Fire has a complex and often unpredictable impacts on the landscape. In addition fire left a footprint on the landscape, allowing us to understand their present since geological times.
Depending on the ecosystem characteristics pre-fire (e.g. topography, plant community, soil type and status), fire severity, fire regimen, the type of ash produced and the degree of soil cover, the extent of impacts on soil properties (e.g. texture, organic matter, microbiology, seed bank etc..), the type and amount of ash leached nutrients into soil profile and the meteorological and climate conditions after the fire, the vegetation recuperation will be different, even at short scale distance. Several ecosystems as the Mediterranean, Boreal, Savannah, Grasslands etc… are resilient to fire impact and can recover in few months to some years after the fire. Also, a large body of research was carried out about the effects of fire in ash properties, their interactions with soil, how soil conditions can determine vegetation recuperation and human intervention to improve ecosystem recovery, as well. However, it has been difficult to make a clear link among these aspects, because of the complex topographic features of the burned area, irregular wind and rainfall distribution and ash and soil erosion and the management options, which sometimes do not contribute to landscape recuperation. The goal of this session is to bring together, the studies focused in past and present post-fire (i.e. wildfire and prescribed fire?) environments, including ash, soil and vegetation and how management options can influence landscape recuperation. This is fundamental to understand the connectivity among ash, soil and vegetation, and how management options can affect the natural dynamic. The outcomes of this session will be a very good contribution to a better management of burned areas. Contributions dealing with all aspects of fire impacts on the ecosystems and post-fire management are welcome, including temporal, spatial and modelling studies. This session is linked to a short course proposed to EGU assembly on “Short course on soil restoration after wildfires”.
Support:

FUEGORED, Spanish Network on Forest Fire Effects on Soils.
Post-fire, Soil quality, erosion control and plant cover recovery under different post-fire management scenarios, funded by the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness