Frequent prescribed burning reduces hydrological characteristics of litter layers by simplifying stand structure in
8 affiliations
- 1Yunnan Key Laboratory of Forest Disaster Warning and Control, College of Civil Engineering, Southwest Forestry University, Kunming, 650224, China
- 2Institute of Eastern-Himalaya Biodiversity Research, Dali University, Dali, 671003, China
- 3School of Architecture and Urban Planning, Shandong Jianzhu University, Jinan, 250101, China
- 4National Forestry and Grassland Fire Monitoring, Early Warning and Prevention Engineering Technology Research Center, Ecology and Nature Conservation Institute, Chinese Academy of Forestry, Beijing, 100091, China
- 5College of Ecology and Environment (College of Wetlands), Southwest Forestry University, Kunming, 650224, China
- 6School of Soil and Water Conservation, Southwest Forestry University, Kunming, 650224, China
- 7College of Big Data and Intelligent Engineering, Southwest Forestry University, Kunming, 650224, China
- 8Yunnan Key Laboratory of Forest Disaster Warning and Control, College of Civil Engineering, Southwest Forestry University, Kunming, 650224, China; Corresponding author.
Abstract
Prescribed burning is widely used to reduce wildfire risk in Pinus yunnanensis forests, but its impacts on litter-mediated hydrological functions and their linkages to stand structure remain insufficiently quantified. We evaluated three stand types with contrasting fire histories in a P. yunnanensis plantation in Xinping County, Yunnan, China: unburned stands (UB), stands affected by a single unintended ignition (UI), and stands subjected to repeated annual prescribed burning (PB). For both undecomposed and semidecomposed litter layers, we quantified litter load and composition, and measured water-holding ratio, water absorption rate, and effective litter interception capacity using immersion experiments. We further applied exploratory structural equation modeling to examine associations among fire history, stand structure, and litter hydrological characteristics. Litter loads were significantly lower in fire-affected stands across both layers, decreasing from 30–45 t/ha in UB stands to 11–16 t/ha in UI stands and 4.5–7 t/ha in PB stands. Relative to pre-burn conditions, the single ignition event removed approximately 78.73% of undecomposed litter and 59.96% of semidecomposed litter. Hydrological responses differed between litter layers: water-holding ratio increased in the semidecomposed layer after burning, but declined in the undecomposed layer. However, effective litter interception capacity decreased sharply along the fire-history gradient. In the undecomposed layer, interception declined from 27.43 t/ha in UB stands to 8.25 t/ha in UI stands and 2.69 t/ha in PB stands; in the semidecomposed layer, it declined from 42.68 t/ha to 18.51 t/ha and 8.74 t/ha, respectively. All pairwise differences were significant ( p < 0.001). Repeated prescribed burning was also associated with simplified stand structure, including reduced crown cover, mingling degree, and dominance, which corresponded with weaker effective litter interception capacity. Overall, our results suggest a trade-off between fuel reduction and litter-mediated water retention in P. yunnanensis plantations. They also highlight the importance of distinguishing between litter decomposition layers when assessing post-fire litter hydrological characteristics. Prescribed burning regimes in these forests should therefore consider not only fuel reduction, but also litter recovery, stand structure, and forest-floor hydrological function.
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BibTeX
@article{zhu2026frequent,
title = {{Frequent prescribed burning reduces hydrological characteristics of litter layers by simplifying stand structure in}},
author = {Xilong Zhu and Shiying Xu and Davide Fornacca and Boyuan Liu and Weike Li and Xiaona Li and Ping Yao and Wei Li and Weili Kou and Qiuhua Wang},
journal = {Trees, Forests and People},
year = {2026},
month = oct,
doi = {10.1016/j.tfp.2026.101527},
url = {https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tfp.2026.101527},
note = {CC BY},
}
RIS
TY - JOUR
TI - Frequent prescribed burning reduces hydrological characteristics of litter layers by simplifying stand structure in
AU - Xilong Zhu
AU - Shiying Xu
AU - Davide Fornacca
AU - Boyuan Liu
AU - Weike Li
AU - Xiaona Li
AU - Ping Yao
AU - Wei Li
AU - Weili Kou
AU - Qiuhua Wang
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/10/30
JO - Trees, Forests and People
DO - 10.1016/j.tfp.2026.101527
UR - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tfp.2026.101527
AB - Prescribed burning is widely used to reduce wildfire risk in Pinus yunnanensis forests, but its impacts on litter-mediated hydrological functions and their linkages to stand structure remain insufficiently quantified. We evaluated three stand types with contrasting fire histories in a P. yunnanensis plantation in Xinping County, Yunnan, China: unburned stands (UB), stands affected by a single unintended ignition (UI), and stands subjected to repeated annual prescribed burning (PB). For both undecomposed and semidecomposed litter layers, we quantified litter load and composition, and measured water-holding ratio, water absorption rate, and effective litter interception capacity using immersion experiments. We further applied exploratory structural equation modeling to examine associations among fire history, stand structure, and litter hydrological characteristics. Litter loads were significantly lower in fire-affected stands across both layers, decreasing from 30–45 t/ha in UB stands to 11–16 t/ha in UI stands and 4.5–7 t/ha in PB stands. Relative to pre-burn conditions, the single ignition event removed approximately 78.73% of undecomposed litter and 59.96% of semidecomposed litter. Hydrological responses differed between litter layers: water-holding ratio increased in the semidecomposed layer after burning, but declined in the undecomposed layer. However, effective litter interception capacity decreased sharply along the fire-history gradient. In the undecomposed layer, interception declined from 27.43 t/ha in UB stands to 8.25 t/ha in UI stands and 2.69 t/ha in PB stands; in the semidecomposed layer, it declined from 42.68 t/ha to 18.51 t/ha and 8.74 t/ha, respectively. All pairwise differences were significant ( p < 0.001). Repeated prescribed burning was also associated with simplified stand structure, including reduced crown cover, mingling degree, and dominance, which corresponded with weaker effective litter interception capacity. Overall, our results suggest a trade-off between fuel reduction and litter-mediated water retention in P. yunnanensis plantations. They also highlight the importance of distinguishing between litter decomposition layers when assessing post-fire litter hydrological characteristics. Prescribed burning regimes in these forests should therefore consider not only fuel reduction, but also litter recovery, stand structure, and forest-floor hydrological function.
SN - 2666-7193
ER -