Torrential rainfall events and wildland fires are one of the most important perturbations that affect the natural systems in mediterranean climatic area. In this paper we investigated the erosion response of a fire-prone community under torrential simulated rainfall event after experimental burning. Our results show that shrubs cover controls eff iciently the erosion processes also under extreme rainfall event as we simulated (soil eroded between 20 y 60 Mg ha- 1) . hen plant shrubs cover disappeared by burning soil erosion increased noticeably (values of soil eroded between 300 y 8420 Mg ha- 1). We have found a high variability in sediment on burned soil and we suggest that spatial variability of soil erosion in burned areas can be explained by fire severity. Finally, persistence of organic remnants seems to be dependent on fire severity, and these seem to control the erosion processes after fire.
