PYROPHOB - Strategies for the development of pyrophobic and climate change resilient forests on forest fire areas - Subproject 3: Soil properties and soil fauna
Forest fire prevention and effective reforestation after calamities are increasingly important challenges in the adaptation of forest ecosystem management to climate change. The aim of this project is to develop silvicultural solutions for fire prevention by reducing the fire potential as well as recommendations for the management of fire-damaged areas based on the understanding and observation of vegetation development processes on forest fire areas. The effects of different management options will be investigated as well as the potential and effectiveness of natural regeneration processes in the ecosystem. Anthropogenic and natural factors influence the future species composition in forests and succession areas after fire. Areas with a history of fire will be analyzed for ecosystem development on the basis of permanent observation plots. This will lay the foundation for long-term research, teaching and education on the subject. The medium-term result of the reforestation is the development of forests that are as climate change-resistant and pyrophobic as possible.
Forest fire areas near Jüterbog and Treuenbrietzen in the south of Brandenburg are being investigated. Forest fires destroyed large forest stands there in 2018 and 2019. The joint project is investigating the effects of different management options on the ecosystem development of forest fire areas. Using permanent observation areas,
areas with a fire history are analyzed and the potential and effectiveness of natural regeneration processes in the ecosystem are recorded in order to formulate recommendations for dealing with
fire-damaged areas. This will also lay the foundation for long-term research, teaching and education on the topic. The medium-term result of the reforestation is the development of forests that are as climate change resilient and pyrophobic as possible.
The PYROPHOB sub-project 3 "Soil properties and soil fauna" (BTU Cottbus-Senftenberg) is involved in WPs 2 and 3 of the overall network. WP2 includes the investigation of abiotic factors at the selected study sites, which are empirically recorded and analyzed. This work package comprises the sub-packages "Soil" and "Water" and is coordinated by the BTU. In the sub-project applied for here, the investigations will focus on the soil characterization of the site as a basis for the network-wide evaluation and analysis of the material outputs from burnt forest topsoil. In WP3, biotic indicators in the four sub-packages "Flora & Vegetation", "Mycology", "Forest Structure and Microclimate" and "Fauna" will be comprehensively investigated. The work planned in the PYROPHOB sub-project of the BTU will deal with the influence of forest fires on biodiversity in the area of soil fauna in the "Fauna" sub-package. Particular attention will be paid to the occurrence and regulating effect of selected predatory arthropods on harmful organisms (butterfly larvae).
The sub-project is divided into four subtasks (TA). In TA 1 "Soil science site survey", a one-off soil and humus profile survey (leveling, thickness) will be carried out at all study sites near Treuenbrietzen, Jüterbog and Lieberose at the beginning of the project. For TA 2 "Soil chemical and biological characterization", soil samples will be taken from soil profiles and from borehole probes distributed over the area and, in particular, the storage of the humus layers and the humus topsoil (e.g. carbon and nutrient stocks, fractions of organic carbon) will be analysed. The biological soil activity will also be measured in situ using mineralization and litter decomposition tests. TA 3 "Material discharge from burnt forest topsoil" examines the behavior of forest topsoil after a fire with regard to material discharge. For this purpose, seepage water is sampled using passive lysimeters. In addition, soil columns are used in a laboratory experiment to reproduce the time zero of fire exposure. In TA 4 "Biodiversity of soil fauna", the effects of forest fires on the biodiversity of predatory arthropods and their control performance for butterfly larvae will be investigated. To this end, insects hatching from the ground and ground-dwelling spiders will be collected using emergence traps.
Project partners in the Pyrophob network are:
- Eberswalde University for Sustainable Development
- University of Potsdam
- Eberswalde State Competence Center for Forestry
- Johann Heinrich von Thünen Institute - Federal Research Institute for Rural Areas, Forests and Fisheries, Institute of Forest Genetics, Waldsieversdorf
- Senckenberg German Entomological Institute
- Natural Forest Academy gGmbH
- Brandenburg Natural Landscapes Foundation