Abstract

ARAUJO JUSTINIANO, Tamara  and  NAVARRO SANCHEZ, Gonzalo. Impact of wildfires on the natural state of affected soils in Chiquitanía (Santa Cruz, Bolivia) and proposal of indexes for their assessment. RevActaNova. [online]. 2023, vol.11, n.1, pp.51-64.  Epub Mar 31, 2023. ISSN 1683-0789.  https://doi.org/10.35319/acta-nova.202312.

Chiquitanía is an ecoregion naturally adapted to fire, however, due to the increasing change in land use, wildfires are occurring with greater frequency and intensity. The objective of the research was to evaluate the impact of wildfires on the natural state of affected soils, proposing indexes for their evaluation. Physical and chemical parameters were measured in seven plots with different degrees of burn-traces in two types of representative ecosystems with the greatest extension in the region: "Semi-deciduous forest" and "Cerrado Chaparral". Subsequently, an index was designed that compared these values with reference data of soils from 40 years ago. The application of this index showed that: (1) Forests soils are closer to their natural state than those of Cerrado Chaparral, (2) the soil with the most recent burning was the most affected, (3) the most altered parameters in Cerrado Chaparral soils are available potassium and phosphorus, (4) for forest soils they are potassium and infiltration rate. These differences are possibly due to both the intrinsic characteristics of each ecosystem, as well as the differentiated land use in them; extensive cattle ranching with annual burning in Chaparrales and logging in forests.

Keywords : Chiquitano forest; Cerrado; wildfire; natural state; index; Chiquitania Bolivia.

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