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Cited by 79Fire effects on ecosystemsSoil Carbon and Nitrogen DynamicsRangeland and Wildlife Management

The myth of the biological threshold: A review of biological responses to soil heating associated with wildland fire

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Pingree, Melissa R.A., Kobziar, Leda N.·2019·Forest Ecology and Management
DOI 10.1016/j.foreco.2018.10.032
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Abstract

Soil heating caused by prescribed or wildland fire commonly focuses on a single biological thermal threshold of 60 °C for the duration of one minute to represent organism death. This metric severely misrepresents the heterogeneity of the soil environment, the physiological attributes and tolerances of organisms, and the complexity of heat transfer through soils. Measurements of biotic death in simulated laboratory experiments render research findings difficult to extrapolate to forest and grassland soils. The disparity between assumed biological responses and the diversity of biological responses after wildland fire events calls for a thorough review of soil biological heating thresholds. In this review, we synthesize and compare research that directly relates soil heating temperature and duration to biological responses, provide relevant models for temperature-duration responses of soil organisms in lieu of a strict threshold, and recommend applications of soil heating data for wildland fire and ecosystem management. For no single study or group of organisms was a threshold of 60 °C for one-minute duration evidenced. All soil organisms reviewed, which included roots, mesofauna, bacteria, fungi, microbial biomass, and soil respiration, displayed both positive and negative responses to soil heating across temperature and duration gradients. We, therefore, discourage the use of the traditionally accepted metric of 60 °C for the duration of one minute. Instead, we present models of duration-temperature relationships of soil biota and invite interdisciplinary efforts from researchers and managers to directly measure biological responses on a case-by-case basis.

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  • Limited information on key covariates such as soil pH makes it difficult to determine the mechanisms regulating the responses of soil microbial communities after fire.

    “Despite these general trends, the limited information on key covariates such as soil pH makes it difficult to determine the mechanisms regulating the responses of soil microbial communities after fire (Pingree & Kobziar, 2019) or effects on subsequent microbial function.”

    From Fire as a fundamental ecological process: Research advances and frontiers (2020) · cites this paper as Pingree & Kobziar, 2019

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Authors
Pingree, M. R. A., & Kobziar, L. N.
Affiliations
University of Idaho (US)
Corresponding author
Pingree, Melissa R.A.
ORCID
Venue
Forest Ecology and Management
Publisher
Elsevier BV
Published
2019-01
Volume
432
Pages
1022-1029
ISSN
0378-1127 (ISSN-L)
DOI
10.1016/j.foreco.2018.10.032
OpenAlex
W2898388306
Cited by
79
References
78
Citations by year
2026: 8 · 2025: 8 · 2024: 15 · 2023: 10 · 2022: 16 · 2021: 7 · 2020: 8 · 2019: 6 · 2018: 1
FWCI
3.10
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Licence
Locations
Forest Ecology and Management (acceptedVersion)
Funders
  • U.S. Department of Agriculture (15-1-05-5, DAZ-MS-0115)
  • National Institute of Food and Agriculture
Topics
  • Physical Sciences › Environmental Science › Global and Planetary Change › Fire effects on ecosystems
  • Life Sciences › Agricultural and Biological Sciences › Soil Science › Soil Carbon and Nitrogen Dynamics
  • Physical Sciences › Environmental Science › Ecology › Rangeland and Wildlife Management
Keywords
soil heating, forest fires, soil organisms, soil heat transfer, soil mesofauna, soil bacteria and fungi, microbial biomass, soil respiration, roots, prescribed burning, ecosystem management

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