Fire and Tillage as Degrading Factors of Soil Structure in Northern Zagros Oak Forest, West Iran

The effects of fire and the conversion to vineyard on soil organic carbon (SOC), and soil aggregate size distribution and stability were studied in a forest of Iran. For this purpose, topsoil was sampled in an unburned area, a portion of the forest burned three years earlier, and a vineyard, all three contiguous and showing similar topographic features. In the burned forest, soil was sampled in areas undergone high, moderate, or low severity. Air-dried soil samples were sieved to obtain four aggregate size classes, which were subsequently wet sieved. Soil aggregate distribution index, mean weight diameter, geometric mean diameter, and aggregate stability index were determined on both dry and wet specimens. No significant differences in SOC between burned and unburned forest were found, most probably because of the supply of charred biomass to soil, while in the vineyard thirty years of cultivation had removed half of initial SOC. Both severe fire and cultivation had decreased the stability of aggregates and the relative amount of the biggest ones (8 to 2-cm diameter). However, aggregate stability was significantly lower in the vineyard than in the burned forest, which points out to a stronger impact of prolonged cultivation than a single fire, although severe. Cultivation and severe fire had decreased the proportion of C in macroaggregates, to the advantage of meso (1 to 0.25 mm) and micro (<0.25 mm) aggregates. A hierarchical cluster analysis of all investigated properties and indices demonstrated that cultivation and highly severe fire both were causes of soil degradation.