Date of Award

5-2015

Document Type

Thesis

Department

Environmental Resources Engineering

Thesis Advisor

Douglas Daley

Keywords

Forest fires, controlled burns

Abstract

Fire is a natural process that both positively and negatively affects the environment humans live in every single day. A soil's physical characteristics can be altered from fire, resulting in effects such as degraded soil structure, inability for certain plants to regenerate, and production of hydrophobic layers. Researching the effects of fire on soil processes is important for communities with frequent forest fires or controlled burns to understand how to adapt to their altered ecosystems. Management of a community's soil after burns have occurred is crucial for successful ecological restoration and regeneration of vegetation. The objective was to determine the effect of fire on soil properties for two silt loam soil samples, in particular, carbon/nitrogen content, water infiltration capacity and water retention.

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