Jj. Halvorson et al., THE PATTERN OF SOIL VARIABLES RELATED TO ARTEMISIA-TRIDENTATA IN A BURNED SHRUB-STEPPE SITE, Soil Science Society of America journal, 61(1), 1997, pp. 287-294
Artemisia tridentata Nutt. is a prominent shrub of cool deserts in the
USA that influences the patterns of chemistry and microbiological act
ivity in the soil in which it grows. However, little is known about th
e fate of these patterns following the death or removal of the live A.
tridentata plant. We compared abutting burned and unburned sites to s
ee if patterns in soil could be related to locations where shrubs were
removed by fire 9 yr earlier. While most soil variables were signific
antly higher in the unburned site than in the burned site, total organ
ic C and soil pH appear unaffected by the removal of A. tridentata or
the fire itself. Differences between unburned and burned sites were gr
eatest near the location of a plant axis. In contrast, burned soil was
not distinguishable from unburned soil at distances greater than appr
oximate to 50 cm away from a live A. tridentata axis or a charred stum
p indicating that soil patterns were most affected by removal of the p
lant and not by the fire. Nearly a decade after the fire, significant
effects of A. tridentata on patterns of some soil variables in the bur
ned site were still detectable. Significantly higher values for total
organic C, total N, water soluble C, electrical conductivity, and soil
microbial biomass C were observed near the location of charred A. tri
dentata stumps than at distances further away. These patterns are a si
gnificant source of soil variability that may be difficult to account
for because they are not related to the obvious location of live plant
s.