Beyond annual budgets: carbon flux at different temporal scales in fire-prone Siberian Scots pine forests

Wirth, Christian; Czimczik, C. I.; Schulze, Ernst Detlef

doi:10.1034/j.1600-0889.2002.01343.x

Cited by 83 publications

(63 citation statements)

References 47 publications

(71 reference statements)

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“…The latter can reach 97% of the aboveground biomass in grassland ecosystems and from 72% to 84% in forest-type ecosystems (Kauffman et al 1994). By contrast, recalcitrant charcoal production has been estimated to range from 0.6% to 8%, with most estimates below 2.5% (Kuhlbusch and Crutzen 1995;Fearnside et al 1999Fearnside et al , 2001Wirth et al 2002b;Czimczik et al 2003). Despite this low production rate, previous studies showed that pyrogenic carbon is abundant in some soils (Glaser and Amelung 2003).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 92%

Fire impact on C and N losses and charcoal production in a scrub oak ecosystem

Alexis¹,

Rasse

Rumpel³

et al. 2006

Biogeochemistry

116

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Fire profoundly modifies the terrestrial C cycle of about 40% of the Earth's land surface. The immediate effect of fire is that of a net loss of C as CO 2 gas and soot particles to the atmosphere. Nevertheless, a proportion of the ecosystem biomass is converted into charcoal, which contains highly recalcitrant molecular structures that contribute to long-term C storage. The present study aimed to assess simultaneously losses to the atmosphere and charcoal production rates of C and N compounds as a result of prescription fire in a Florida scrub-oak ecosystem. Pre-fire and postfire charred and unburned organic matter stocks were determined for vegetation leaves and stems, litter and soil in 20 sub-plots installed in a 30-ha area that was subjected to prescribed fire. Concentrations of C and N were determined, and fluxes among pools and to the atmosphere were derived from these measurements. Soil C and N stocks were unchanged by the fire. Post-fire standing dead biomass contained 30% and 12% of pre-fire vegetation C and N stocks, respectively. In litter, post-fire stocks contained 64% and 83% of pre-fire C and N stocks, respectively. Most of the difference in relative losses between vegetation and litter could be attributed to substantial litter fall of charred and unburned leaves during the fire event. Indeed, an estimated 21% of pre-fire vegetation leaf C was found in the post-fire litter, while the remaining 79% was lost to the atmosphere. About 3/4 of the fire-induced leaf litter fall was in the form of unburned tissue and the remainder was charcoal, which amounted to 5% of pre-fire leaf C stocks. Charcoal production ranged between 4% and 6% of the fireaffected biomass, i.e. the sum of charcoal production and atmospheric losses. This value is below the range of literature values for the transformation of plant tissue into stable soil organic matter through humification processes, which suggests that fire generates a smaller quantity of stable organic C than humification processes over decades and potentially centuries.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 92%

Fire impact on C and N losses and charcoal production in a scrub oak ecosystem

Alexis¹,

Rasse

Rumpel³

et al. 2006

Biogeochemistry

116

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“…Cerrado sites used by Miranda et al (1997) received annual rainfall of 1,550 mm per annum, with a 6-8 month wet season and LAI (1.4-0.62 wet to dry season), similar to sites of the current study and the values of NEP are comparable for these two savannas. These values of NEP also comparable to Sahelian fallow savanna (0.32 ton C ha 1 year 1 , Hanan et al 1998), Amazonian rainforest (1 ton C ha 1 year 1 , Grace et al 1995 and 5.9 ton C ha 1 year 1 , Malhi et al 1999), European temperate deciduous forest (2-5 ton C ha 1 year 1 , Goulden et al 1996;Greco and Baldocchi 1996, 5.9 ton C ha 1 year 1 Malhi et al 1999), eastern North American deciduous forests (0.7 to 3.2 ton C ha 1 year 1 , Curtis et al 2002) and Siberian Scots pine forests (0.19-1.36 ton C ha 1 year 1 , Wirth et al 2002). Given an LAI that ranges from 0.8 to 2.5, comparative studies cited above suggest that an NEP of approximately 3 ton C ha 1 year 1 as reported for this study is relatively high.…”

