Understand the impacts of vegetation fires on soil
As many of you may have already noticed, vegetation fires are very frequent, especially in the dry season. The burning of vegetal biomass is an activity that has been practiced since very primitive times and, nowadays, it is still used, mainly by farmers, for pest control, clearing of areas for growing crops, regrowth of pasture and sugarcane harvest. However, does the burning actually bring any benefits to the soils? Well, let’s explain!
Naturally occurring fires are part of many ecosystems and are in balance with the environment. For example, the heat produced by fire can make soil propitious to the germination of some seeds; the burning of the dry matter of plants contributes to a bigger light access to new seedlings and to the availability of essential elements by the recycling of nutrients.
In the short term, burning also brings benefits to farmers, but over time, it becomes harmful, once it provokes the loss of nutrients through volatilization and leaching, increase the soil erosion process, degrades the microbial community, reduces soil organic matter rates, in addition to polluting water springs, rivers and atmosphere.
We must emphasize the extremely important functions of organic matter in the maintenance of soil quality, as a source of nutrients through its mineralization and source of negative charges, due to the colloidal behavior of humus that increases the CEC of soil. Also, the organic matter is a substrate for the growth of microbial biomass, which has as representatives: mycorrhizal fungi, fungi and bacteria phosphate solubilizers, nitrogen fixers, etc; minimize soil pollution through the specific adsorption of potentially toxic elements and maintain soil moisture, by improving soil physical attributes, such as the increase of porosity.
An aggravating factor of the fires is its contribution to increasing the concentration of carbonic dioxide in atmosphere and as we know, this is a greenhouse gas. Burnings also destroy the fauna and flora of ecosystems. It is worth to remember that provoking fires without previous authorization from IBAMA (Brazilian Institute of the Environment and Renewable Natural Resources) is an environmental crime and provides for imprisonment and application of a fine!
After reading this text, you already know, right? No more irregular burnings! Subscribe to InteraSolo and stay inside the news of Soil Science.
