Effects of a wildfire on soil chemical and physical properties in a Nothofagus glauca (Phil.) Krasser forest in the Coastal Mountain Range of south-central Chile were investigated. Response of the soil during the first two years following a wildfire was examined, where data from soil in a burned forest were compared to that in an adjacent, unburned stand. The effects that wildfire have on soil properties in this highly fragmented ecosystem are not well understood, but results from this study suggest similar responses to those found in other mediterranean forest systems. Both physical (bulk density, percent soil moisture, and soil organic matter content) and chemical properties (exchangeable inorganic nitrogen, extractable phosphorus, exchangeable... |