title: A soil burn severity index for understanding soil-fire relations in tropical forests.
abstract: Methods for evaluating the impact of fires within tropical forests are needed as fires become more frequent and human populations and demands on forests increase. Short- and long-term fire effects on soils are determined by the prefire, fire, and postfire environments. We placed these components within a fire-disturbance continuum to guide our literature synthesis and develop an integrated soil burn severity index. The soil burn severity index provides a set of indicators that reflect the range of conditions present after a fire. The index consists of seven levels, an unburned level and six other levels that describe a range of postfire soil conditions. We view this index as a tool for understanding the effects of fires on the forest floor, with the realization that as new information is gained, the index may be modified as warranted.
authors.affiliation: USDA Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Research Station, Moscow, ID 83843, USA. tjain@fs.fed.us
authors.forename: Theresa B
authors.initials: TB
authors.lastname: Jain
authors.forename: William A
authors.initials: WA
authors.lastname: Gould
authors.forename: Russell T
authors.initials: RT
authors.lastname: Graham
authors.forename: David S
authors.initials: DS
authors.lastname: Pilliod
authors.forename: Leigh B
authors.initials: LB
authors.lastname: Lentile
authors.forename: Grizelle
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: González
mesh_terms: D003247:Conservation of Natural Resources; D017753:Ecosystem; D005390:Fires; D008954:Models, Biological; D012987:Soil; D014197:Trees; D014329:Tropical Climate
chemical_list: D012987:Soil