Carbon Storage Declines in Old Boreal Forests Irrespective of Succession Pathway

Taylor, Anthony R.; Searle, Eric B.; Kumar, Praveen; Ma, Zilong; Hume, Alexandra M.

doi:10.1007/s10021-017-0210-4

Cited by 32 publications

(26 citation statements)

References 59 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…Contrary to our expectations, we also found a significant but weak positive correlation between TSF and mineral soil C stocks. Together, these results indicate that the net C accumulation phase in the terrestrial pools of these forests goes beyond the aboveground aggradation phase, which is in agreement with Luyssaert et al (2008) and Zhou et al (2006), but in contradiction with Bormann and Likens (1979), Wardle et al (2004), and Gao et al (2017). Soil C pools (FH layer and top 35 cm of mineral soil) were found to represent as much as 77% of total ecosystem C stocks (Figure 4), whereas still not accounting for deeper soil stocks (Jobbagy & Jackson, 2000).…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 82%

Drivers of postfire soil organic carbon accumulation in the boreal forest

Andrieux

Béguin

Bergeron

et al. 2018

Global Change Biology

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The accumulation of soil carbon (C) is regulated by a complex interplay between abiotic and biotic factors. Our study aimed to identify the main drivers of soil C accumulation in the boreal forest of eastern North America. Ecosystem C pools were measured in 72 sites of fire origin that burned 2-314 years ago over a vast region with a range of ∆ mean annual temperature of 3°C and one of ∆ 500 mm total precipitation. We used a set of multivariate a priori causal hypotheses to test the influence of time since fire (TSF), climate, soil physico-chemistry and bryophyte dominance on forest soil organic C accumulation. Integrating the direct and indirect effects among abiotic and biotic variables explained as much as 50% of the full model variability. The main direct drivers of soil C stocks were: TSF >bryophyte dominance of the FH layer and metal oxide content >pH of the mineral soil. Only climate parameters related to water availability contributed significantly to explaining soil C stock variation. Importantly, climate was found to affect FH layer and mineral soil C stocks indirectly through its effects on bryophyte dominance and organo-metal complexation, respectively. Soil texture had no influence on soil C stocks. Soil C stocks increased both in the FH layer and mineral soil with TSF and this effect was linked to a decrease in pH with TSF in mineral soil. TSF thus appears to be an important factor of soil development and of C sequestration in mineral soil through its influence on soil chemistry. Overall, this work highlights that integrating the complex interplay between the main drivers of soil C stocks into mechanistic models of C dynamics could improve our ability to assess C stocks and better anticipate the response of the boreal forest to global change.

show abstract

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 82%

Drivers of postfire soil organic carbon accumulation in the boreal forest

Andrieux

Béguin

Bergeron

et al. 2018

Global Change Biology

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…The depletion of soil carbon in older plantations suggested that substantial carbon release from soil may even offset carbon supply from vegetation (Hartley et al, 2012;Perez-Quezada, Delpiano, Snyder, Johnson, & Franck, 2011). Some studies observed that afforestation on former agricultural land was not necessarily increased SOC, instead a decrease in SOC during late succession (Gao et al, 2017;Perez-Quezada et al, 2011).…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Therefore, it remains to be observed how long this decline phase persists and at what point do old plantations achieve a new equilibrium state (Gao et al, 2017).…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Does Caragana korshinskii plantation increase soil carbon continuously in a water‐limited landscape on the Loess Plateau, China?

