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iForest - Biogeosciences and Forestry

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Post-fire soil hydrology, water erosion and restoration strategies in Andosols: a review of evidence from the Canary Islands (Spain)

Jonay Neris (1-2)   , Juan C Santamarta (3), Stefan H Doerr (1), Francisco Prieto (4), Juan Agulló-Pérez (5), Paloma García-Villegas (5)

iForest - Biogeosciences and Forestry, Volume 9, Issue 4, Pages 583-592 (2016)
doi: https://doi.org/10.3832/ifor1605-008
Published: Mar 17, 2016 - Copyright © 2016 SISEF

Review Papers


Andosols are the most characteristic soils of volcanic regions such as the forested, fire-prone, hillslopes of the mountainous Canary Islands (Spain). Due to their volcanic nature, these soils have traditionally been considered highly resistant to water erosion processes in undisturbed conditions, but are also highly susceptible to environmental disturbances. In addition, volcanic terrains often underlie heavily-populated, steep areas where torrential rains are frequent, increasing the threat to the population and infrastructures down-slope. Numerous hydrological and erosional catastrophic events in disturbed Andosols in the Canary Islands and worldwide, leading to major losses to lives and properties, have been historically and recently reported. The impact of environmental alterations such as land use change on hydrological and erosional response of Andosols has been widely studied in the Canary Islands and worldwide. However, the effect on this soil type of wildfires, generally considered one of the main geomorphological agents, and historically connected to the forested fire-prone Andosols of the islands, has had scant attention to date. This review seeks to redress this knowledge gap by: (i) evaluating the factors affecting the susceptibility of Andosols to catastrophic hydrological and erosional events; (ii) summarizing the published studies on the impact of fire and the post-fire response of this soil type and the specific restoration measures developed to date; and (iii) identifying research gaps and suggesting new lines of investigation in order to reduce the hydrological and erosional risks in these particular terrains.

  Keywords


Volcanic Ash Soils, Wildfires, Catastrophic Events, Disaster Risk Reduction, Erosion Mitigation, Post-fire Restoration

Authors’ address

(1)
Jonay Neris
Stefan H Doerr
Swansea University, Dept. of Geography, College of Science, Swansea SA2 8PP, West Glamorgan (UK)
(2)
Jonay Neris
Dpto. Biología Animal y Edafología y Geología, Facultad de Biología, Universidad de La Laguna, Av. Astrofísico Fco. Sánchez s/n, 38071 La Laguna, Tenerife (Spain)
(3)
Juan C Santamarta
Dpto. Ingeniería de la Producción y Economía Agraria, Universidad de La Laguna, Carretera General de Geneto 2, 38071 La Laguna, Tenerife (Spain)
(4)
Francisco Prieto
Servicio de Medio Ambiente, Seguridad y Emergencias del Cabildo Insular de La Palma, Av. de los Indianos 20, 38700 Santa Cruz de La Palma (Spain)
(5)
Juan Agulló-Pérez
Paloma García-Villegas
Servicio Técnico de Planificación y Proyectos Forestales del Cabildo Insular de Tenerife, C/ Las Macetas sn, Pabellón Santiago Martín, 38108 La Laguna (Spain)

Corresponding author

 
Jonay Neris
jneris@ull.edu.es

Citation

Neris J, Santamarta JC, Doerr SH, Prieto F, Agulló-Pérez J, García-Villegas P (2016). Post-fire soil hydrology, water erosion and restoration strategies in Andosols: a review of evidence from the Canary Islands (Spain). iForest 9: 583-592. - doi: 10.3832/ifor1605-008

Academic Editor

Davide Ascoli

Paper history

Received: Feb 17, 2015
Accepted: Nov 30, 2015

First online: Mar 17, 2016
Publication Date: Aug 09, 2016
Publication Time: 3.60 months

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