Journal article
Paired Eucalyptus forest catchment study of prescribed fire effects on suspended sediment and nutrient exports in south-eastern Australia
HG Smith, GJ Sheridan, PNJ Lane, CB Sherwin
International Journal of Wildland Fire | CSIRO PUBLISHING | Published : 2010
DOI: 10.1071/WF08208
Abstract
The effect of prescribed fire on suspended sediment and nutrient exports was investigated in two small Eucalyptus forest catchments in south-eastern Australia. In 2005, a patchy, mostly low-severity prescribed fire was applied to both catchments, followed in 2006 by a second burn applied to riparian areas of one catchment, with the other catchment utilised as a control for this burn. Historic pre-fire weekly stream water sampling was combined with post-fire weekly and storm-based sampling to quantify the effect of the fires. The 2005 fire resulted in a significant difference (P=0.000) in suspended sediment concentrations compared to pre-fire data and generated peak study period suspended sed..
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Funding Acknowledgements
This project was funded by the Cooperative Research Centre for Forestry and the Victorian Department of Sustainability and Environment (DSE). The authors would like to thank John Costenaro and Philip Noske for sample collection and field support and the DSE fire crews who assisted with planning and lighting the prescribed burns. Gabi Szegedy is thanked for sample preparation, and Matt Lee and Najib Ahmady for laboratory analyses. Two anonymous referees are thanked for their comments, which helped improve the manuscript.