Responses to long-term fire exclusion: physical, chemical and faunal features of litter and soil in a Western Australian forest

Abstract

Summary Physical and chemical properties of litter and soil of two adjacent stands of high quality jarrah forest, one unburned since 1937, the other burned periodically during the past 40 years and last burned in Spring 1981, were compared in 1982 and 1983. Sampling of the larger elements of the invertebrate fauna was by litter and soil coring and pitfall-trapping three times during 1983. Most of the soil properties studied had higher values in the burned stand, suggesting that repeated low intensity fires do not deplete jarrah forest soils of nutrients. Periodic low intensity fires had little impact on the frequency of occurrence or capture of the invertebrate fauna studied.