Conversion of biomass to charcoal and the carbon mass balance from a slash-and-burn experiment in a temperate deciduous forest

Eckmeier, Eileen; Rösch, Manfred; Ehrmann, Otto; Schmidt, Michael W. I.; Schier, Wolfram; Gerlach, Renate

doi:10.1177/0959683607077041

Cited by 45 publications

(41 citation statements)

References 23 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…The percentage of the biomass converted to charcoal C is 8.1%, that is 5200 kg ha −1 left on the forest floor (Eckmeier et al, 2007). The incorporation of charcoal particles into the soil and their subsequent translocation was observed in thin-sections taken from different burning plots at the same experimental site.…”

Section: Incorporation Of Charcoal From the Forest Floor Into The Soimentioning

confidence: 96%

“…The temperatures in the soil during the burning were monitored at soil depths of 1, 2, 5 and 10 cm using six temperature p-values refer to control samples. 1 calculated with average C concentration (775 g kg −1 ) of charcoal particles in the litter layer (Eckmeier et al, 2007); 2 weighted average; 3 when normalized to the bulk density, the charcoal C concentrations change only in the bottom layer of the burnt 1yr sample set.…”

Section: Site Description and Burning Techniquementioning

confidence: 99%

“…The same experiment delivered data about the conversion of biomass fuel to charcoal during a slash-and-burn and the amount of charcoal left in the litter layer (Eckmeier et al, 2007).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 2 more Smart Citations

Minor changes in soil organic carbon and charcoal concentrations detected in a temperate deciduous forest a year after an experimental slash-and-burn

Eckmeier

Gerlach²,

Skjemstad

et al. 2007

Biogeosciences

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Abstract. Anthropogenic fires affected the temperate deciduous forests of Central Europe over millennia. Biomass burning releases carbon to the atmosphere and produces charcoal, which potentially contributes to the stable soil carbon pools and is an important archive of environmental history. The fate of charcoal in soils of temperate deciduous forests, i.e. the processes of charcoal incorporation and transportation and the effects on soil organic matter are still not clear. We investigated the effects of slash-and-burn at a longterm experimental burning site and determined soil organic carbon and charcoal carbon concentrations as well as the soil lightness of colour (L*) in the topmost soil material (0-1, 1-2.5 and 2.5-5 cm depths) before, immediately after the fire and one year later. The main results are that (i) only a few of the charcoal particles from the forest floor were incorporated into the soil matrix, presumably by soil mixing animals. In the 0-1 cm layer, during one year, the charcoal C concentration increased only by 0.4 g kg −1 and the proportion of charcoal C to SOC concentration increased from 2.8 to 3.4%; (ii) the SOC concentrations did not show any significant differences; (iii) soil lightness decreased significantly in the topmost soil layer and correlated well with the concentrations of charcoal C (r=−0.87**) and SOC (r=−0.94**) in the samples from the 0-5 cm layer. We concluded that Holocene biomass burning could have influenced soil charcoal concentrations and soil colour.

show abstract

Section: Incorporation Of Charcoal From the Forest Floor Into The Soimentioning

confidence: 96%

Section: Site Description and Burning Techniquementioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Minor changes in soil organic carbon and charcoal concentrations detected in a temperate deciduous forest a year after an experimental slash-and-burn

Eckmeier

Gerlach²,

Skjemstad

et al. 2007

Biogeosciences

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…The production of charcoal measured by physical determination and consumption of experimentally placed wood in experimental and prescribed fires ranges from 0.4-8.1% of the fuels consumed [17,18,25,26]. Production of charcoal in a Wyoming wildfire was about 8% of coarse woody debris consumed, as estimated from post-fire observations of volumetric conversion of wood to charcoal or visual determination of charcoal on the forest floor [26].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Long and Short-Term Effects of Fire on Soil Charcoal of a Conifer Forest in Southwest Oregon

Pingree

Homann

Morrissette

et al. 2012

Forests

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Abstract:In 2002, the Biscuit Wildfire burned a portion of the previously established, replicated conifer unthinned and thinned experimental units of the Siskiyou Long-Term Ecosystem Productivity (LTEP) experiment, southwest Oregon. Charcoal C in pre and post-fire O horizon and mineral soil was quantified by physical separation and a peroxide-acid digestion method. The abrupt, short-term fire event caused O horizon charcoal C to increase by a factor of ten to >200 kg C ha −1

show abstract

“…When they are small enough, they will be browsed by earthworms, thereby becoming even smaller and being dislocated into deeper soil layers. The final fate of the charcoal still needs to be studied during long-term observations (Eckmeier, et al [36]). …”

Section: After the Harvestmentioning

confidence: 99%

Late Neolithic Agriculture in Temperate Europe—A Long-Term Experimental Approach

Rösch

Biester

Bogenrieder

et al. 2017

Land

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Long-term slash-and-burn experiments, when compared with intensive tillage without manuring, resulted in a huge data set relating to potential crop yields, depending on soil quality, crop type, and agricultural measures. Cultivation without manuring or fallow phases did not produce satisfying yields, and mono-season cropping on freshly cleared and burned plots resulted in rather high yields, comparable to those produced during modern industrial agriculture -at least ten-fold the ones estimated for the medieval period. Continuous cultivation on the same plot, using imported wood from adjacent areas as fuel, causes decreasing yields over several years. The high yield of the first harvest of a slash-and-burn agriculture is caused by nutrient input through the ash produced and mobilization from the organic matter of the topsoil, due to high soil temperatures during the burning process and higher topsoil temperatures due to the soil's black surface. The harvested crops are pure, without contamination of any weeds. Considering the amount of work required to fight weeds without burning, the slash-and-burn technique yields much better results than any other tested agricultural approach. Therefore, in dense woodland, without optimal soils and climate, slash-and-burn agriculture seems to be the best, if not the only, feasible method to start agriculture, for example, during the Late Neolithic, when agriculture expanded from the loess belt into landscapes less suitable for agriculture. Extensive and cultivation with manuring is more practical in an already-open landscape and with a denser population, but its efficiency in terms of the ratio of the manpower input to food output, is worse. Slash-and-burn agriculture is not only a

show abstract

Conversion of biomass to charcoal and the carbon mass balance from a slash-and-burn experiment in a temperate deciduous forest

Cited by 45 publications

References 23 publications

Minor changes in soil organic carbon and charcoal concentrations detected in a temperate deciduous forest a year after an experimental slash-and-burn

Minor changes in soil organic carbon and charcoal concentrations detected in a temperate deciduous forest a year after an experimental slash-and-burn

Long and Short-Term Effects of Fire on Soil Charcoal of a Conifer Forest in Southwest Oregon

Late Neolithic Agriculture in Temperate Europe—A Long-Term Experimental Approach

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About