agrónomos y Montes, Universidad de Castilla-La Mancha, Campus Universitario, E-02071, Albacete, Spain.
J Environ Manage. 2024 Nov;370:122527. doi: 10.1016/j.jenvman.2024.122527. Epub 2024 Sep 26.
Ecosystem multi-functionality is a key concept when measured to protect forests from natural and anthropogenic disturbances, such as fire prevention techniques, must be adopted. Despite this importance, scarce studies have analysed the impacts of prescribed burning and aboveground vegetation management on ecosystem functions and overall multi-functionality. To fill this gap, this study has evaluated the changes in some ecosystem properties and structure (associated with soil characteristics and plant diversity, respectively), in important forest functions, and the overall ecosystem multi-functionality in a Mediterranean pine forest of Castilla La Mancha (Central Eastern Spain) under three site conditions: (i) undisturbed ecosystem; (ii) forest subjected to mechanical shredding of aboveground vegetation (hereafter "AVMS"); and (iii) forest treated as above and then with prescribed fire ("AVMS + PF"). The results of the study have shown that neither the PF nor AVMS have significantly modified the structure, properties and functions as well as the overall multi-functionality of the forest ecosystem. These slight impacts of the treatments are due to the low fire severity of the prescribed burning and the long time elapsed from the vegetation management. Among the studied ecosystem functions, organic matter decomposition (driven by the enzymatic activities and soil basal respiration), water cycle (influenced by soil water content and water infiltration), carbon stock (linked to soil organic matter) and biomass production decreased, when species richness and plant diversity increased. The study is useful to indicate the feasibility of forest management actions for fire prevention in delicate forest ecosystems of the Mediterranean environments.
在衡量保护森林免受自然和人为干扰（如必须采用防火技术）时，生态系统多功能性是一个关键概念。尽管这一点很重要，但很少有研究分析规定火烧和地上植被管理对生态系统功能和整体多功能性的影响。为填补这一空白，本研究评估了西班牙中东部卡斯蒂利亚 - 拉曼恰的一片地中海松林中，在三种场地条件下，一些生态系统属性和结构（分别与土壤特征和植物多样性相关）、重要森林功能以及整体生态系统多功能性的变化：（i）未受干扰的生态系统；（ii）地上植被经过机械粉碎处理的森林（以下简称“AVMS”）；（iii）先进行上述处理然后进行规定火烧的森林（“AVMS + PF”）。研究结果表明，规定火烧和AVMS处理均未显著改变森林生态系统的结构、属性、功能以及整体多功能性。这些处理的轻微影响是由于规定火烧的低烈度以及植被管理后经过的时间较长。在所研究的生态系统功能中，当物种丰富度和植物多样性增加时，有机质分解（由酶活性和土壤基础呼吸驱动）、水循环（受土壤含水量和水分入渗影响）、碳储量（与土壤有机质相关）和生物量生产均下降。该研究有助于表明在地中海环境中脆弱森林生态系统中进行防火森林管理行动的可行性。
