Effects of erosion on ecto- and VA-mycorrhizal inoculum potential of soil following forest fire in southwest Oregon

Abstract

The Longwood Complex wildfire in the Siskiyou Mountains of southern Oregon in August 1987 created an opportunity to study erosion and its effects on mycorrhizal fungus inoculum potential of a forest soil on steep slopes. As measured by the erosion-bridge method, most erosion occurred in a single, intense storm in December after the fire and amounted to an estimated 2 to 4 cm of surface soil. Captured eroded soil had a higher pH and P and Mg levels than residual soil. Seedlings ofLibocedrus decurrens andPseudotsuga menziesii were planted on eroded plots with additions of captured eroded soil (ET) or pasteurized eroded soil (PET) transferred to the planting holes. After one growing season,Libocedrus seedlings formed nearly 4 times the vesicular-arbuscular mycorrhizae in ET treatments and more than twice as much in PET treatments than in controls. Survival and basal area growth were significantly better in ET than in the other treatments, and both ET and PET produced more seedling shoot growth than did controls.Pseudotsuga seedlings did not differ in measured characteristics between treatments; ectomycorrhiza formation was slight, evidently the result of reduced inoculum potential resulting from the fire.