Wildfire effects on stream food webs and nutrient dynamics in Glacier National Park, USA

摘要

We documented immediate and mid-term (5 years) impacts on streams from a large (15,500 ha) wildfire in northwestern Montana. Fire-related impacts were ecosystem-wide, extending from water chemistry to fish. During the initial firestorm, phosphorus and nitrogen levels increased 5- to 60-fold above background levels resulting from aerial deposition from smoke and ash. Nutrients returned to background concentrations within several weeks after the fire. During subsequent years, nutrient concentrations periodically increased in fire-impacted sites compared to reference sites, especially during spring run-off.