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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. For. Glob. Change

Sec. Fire and Forests

Volume 8 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/ffgc.2025.1605456

This article is part of the Research TopicUnderstanding Ecosystem Resilience Through Physiological and Ecological Responses to BushfiresView all articles

Short-term impacts of wildfire on vegetation recovery, soil chemical properties and community-level physiological profiling in a savanna ecosystem of Botswana

Provisionally accepted
Willie  MarengaWillie Marenga1*Mpaphidzi  MapokaMpaphidzi Mapoka1Venecio  U Ultra Jr.Venecio U Ultra Jr.1*Gaolathe  RantongGaolathe Rantong2Batendi  NdunaBatendi Nduna2Mengistu  Gizaw TsiduMengistu Gizaw Tsidu1
  • 1Department of Sustainable Natural Resources, School of Earth Sciences & Engineering, Botswana International University of Science and Technology (BIUST), Palapye, Botswana, Palapye, Botswana
  • 2Department of Biological Sciences and Biotechnology School of Life Sciences, Botswana International University of Science and Technology (BIUST), Palapye, Botswana, Palapye, Botswana

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

Savanna ecosystems, an important contributor to Botswana's economy and occupy up to 86 percent of the land mass of Botswana serving as habitat for wildlife and livestock that are being affected by frequent wildfire which are attributed in part to climate change. While the impact of wildfires on the environment has been extensively studied, there are some uncertainties as to their short-term effects on vegetation dynamics as well as the ability for vegetation to recover from fires. In addition, the impact on soil biogeochemical properties, soil microbial community dynamics, and their interaction within the savanna ecosystem in Botswana, needs to be understood to effectively manage the increasing occurrence of wildfires.A comparative study was conducted on a burned area and unburned adjacent area within a period after six months after wildfire occurrence. Our findings reveal that the ecological impacts of fire on vegetation, soil chemical properties, and microbial community dynamics were not uniform but were strongly mediated by site-specific conditions and the soil type of the associated plant species. Wildfire consistently reduced vegetation cover, plant biomass, and net primary productivity. In contrast, wildfire increased plant species diversity and evenness by disrupting competitive dominance. The impact of wildfire significant increases in soil pH and exchangeable cations (P, K, and Mg) only occurred at the nutrient-rich Mmashoro site and were further localized to the soils under Combretum apiculatum. Conversely, total organic matter increased post-fire at both sites, likely due to ash deposition. The effects of the wildfire on soil microbial community was also site-specific. In Palapye,

Keywords: Wildfire, rhizosphere, Carbon substrate utilization, Microbial metabolic activity, savanna, Biogeochemical

Received: 03 Apr 2025; Accepted: 01 Aug 2025.

Copyright: © 2025 Marenga, Mapoka, Ultra Jr., Rantong, Nduna and Tsidu. 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:
Willie Marenga, Department of Sustainable Natural Resources, School of Earth Sciences & Engineering, Botswana International University of Science and Technology (BIUST), Palapye, Botswana, Palapye, Botswana
Venecio U Ultra Jr., Department of Sustainable Natural Resources, School of Earth Sciences & Engineering, Botswana International University of Science and Technology (BIUST), Palapye, Botswana, Palapye, Botswana

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