01948naa a2200265 a 450000100080000000500110000800800410001910000170006024500940007726000090017152013080018065000120148865000090150065000130150965000110152265000130153365300140154665300150156065300110157565300110158665300090159765300140160665300100162077300520163017860312017-04-05       1971    bl ---       0--  u    #d1 aLLOYD, P. S.  aEffects of fire on the chemical status of herbaceous communities of the derbyshire dales.  c1971  aFire in a plant community causes alterations in the chemical status of the community and in the availability of nutrients in the soil. These changes have been followed in an experimental study of grassland and tall herb communities on the Carboniferous Limestone of Derbyshire. Substantial losses of nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium occur in the smoke. Potassium is readly leached from plant ash, but phosphorus and calcium are more sparingly soluble. Both principal soil types appear to adsorb the salts leached from ash and there are unlikely to be significant chemical losses from the system in the drainage water. Potassium from the ash is readily available for plant uptake but the nutritional effect of ash is not sufficient to simulate plant growth. The only nutritional responses to burning detected in the communities studied are a shorth-lived increase in phosphorus concentration in plant tissues and in one case an increase in nitrogen. These occured during the first season after a fire in a tall herb community and during the second and third seasons in drier, grassland communities. It is concluded that the effects of fire in respect of plant nutrition are unimportant in the ecology of these communities relative to damage caused to plants and alterations in the physical environment.  aburning  aFogo  aPastagem  aPlanta  aQueimada  aCommunity  aComunidade  aEfeito  aEffect  aFire  aGrassland  aPlant  tJournal of Ecologygv.59, n.3, p.261-273, 1971.