Rapid recovery of net ecosystem production in a semi-arid woodland after a wildfire

Sun, Qiang; Meyer, Wayne S.; Marschner, Petra

doi:10.1016/j.agrformet.2020.108099

Cited by 24 publications

(16 citation statements)

References 42 publications

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“…This is consistent with site‐level observations showing that rainfall is an important driver of the rate of biomass recovery (Q. Sun et al., 2020; Volkova et al., 2019). Under cool‐wet conditions, similar to the 2010–2011 La Niña event, carbon recovery could be rapid (within a decade).…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 90%

The Carbon Cycle of Southeast Australia During 2019–2020: Drought, Fires, and Subsequent Recovery

et al. 2021

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Extreme drought and heat events can result in single-year carbon losses equal to many years of carbon sequestration (Bastos et al., 2014;Ciais et al., 2005). Hot-dry conditions can directly suppress both gross primary productivity (GPP) and ecosystem respiration (TER), with greater suppression of GPP leading to carbon loss (Reichstein et al., 2007;Sippel et al., 2018). These conditions also dry fuels, increase litterfall, and elevate levels of tree mortality, all of which may trigger additional carbon losses by means of wildfire (Abram et al., 2020; D. M. J. S. Bowman et al., 2009). Impacted ecosystems often experience legacy effects that can impact the carbon cycling for years after the extreme events have passed (Batllori et al., 2020;Frank et al., 2015;Lindenmayer et al., 2021). Southeast Australia (Figure 1) has a highly variable climate (Harris & Lucas, 2019;King et al., 2020), and frequently experiences both drought and fire. In fact, this susceptibility to fire has been a key factor in the evolution of the regional flora and fauna, acting as a process of disturbance and also regeneration (Bowman, 2000;

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 90%

The Carbon Cycle of Southeast Australia During 2019–2020: Drought, Fires, and Subsequent Recovery

et al. 2021

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“…Our results also raise the possibility that differences in the physiological capacity and response of species—in this case, anisohydric oaks versus isohydric pines—may have contributed to the stand‐level differences in ET in our study. The extent to which such individual species differences generally scale up to ecosystem level water relations deserves further attention (see, for example, Sun et al., 2020).…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Wildfire severity and vegetation recovery drive post‐fire evapotranspiration in a southwestern pine‐oak forest, Arizona, USA

Poulos

Barton

Koch

et al. 2021

Remote Sens Ecol Conserv

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Post‐fire stand water balance is a critical factor influencing tree regeneration and survival, which are often modulated by fire severity. We examined influences of the post‐fire vegetation matrix and fire severity on diurnal, seasonal, and multi‐year variation in evapotranspiration (ET) by analyzing the relationship between post‐fire vegetation and ECOsystem Spaceborne Thermal Radiometer Experiment on the International Space Station (ECOSTRESS) ET data using multivariate and linear mixed effects modeling. Unlike many high‐severity fire sites where ET drops after burning, post‐fire ET was high at shrubland sites that burned at high fire severity in southern Arizona, USA. In this study, post‐fire ET was driven by plant species composition and tree canopy cover. ET was significantly higher in the morning and midday in densely vegetated post‐fire shrublands than pine‐dominated forests that remained 5–7 years after wildfire. Our results demonstrate that plant functional traits such as resprouting and desiccation tolerance drive post‐fire ET patterns, and they are likely to continue to play critical roles in shaping post‐fire plant communities and forest water cycling under future environmental change.

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“…Fire in a tall eucalypt forest in southwest Tasmania switched the ecosystem to a net CO 2 source for the first year post‐fire, despite the survival of canopy trees and prolific seedling regeneration (Wardlaw, 2021). In mallee ecosystems of South Australia, which consist of several species of multi‐stemmed Eucalyptus , it can take over 3 years post‐fire before net ecosystem productivity (NEP = GPP‐ER) recovers to pre‐fire levels, despite fires having little effect on respiration or nutrient cycling (Sun et al, 2015, 2020). By contrast, NEP in mesic tropical savanna ecosystems of northern Australia returns to pre‐fire status in 3–4 months post‐fire (Beringer et al, 2007).…”

Section: Lesson 2 – Ecosystem Recovery From Disturbancementioning

confidence: 99%

Bridge to the future: Important lessons from 20 years of ecosystem observations made by the OzFlux network

Beringer

Moore

Cleverly

et al. 2022

Global Change Biology

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In 2020, the Australian and New Zealand flux research and monitoring network, OzFlux, celebrated its 20th anniversary by reflecting on the lessons learned through two decades of ecosystem studies on global change biology. OzFlux is a network not only for ecosystem researchers, but also for those ‘next users’ of the knowledge, information and data that such networks provide. Here, we focus on eight lessons across topics of climate change and variability, disturbance and resilience, drought and heat stress and synergies with remote sensing and modelling. In distilling the key lessons learned, we also identify where further research is needed to fill knowledge gaps and improve the utility and relevance of the outputs from OzFlux. Extreme climate variability across Australia and New Zealand (droughts and flooding rains) provides a natural laboratory for a global understanding of ecosystems in this time of accelerating climate change. As evidence of worsening global fire risk emerges, the natural ability of these ecosystems to recover from disturbances, such as fire and cyclones, provides lessons on adaptation and resilience to disturbance. Drought and heatwaves are common occurrences across large parts of the region and can tip an ecosystem's carbon budget from a net CO2 sink to a net CO2 source. Despite such responses to stress, ecosystems at OzFlux sites show their resilience to climate variability by rapidly pivoting back to a strong carbon sink upon the return of favourable conditions. Located in under‐represented areas, OzFlux data have the potential for reducing uncertainties in global remote sensing products, and these data provide several opportunities to develop new theories and improve our ecosystem models. The accumulated impacts of these lessons over the last 20 years highlights the value of long‐term flux observations for natural and managed systems. A future vision for OzFlux includes ongoing and newly developed synergies with ecophysiologists, ecologists, geologists, remote sensors and modellers.

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Rapid recovery of net ecosystem production in a semi-arid woodland after a wildfire

Cited by 24 publications

References 42 publications

The Carbon Cycle of Southeast Australia During 2019–2020: Drought, Fires, and Subsequent Recovery

The Carbon Cycle of Southeast Australia During 2019–2020: Drought, Fires, and Subsequent Recovery

Wildfire severity and vegetation recovery drive post‐fire evapotranspiration in a southwestern pine‐oak forest, Arizona, USA

Bridge to the future: Important lessons from 20 years of ecosystem observations made by the OzFlux network

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