Simulated loss of forest floor N from prescribed fire

This figure illustrates the simulated cumulative N losses with prescribed fire at different burn intervals, assuming half the forest floor is lost in each burn. It illustrates that regular prescribed fire can cause as much or more loss as a wildfire when averaged out over time. This N can be replaced with N-fixation if the N-fixing species are present and the burn interval is not too short (from Johnson et al., 1998) 

Return to results