RT info:eu-repo/semantics/article T1 Evaluation of composite burn index and land surface temperature for assessing soil burn severity in mediterranean fire-prone pine ecosystems A1 Marcos Porras, Elena María A1 Fernández García, Víctor A1 Fernández Manso, Alfonso A1 Quintano Pastor, María del Carmen A1 Valbuena, Luz A1 Tárrega, Reyes A1 Estanislao, Luis Calabuig A1 Calvo, Leonor K1 Pine forest K1 Wildfire K1 Soil burn severity K1 Controlled heating K1 31 Ciencias Agrarias K1 3106 Ciencia Forestal AB We analysed the relationship between burn severity indicators, from remote sensing andfield observations, and soil properties after a wildfire in a fire-prone Mediterranean ecosystem. Ourstudy area was a large wildfire in a Pinus pinaster forest. Burn severity from remote sensing wasidentified by studying immediate post-fire Land Surface Temperature (LST). We also evaluatedburn severity in the field applying the Composite Burn Index (CBI) in a total of 84 plots (30 mdiameter). In each plot we evaluated litter consumption, ash colour and char depth as visualindicators. We collected soil samples and pH, soil organic carbon, dry aggregate size distribution(MWD), aggregate stability and water repellency were analysed. A controlled heating of soil wasalso carried out in the laboratory, with soil from the control plots, to compare with the changesproduced in soils affected by different severity levels in the field. Our results shown that changesin soil properties affected by wildfire were only observed in soil aggregation in the high severitysituation. The laboratory-controlled heating showed that temperatures of about 300 ◦C result in asignificant reduction in soil organic carbon and MWD. Furthermore, soil organic carbon showed asignificant decrease when LST values increased. Char depth was the best visual indicator to showchanges in soil properties (mainly physical properties) in large fires that occur in Mediterraneanpine forests. We conclude that CBI and post-fire LST can be considered good indicators of soil burnseverity since both indicate the impact of fire on soil properties. PB MDPI YR 2018 FD 2018 LK https://uvadoc.uva.es/handle/10324/56585 UL https://uvadoc.uva.es/handle/10324/56585 LA eng NO Forests, 2018, vol.9, n. 8, p. 494 NO Producción Científica DS UVaDOC RD 25-abr-2024