Chai

et al. 2019

Land Degrad Dev

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Although afforestation of nitrogen‐fixing shrubs, especially Caragana korshinskii in semiarid areas, is expected to improve ecosystem restoration and carbon sequestration, water shortage induced by these thirsty shrubs may negate potential benefits. Yet there is poor understating of the persistence of soil carbon sequestration in nitrogen‐fixing shrub plantations. Here, we selected three C. korshinskii plantations with different ages (10, 20, and 30 years) on the Loess Plateau to evaluate the persistence of soil carbon sink. We examined dynamics of soil carbon, total nitrogen, and soil water, as well as their relationships along the plantation ages. The results showed that soil organic carbon (SOC) and soil total nitrogen (STN) were tightly coupled. SOC, STN, and soil water stocks (0–100 cm) were significantly decreased by 23.9%, 19.9%, and 29.2% from 10 to 30 years, respectively. The reduction of SOC and STN was likely caused by lowered intercanopy herbaceous productivity due to soil drying and intensified competition from shrubs. We present evidence that the positive carbon sequestration by afforestation of leguminous shrub in short term may be further weakened by water shortage, making our ability to restore degraded land in semiarid regions more challenging than previously thought. Therefore, it is essential to improve management of afforestation land such as thinning for maintaining SOC sequestration persistently in water‐limited areas.

show abstract

“…The postfire AC pool is not only transient, but also resilient from a broad temporal perspective (Gao et al, ; Mack et al, ; Wirth et al, ). Resilience is the capacity for a system to reorganize and recover to its previous state (Johnstone et al, ; Seidl et al, ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Dynamics of Postfire Aboveground Carbon in a Chronosequence of Chinese Boreal Larch Forests

Yang

Cai²,

Yang

et al. 2018

JGR Biogeosciences

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Boreal forests store a large proportion of the global terrestrial carbon (C), while wildfire plays a crucial role in determining their C storage and dynamics. The aboveground C (AC) pool is an important component of forest C stocks. To quantify the turning point (transforming from C source to C sink) and recovery time of postfire AC, and assess how stand density affects the AC, 175 plots from eight stand age classes were surveyed as a chronosequence in the Great Xing'an Mountains of Northeast China. Linear and nonlinear regression analyses were conducted to describe postfire AC recovery patterns. The results showed that (1) postfire AC exhibited a skewed U-shaped pattern with the turning point at approximately year 30, when the change rate of AC shifted from negative to positive, (2) it took more than 120 years for this forest ecosystem to recover 80% of AC in unburned old-growth (200 years) stands, and (3) there was an overall positive relationship between AC and stand density over the entire range of stand age classes; and such relationship was stronger during the early-and late-successional stages, but weaker (p > 0.05) during the midsuccessional stage. Although boreal larch forests have been C sinks under historical fire free intervals, predicted increases in fire frequency could potentially shift it to a C source. Understanding postfire AC dynamics in boreal larch forests is central to predicting C cycling response to wildfire and provides a framework for assessing ecosystem resilience to disturbance in this region. Plain Language SummaryBoreal forests store more than 32% of total global forest carbon (C), but this C pool is very susceptible to wildfires which are one of the most pervasive disturbances in the boreal biome. Identifying the dynamic trajectory and recovery pattern of postfire aboveground C (AC) storage is crucial for understanding the global ecological significance of wildfire disturbance. A total of 175 plots from eight stand age classes were surveyed in the Great Xing'an Mountains of Northeast China to quantify ecological resilience, and further examine the relationship between various components of AC and stand density throughout successional stages. Our data analysis showed that the AC pool could be a C source to the atmosphere for several decades following fire disturbances; and it would take more than a century for the AC to recover 80% of that in old-growth boreal larch forests in Northeastern China. Increases in fire frequency due to climate change and human activities will increase C emission, which may significantly influence the regional C budget. Stand density was considered as a positive factor on AC accumulation following wildfire, but this effect may be counteracted by variation in tree size due to site productivity in other successional stages. Key Points:• Postfire dynamics of aboveground carbon storage were depicted over a 200-year chronosequence in boreal larch forests • Aboveground carbon transformed from a source to a sink after 30 years, and it took over 120 years to recov...

show abstract

Carbon Storage Declines in Old Boreal Forests Irrespective of Succession Pathway

Cited by 32 publications

References 59 publications

Drivers of postfire soil organic carbon accumulation in the boreal forest

Drivers of postfire soil organic carbon accumulation in the boreal forest

Does Caragana korshinskii plantation increase soil carbon continuously in a water‐limited landscape on the Loess Plateau, China?

Dynamics of Postfire Aboveground Carbon in a Chronosequence of Chinese Boreal Larch Forests

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About