Investigating Metal and Mineral Redistribution in Fire-Managed Forest Ultisols.

Prescribed burning of forests has been used to maintain fire dependant species, reduce the rate of spread and the intensity of wildfires, and improve forest species population dynamics. But the impact of such practice to metal redistribution and mobilization in managed ecosystems has not received much attention in the literature. The objective of this study was to evaluate the impacts of the prescribed forest fire and thinning practices on soil metal release and redistribution in soils. The investigation was carried out in soils of treated and control plots at the Bankhead National Forest in North Central Alabama. The treatments consisted of two burning patterns (no-burn and 3 year-burn) and three levels of thinning (no thin, 25%, and 50% thin) that were applied on stands growing on Typic Hapludults of the Sipsey series. Soil samples were collected from the treatments and analyzed for soil metal concentrations and mineralogy. Analyses of samples collected from the treatments will indicate the mineralogy, the levels of soil metals in both treated and untreated soils, and their redistribution with depth in soil profile. An enrichment factor index will be calculated to determine the loading of metals in soils of such environments.