Evaluación de los efectos de un incendio en las propiedades hidrofísico-químicas del suelo y biomasa vegetal en una zona de páramo en el área de amortiguamiento del Parque Nacional Cajas

Abstract

The information on fires in the ecuadorian tropical Andes contributes to the management, conservation and post-fire restoration of zones, in particularly in the buffer zones of the National Park Cajas. Vegetation fires are a common phenomenon in several ecosystems; this being linked to the development of the rural population and population growth, sometimes considered as a natural component and even necessary within the ecology of certain ecosystems. However, in the Andes, ecosystems are modified by repetitive anthropogenic disturbances, in Ecuador between the months of July and September of 2019 the fires consumed 16126,92 ha in 1503 documented events. In the province of Azuay in the buffer zone of the National Park Cajas, within the lagoon sector "Dos Chorreras", on October 2, 2019, a fire occurred affecting a grassland area of 39,2 ha, which in turn constituted the study area of the research. Within this sector the impacts of the fire on the hydrophysical-chemical properties of the soil and plant biomass were evaluated by means of the study of two transects: Transect 1 (T1): area affected by the fire and Transect 2 (T2): area not affected by the fire. Soil samples were taken from the transects and from the aerial part of the vegetation, which were used to determine the following properties: saturation point, field capacity, permanent wilting point, bulk density, pH, electrical conductivity , soil organic carbon content and aerial plant biomass, with significant heterogeneity in the parameters studied. These properties constituted the primary information that served for the evaluation of the effect of the fire in the study area. Finally, this work can serve as a baseline to expand the time frame of the study of the impacts of fires on the soils and vegetation of the study area and thus improve the understanding of such long-term impacts in paramo areas.