Long-term dynamics of soil chemical properties after a prescribed fire in a Mediterranean forest (Montgrí Massif, Catalonia, Spain) M. Alcañiz a, ⁎, L. Outeiro b , M. Francos a , J. Farguell a,c , X. Úbeda a a GRAM (Grup de Recerca Mediterrània), Department of Physical Geography, University of Barcelona, Montalegre, 6, 08001 Barcelona, Spain b Postdoctoral Fellowship Xunta de Galicia, Dept. Applied Economy, Universidad de Santiago de Compostela, Spain c Unitat de Xarxes de Control, Departament d'Infraestructures de Control i Regulació, Agència Catalana de l'Aigua. C/Provença 204-206, 08036 Barcelona, Spain HIGHLIGHTS • Prescribed fires can be a useful tool to prevent wildfires by reducing fuel. • pH, total C, total N, Ca 2+ and Mg 2+ do not return to initial values one year after. • Changes in soil chemical properties happened and are still present nine years later. GRAPHICAL ABSTRACT abstract article info Article history: Received 30 October 2015 Received in revised form 18 January 2016 Accepted 19 January 2016 Available online xxxx This study examines the effects of a prescribed fire on soil chemical properties in the Montgrí Massif (Girona, Spain). The prescribed forest fire was conducted in 2006 to reduce understory vegetation and so prevent poten- tial severe wildfires. Soil was sampled at a depth of 0–5 cm at 42 sampling points on four separate occasions: prior to the event, immediately after, one year after and nine years after. The parameters studied were pH, elec- trical conductivity (EC), total carbon (C), total nitrogen (N), available phosphorus (P), potassium (K + ), calcium (Ca 2+ ) and magnesium (Mg 2+ ). All parameters (except pH) increased significantly immediately after the fire. One year after burning, some chemical parameters – namely, EC, available P and K + – had returned to their initial, or even lower, values; while others – pH and total C – continued to rise. Total N, Ca 2+ and Mg 2+ levels had fallen one year after the fire, but levels were still higher than those prior to the event. Nine years after the fire, pH, total C, total N and available P are significantly lower than pre-fire values and nutrients concentrations are now higher than at the outset but without statistical significance. The soil system, therefore, is still far from being recovered nine years later. © 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. Keywords: Forest fires Forest management Soil recovery Fire ecology Quercus coccifera 1. Introduction Forest fires are a natural phenomenon in many terrestrial ecosys- tems and many of the effects of such fires have been examined (Neary Science of the Total Environment xxx (2016) xxx–xxx ⁎ Corresponding author. E-mail address: meritxellalpu@gmail.com (M. Alcañiz). STOTEN-19128; No of Pages 7 http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2016.01.115 0048-9697/© 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Science of the Total Environment journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/scitotenv Please cite this article as: Alcañiz, M., et al., Long-term dynamics of soil chemical properties after a prescribed fire in a Mediterranean forest (Montgrí Massif, Catalonia, Spain), Sci Total Environ (2016), http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2016.01.115