BRIEF RESEARCH REPORT article
Front. Environ. Sci.
Sec. Soil Processes
Volume 13 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fenvs.2025.1661652
This article is part of the Research TopicPolluted Ecosystems: How Global Climate Change Drives Pollutant Dynamics in Aquatic and Terrestrial EcosystemsView all articles
Post-Fire Management Effects on Soil Metal Dynamics in Mediterranean Forests
Provisionally accepted- 1Biology and Environmental Science Department, Auburn University at Montgomery, Montgomery, United States
- 2Environmental Studies Department, Davidson College, Davidson, NC, United States
- 3School of Life Sciences, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shatin, N.T., Hon Kong SAR, China
- 4City University of Hon Kong, Kowloon Tong, Kowloon, Hong Kong SAR, China
- 5Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, Institute of Environment, Energy and Sustainability, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shatin, N.T., Hon Kong SAR, China
- 6State Key Laboratory of Marine Environmental Health, City University of Hon Kong, Kowloon Tong, Kowloon, Hong Kong SAR, China
- 7Central Research Laboratory, Recep Tayyip Erdogan University, Rize, Türkiye
- 8Department of Environmental Engineering, Istanbul Teknik Universitesi, Istanbul, Türkiye
- 9General Directorate of Forestry, Ankara, Türkiye
- 10Vocational School of Food, Agriculture and Livestock, Burdur Mehmet Akif Ersoy Universitesi, Burdur, Türkiye
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Wildfires are an integral component of Mediterranean ecosystems. The forest management practices implemented following such forest fires can significantly influence soil chemistry and metal dynamics.This study investigates the effects of different forest management strategies, including natural regeneration, grading (e.g., gradoni terrace making), and subsoiling with ripper on soil levels of major, trace, and heavy metals in a fire-affected forest in the southwestern part of Türkiye. Soil samples were collected 2.5 years after the containment of the wildfire and analyzed for selected metals (Fe, Ca, Al, Mn, Cr, Ni, Zn, Cu, Pb, Co, As, and Hg) concentrations. The findings indicated that subsoiling with a ripper resulted in elevated levels of multiple potentially toxic metals, including Cr (223.22 ± 60.47 mg/kg), Ni (150.54 ± 27.33 mg/kg), Zn (156.18 ± 66.14 mg/kg), and As (6.72 ± 1.30 mg/kg), compared to other treatments. These findings demonstrate that management interventions such as subsoiling with a ripper can significantly alter the distribution and concentration of trace metals. Future research integrating topographic variation and earlier sampling would further strengthen our understanding of post-fire metal dynamics.
Keywords: post-fire soil contamination1, Wildfire2, forest management3, heavy metal4, soil disturbance5
Received: 09 Jul 2025; Accepted: 04 Aug 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Ulus, Wang, Tsui, Landau, Lekki, BAYAZIT, Uzun, Aslan and Kavgacı. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Yener Ulus, Biology and Environmental Science Department, Auburn University at Montgomery, Montgomery, United States
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