WE Web Ecology WE Web Ecol. 1399-1183 Oikos Editorial Office Göttingen, Germany 10.5194/we-8-30-2008 Effect of two successive wildfires in <i>Pinus halepensis</i> stands of central Greece Goudelis G. 1 Ganatsas P. 2 Tsitsoni T. 2 Spanos Y. 3 Daskalakou E. 4 Technological Education Institute of Lamia, Dept. of Forestry, 36100 Karpenissi, Greece Aristotle Univ. of Thessaloniki, Faculty of Forestry, 54124 Thessaloniki, Greece Forest Research Institute, 57006 Vassilika, Thessaloniki, Greece Forest Research Institute, 11528 Terma Alkmanos, Athens, Greece 08 05 2008 8 1 30 34 Copyright: © 2008 G. Goudelis et al. 2008 This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License. To view a copy of this licence, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/ This article is available from https://we.copernicus.org/articles/8/30/2008/we-8-30-2008.html The full text article is available as a PDF file from https://we.copernicus.org/articles/8/30/2008/we-8-30-2008.pdf

We estimated differences, five years after a wildfire, in soil and vegetation between <i>Pinus halepensis</i> stands that were once burnt (1998) and stands that were burnt twice in a short time interval (1995 and 1998), in the area of Penteli, central Greece. The parameters monitored were the physical and chemical attributes of upper soil layer and the vegetation composition, density and height. The results showed that five years after the wildfire, soil pH did not differ between areas burnt once and twice, while the organic matter was higher in the once-burnt areas. The vegetation composition was similar in the two areas and the dominant species were those pre-existing the fire. On the contrary, vegetation density was considerably lower in the twice-burnt areas. The height of woody species oscillated in the same levels in the two areas. The plant community was composed mainly by resprouting species, like <i>Quercus coccifera</i>, <i>Pistacia lentiscus</i>, or <i>Phillyrea latifolia</i>, and less individuals from seed-regenerated species, like <i>Pinus halepensis</i>, <i>Cistus monspeliensis</i>, and <i>C. creticus</i>. It is suggested that the recurrence of wildfire affected negatively the ecosystem attributes, and contributed to the increased risk of degradation.