Our FESP⁵ Student Grant Awardees

The organising committee of the 5th International Conference of Fire Effects on Soil Properties (FESP5) is pleased to offer seven student grants:

• three International Association of Wildland Fire student grants
• three FESP⁵ student grants
• Paul Charland student grant

These grants aim to support Master and PhD students in the conference fee cost and accommodation in Dublin. Grant holders will have the opportunity to participate in the conference organization tasks (secretary, delivery of conference material, support of participants, etc.) and to contact with top-level researchers during the conference.

International Association of Wildland Fire Student Grants

The research was done to investigate the fire effects on soil and biologic characteristics of District Three of Neka-Zalemroud forests. Soil characteristics include soil moisture and soil ingredient percent and biologic characteristics include leaf litter moisture and depth, grass coverage percent and fallen trees. Results of the research showed that a significant relation between average of soil moisture, clay percent, sand percent, leaf litter moisture, leaf litter depth and grass coverage percent in the burned and unburned areas.

Xinyan Huang is a third year PhD student in the Department of Mechanical Engineering, Imperial College London, supervised by Dr Guillermo Rein. His PhD thesis focuses both experimental and computational studies on smouldering fires of peat, the largest fire on the earth, including chemical kinetics, fire dynamics, and emissions.

My research and field experience centers on hydrological processes in forest catchments, including hydrological inter-connectivity between response units and erosion/sedimentation processes, with special focus on mechanized soil operations after wildfire and thus soil erosion mitigation.

My scientific interests: 1) Effects of post-fire management for new forest plantations on soil functions and biota-mediated ecosystem services; 2) Short-term and long-term effects of terracing for new forest plantations on soil quality; 3) Assess cost-effective techniques to mitigate/reduce the terracing effects

FESP⁵ Student Grants

Glomalin Related Soil Protein (GRSP), a glycoprotein produce primarily by arbuscular Mycorrhizal Fungi, is known to be very sensitive to ecosystems perturbations. In this research, the response of GRSP to the presence/absence of ashes and a simulated infiltration have been studied. Preliminary results indicate that GRSP is sensitive to soil treatments after wildfires and then, it could be useful as indicator of the effectiveness of post-fire treatments.

My research topic is about the long-term effects of prescribed fires in soil properties and its importance for a forest management. It is important to know that soils are important in our lives to perform specific functions for the smooth functioning of our ecosystem and they are sometimes neglected.

This research is focused on exploring how ambient relative humidity and temperature affect on soil water repellency (SWR) and on contact angle (CA) of a pre-heated Mediterranean calcareous soil under laboratory conditions and try to understand the possible implications. Preliminary results showed that SWR increased with the RH and also with heating temperatures.

Paul Charland Student Grant

My actual research is focused in the fire effects in hydrological processes and soil properties in forest catchments, including forest fire effects on quantity and quality of soil organic carbon and the resulting hydrologic export of dissolved organic matter and sediments from headwater catchments.