Fire severity effects on soil carbon and nutrients and microbial processes in a Siberian larch forest

Global Change Biology
Sarah M LudwigRoger W Ruess

Abstract

Fire frequency and severity are increasing in tundra and boreal regions as climate warms, which can directly affect climate feedbacks by increasing carbon (C) emissions from combustion of the large soil C pool and indirectly via changes in vegetation, permafrost thaw, hydrology, and nutrient availability. To better understand the direct and indirect effects of changing fire regimes in northern ecosystems, we examined how differences in soil burn severity (i.e., extent of soil organic matter combustion) affect soil C, nitrogen (N), and phosphorus (P) availability and microbial processes over time. We created experimental burns of three fire severities (low, moderate, and high) in a larch forest in the northeastern Siberian Arctic and analyzed soils at 1, 8 days, and 1 year postfire. Labile dissolved C and N increased with increasing soil burn severity immediately (1 day) postfire by up to an order of magnitude, but declined significantly 1 week later; both variables were comparable or lower than unburned soils by 1 year postfire. Soil burn severity had no effect on P in the organic layer, but P increased with increasing severity in mineral soil horizons. Most extracellular enzyme activities decreased by up to 70% with increasing...Continue Reading

References

Nov 22, 2000·The Science of the Total Environment·M D FlanniganB M Wotton
Oct 16, 2010·Ecological Applications : a Publication of the Ecological Society of America·Leslie A BobyJill F Johnstone
Oct 18, 2013·Global Change Biology·Hannah TobermanJames J Elser
Apr 10, 2015·Nature·E A G SchuurJ E Vonk

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