4.5 Limitations
Finally, we note that study design strongly influences the results of
meta-analyses, including site selection and geographic extent
(Hampton et al., 2022;
Raoelison et al., 2023; Rust et al., 2018). The use of a pseudo yield
metric in our study to calculate the effect of wildfire on in-stream
solute concentrations by incorporating watershed areas of burned and
unburned watersheds was required as hydrologic information was largely
lacking from published studies. Further, recent cautions on study
designs highlighted by Richardson et al. (2024) indicate the importance
of reference-burn pairs controlling for watershed size and catchment
characteristics, which may result in drastically different conclusions
about the impact of wildfires on stream chemistry based on comparisons
with just concentrations alone. Additionally, global systems largely
affected by fires such as South America and Africa are not well
represented in the literature and are largely absent from existing
meta-analyses on water quality impacts of wildfires (e.g.,
Hampton et al., 2022;
Raoelison et al., 2023; Rust et al., 2018). As fires become more
frequent and more severe in many biomes globally, further understanding
of the mechanisms contributing to fire effects representing all
fire-prone ecosystems is necessary to better predict the cumulative
biogeochemical effects of wildfires on aquatic ecosystems.