Nutrients flow from runoff at burned forest site in Lake Tahoe Basin

Abstract

The long-term trend toward decreased water clarity in Lake Tahoe is well documented, and is strongly linked to increased nitrogen and phosphorus loading from surrounding watersheds. Recent research has detected very high concentrations of biologically available nitrogen and phosphorus in overland/litter interflow from Sierra ecosystems. The objective of this study was to assess the effect of a localized wildfire on the nutrient content of such runoff. The wildfire increased the frequency and magnitude of elevated nutrient concentrations in discharge runoff for all three parameters studied (nitrate nitrogen, ammonium nitrogen and phosphate phosphorus). Although the mobilization of nutrients was increased due to wildfire, the lack of O horizon material (the surface organic layers of mineral soils) after burning may ultimately reduce discharge concentrations over time.