Section: Seasonal Patterns Carbon Sink Strengthmentioning

confidence: 99%

Carbon balance of a tropical savanna of northern Australia

2003

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Through estimations of above- and below-ground standing biomass, annual biomass increment, fine root production and turnover, litterfall, canopy respiration and total soil CO(2) efflux, a carbon balance on seasonal and yearly time-scales is developed for a Eucalypt open-forest savanna in northern Australia. This carbon balance is compared to estimates of carbon fluxes derived from eddy covariance measurements conducted at the same site. The total carbon (C) stock of the savanna was 204+/-53 ton C ha(-1), with approximately 84% below-ground and 16% above-ground. Soil organic carbon content (0-1 m) was 151+/-33 ton C ha(-1), accounting for about 74% of the total carbon content in the ecosystem. Vegetation biomass was 53+/-20 ton C ha(-1), 39% of which was found in the root component and 61% in above-ground components (trees, shrubs, grasses). Annual gross primary production was 20.8 ton C ha(-1), of which 27% occurred in above-ground components and 73% below-ground components. Net primary production was 11 ton C ha(-1) year(-1), of which 8.0 ton C ha(-1) (73%) was contributed by below-ground net primary production and 3.0 ton C ha(-1) (27%) by above-ground net primary production. Annual soil carbon efflux was 14.3 ton C ha(-1) year(-1). Approximately three-quarters of the carbon flux (above-ground, below-ground and total ecosystem) occur during the 5-6 months of the wet season. This savanna site is a carbon sink during the wet season, but becomes a weak source during the dry season. Annual net ecosystem production was 3.8 ton C ha(-1) year(-1).

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“…However, over shorter timescales, following significant disturbance events, the CWD pool generated by the disturbance event will decrease through decomposition, as the aboveground biomass of new and surviving trees increases as the forest recovers. Thus, carbon emissions from the CWD pool can temporarily offset carbon sequestration in the biomass of living trees (Wirth et al 2002;Rice et al 2004). Quantifying stocks and fluxes of CWD helps to inform us about the recent disturbance history of a site, and thus helps to assess whether repeated measurements of the aboveground biomass are likely to reflect changes in the total carbon stocks of the forest.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Low stocks of coarse woody debris in a southwest Amazonian forest

et al. 2007

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The stocks and dynamics of coarse woody debris (CWD) are significant components of the carbon cycle within tropical forests. However, to date, there have been no reports of CWD stocks and fluxes from the approximately 1.3 million km(2) of lowland western Amazonian forests. Here, we present estimates of CWD stocks and annual CWD inputs from forests in southern Peru. Total stocks were low compared to other tropical forest sites, whether estimated by line-intercept sampling (24.4 +/- 5.3 Mg ha(-1)) or by complete inventories within 11 permanent plots (17.7 +/- 2.4 Mg ha(-1)). However, annual inputs, estimated from long-term data on tree mortality rates in the same plots, were similar to other studies (3.8 +/- 0.2 or 2.9 +/- 0.2 Mg ha(-1) year(-1), depending on the equation used to estimate biomass). Assuming the CWD pool is at steady state, the turnover time of coarse woody debris is low (4.7 +/- 2.6 or 6.1 +/- 2.6 years). These results indicate that these sites have not experienced a recent, large-scale disturbance event and emphasise the distinctive, rapid nature of carbon cycling in these western Amazonian forests.

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Beyond annual budgets: carbon flux at different temporal scales in fire-prone Siberian Scots pine forests

Cited by 83 publications

References 47 publications

Fire impact on C and N losses and charcoal production in a scrub oak ecosystem

Fire impact on C and N losses and charcoal production in a scrub oak ecosystem

Carbon balance of a tropical savanna of northern Australia

Low stocks of coarse woody debris in a southwest Amazonian forest

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