ABSTRACT
Forest fires can have a major impact on nutrient cycling, with significant consequences for many other important ecosystem processes. The critical cycling fraction of nutrients is affected by fire in a number of ways: 1) by loss of nutrients during and after fires through direct (gaseous and particulate during combustion) and indirect (leaching or erosion of ash and soil material) means; 2) by transforming some nutrients from organic to inorganic forms and soil heating, which initiates chemical and biotic processes affecting decomposer activity and nutrient uptake by vegetation; 3) by affecting vegetation composition, structure, and growth rate, and thus the uptake and turnover of nutrients; 4) by changing the chemical environment of plant roots (pH, exchangeable cations, soil solution composition, solubility and composition of minerals); 5) by affecting other soil processes via changes in hydrology and temperature regimes; and 6) by triggering vegetation succession (e.g., stimulation of N-fixing understory vegetation).
