Undisturbed moist and dry soil slabs collected from beneath two species of chaparral plants were burned at varying intensities in the laboratory. Treatment by intense burning over dry soil destroyed 67% of the total N and produced large amounts of NH 4 + . Treatment by intense and moderate burning over moist soil slabs removed only 25% of the total N, and a large portion of the remaining organic N was quickly ammonified after the fire by reinvading heterotrophic bacteria and later by fungi. All three burning treatments resulted in high levels of NH 4 + in the soil after the fire. Nitrosomonas group bacteria did not respond to these high levels of available NH 4 + , and the nitrification that occurred was attributed to heterotrophic nitrification.
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Dunn et al. (1979) studied this question.