Exploring the inclusion of soil management practices in erosion models towards the improvement of post-fire predictions
The aim of the study was to integrate pre-fire land management practices into erosion models, to enhance post-fire sediment losses predictions at slope scale. These models were adapted to account the impacts of different management options, specifically no plowing, downslope-plowing and contour-plowing, on the erosive response following a wildfire.
The results revealed fluctuations in the performance of both models across different soil management, and over time since the wildfire. These results demonstrate that the best model performances are achieved when soil management is individualized and analyzed independently. This study confirms that disturbances on topsoil, whether caused by wildfires or soil management operations, play key roles in driving change in soil erosion. Hence, integrating these factors into models is essential for providing relevant information for the development of mitigation and/or restoration strategies in areas at high risk of erosion.
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