On old nutrient-depleted dunes fire causes net nutrient loss and irreversible biomass decline

Evidence

A particularly telling example of the role of the resource base in determining the impact of disturbance appears in the ancient primary succession on sand dune systems in eastern Australia (Walker et aL, 1981). During this long succession, nutrients are reduced overall and are leached below the rooting depth. Early in the succession, fire and other disturbances might cause a pulse of available nutrients, while on the very oldest dunes, fire might cause a net loss of nutrients and the biomass of the system vegetation might not recover to predisturbance levels (Walk­ er et aL, 1981). — S. T. A. Pickett and P. S. White, eds., The Ecology of Natural Disturbance and…, 2260