Anthropogenic fires have varying effects on the oak-dominated forests of the Zagros Mountains in western Iran. The objective of this project was to investigate the effects of fire on various components of soil. For this purpose three homogeneous and neighboring sites were inspected. | Turkish Journal of Agriculture and Forestry Research Article Turk J Agric For (2016) 40: 109-119 © TÜBİTAK doi: tar-1406-61 Impacts of two spatially and temporally isolated anthropogenic fire events on soils of oak-dominated Zagros forests of Iran Javad MIRZAEI* Department of Forest Science, Faculty of Agriculture, University of Ilam, Ilam, Iran Received: Accepted/Published Online: Final Version: Abstract: Anthropogenic fires have varying effects on the oak-dominated forests of the Zagros Mountains in western Iran. The objective of this project was to investigate the effects of fire on various components of soil. For this purpose three homogeneous and neighboring sites were inspected. Site A was the unburned control. Sites B and C experienced fires about 2 and 8 years prior to the study, respectively. In comparison to the control, site B showed a decline in organic matter content ( ± vs. ± ), N amount ( ± vs. ± ), litter depth ( ± cm vs. ± cm), germinated seedlings (272 ± 40 vs. 75 ± 25), earthworm biomass ( g/kg vs. g/kg), and plant diversity ( ± vs. ± ). An increase was observed for pH ( ± vs. ± ), Ca ( ± 34 vs. 855 ± ), bulk density ( ± vs. ± ), the number of arbuscular mycorrhiza (AM) spores, and stump sprouting (1645 ± 533 and 3425 ± 491). Site C showed a similar decrease in organic matter content, N amount, litter depth, germinated seedlings, and earthworm biomass. However, plant diversity was greatly increased at site C, demonstrating that the conditions were better for plant life 8 years after the fire event. Thus, the number of germinated seedlings was lower than that of the control, while stump sprouting (4170 ± 452 per ha) was the greatest. The AM spore count was higher at site B in comparison to site C, indicating that fire had caused
