Changes in the Pools of Total and Labile Soil Organic Carbon during Post-Fire Succession in the Khibiny Mountain Tundra Ecosystems

Maslov, M. N.; Маслова, О. А.; Kopeina, Ekaterina

doi:10.1134/s1064229320030047

Cited by 11 publications

(2 citation statements)

References 31 publications

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“…First, losses are strongly mediated by fire severity through the consumption of organic matter (Schuur et al, 2003). Fire severity was relatively high for the fire investigated in Alaska (Mack et al, 2011) but intermediate in our study (Heim et al, 2021a), which may partly explain the lack of a strong effect in our study (Maslov et al, 2020).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 53%

Fire in lichen-rich subarctic tundra changes carbon and nitrogen cycling between ecosystem compartments but has minor effects on stocks

Heim¹,

Yurtaev

Bucharová

et al. 2022

Biogeosciences

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Abstract. Fires are predicted to increase in Arctic regions due to ongoing climate change. Tundra fires can alter carbon and nutrient cycling and release a substantial quantity of greenhouse gases with global consequences. Yet, the long-term effects of tundra fires on carbon (C) and nitrogen (N) stocks and cycling are still unclear. Here we used a space-for-time approach to investigate the long-term fire effects on C and N stocks and cycling in soil and aboveground living biomass. We collected data from three large fire scars (>44, 28, and 12 years old) and corresponding control areas and used linear mixed-effect models in a Bayesian framework to analyse long-term development of C and N stocks and cycling after fire. We found that tundra fires had no long-term effect on total C and N stocks because a major part of the stocks was located belowground in soils which were largely unaltered by fire. However, fire had a strong long-term effect on stocks in the aboveground vegetation, mainly due to the reduction in the lichen layer. Fire reduced N concentrations in graminoids and herbs on the younger fire scars, which affected respective C/N ratios and may indicate an increased post-fire competition between vascular plants. Aboveground plant biomass was depleted in 13C in all three fire scars. In soil, the relative abundance of 13C changed with time after fire. Our results indicate that in lichen-rich subarctic tundra ecosystems, the contribution of fires to the release of additional carbon to the atmosphere might be relatively small as soil stocks appear to be resilient within the observed time frame.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 53%

Fire in lichen-rich subarctic tundra changes carbon and nitrogen cycling between ecosystem compartments but has minor effects on stocks

Heim¹,

Yurtaev

Bucharová

et al. 2022

Biogeosciences

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…First, losses are strongly mediated by fire severity through the consumption of organic matter (Schuur et al, 2003). Fire severity was relatively high for the fire investigated in Alaska (Mack et al, 2011) but intermediate in our study (Heim et al, 2021), which may explain the lack of a strong effect in our study (Maslov et al, 2020). Second, the thickness of the soil organic matter plays an important role.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 59%

Fire in lichen-rich subarctic tundra changes carbon and nitrogen cycling between ecosystem compartments but has minor effects on stocks

Heim¹,

Yurtaev

Bucharová

et al. 2021

Preprint

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Abstract. Fires are predicted to increase in Arctic regions due to ongoing climate change. Tundra fires can alter carbon and nutrient cycling and release a substantial amount of greenhouse gases with global consequences. Yet, the long-term effects of tundra fires on carbon (C) and nitrogen (N) stocks and cycling are still unclear. Here we used a space-for-time approach to investigate the long-term fire effects on C and N stocks and cycling in soil and aboveground living biomass. We collected data from three large fire scars (> 44, 28 and 12 years old) and corresponding control areas and used linear mixed-effects models in a Bayesian framework to analyse how the stocks and cycling were influenced by fire. We found that tundra fires did not affect total C and N stocks because a major part of the stocks was located belowground in soils, which were largely unaltered by fire. However, fire had a strong effect on stocks in the aboveground vegetation, mainly due to the reduction of the lichen layer. Fire reduced N concentrations in graminoids and herbs on the younger fire scars, which affected respective C / N ratios and indicated an increased post-fire competition between vascular plants. Aboveground plant biomass was depleted in 13C in all three fire scars. This could be related to a lower 13C abundance in CO2 in the ambient air because of increased post-fire decomposition, providing a source of 13C-depleted CO2. In soil, the relative abundance of 13C changed with time after fire because of the combined effects of microbial decomposition and plant-related fractionation processes. Our results indicate that in lichen-rich subarctic tundra ecosystems, the contribution of fires to the release of additional carbon to the atmosphere might be relatively small as soil stocks appear to be resilient.

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Unraveling the impact of wildfires on permafrost ecosystems: Vulnerability, implications, and management strategies

Rebi,

Wang,

Irfan

et al. 2024

Journal of Environmental Management

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Changes in the Pools of Total and Labile Soil Organic Carbon during Post-Fire Succession in the Khibiny Mountain Tundra Ecosystems

Cited by 11 publications

References 31 publications

Fire in lichen-rich subarctic tundra changes carbon and nitrogen cycling between ecosystem compartments but has minor effects on stocks

Fire in lichen-rich subarctic tundra changes carbon and nitrogen cycling between ecosystem compartments but has minor effects on stocks

Fire in lichen-rich subarctic tundra changes carbon and nitrogen cycling between ecosystem compartments but has minor effects on stocks

Unraveling the impact of wildfires on permafrost ecosystems: Vulnerability, implications, and management strategies

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