Optimal Fire Regimes for Soil Carbon Storage in Tropical Savannas of Northern Australia

Modification of fire regimes in tropical savannas can have significant impacts on the global carbon (C) cycle, and therefore, on the climate system. In Australian tropical savannas, there has been recent, large-scale implementation of fire management that aims to decrease Kyoto-compliant non-CO₂ greenhouse gas emissions by reducing late dry season intense fires through strategic early dry season burning. However, there is no accounting for changes to soil C stocks resulting from changes to savanna fire management, although impacts on these pools may be considerable. We present a hypothesis that soil C storage is greatest under low intensity fires with an intermediate fire return interval. Simulations using the CENTURY Soil Organic Matter Model confirmed this hypothesis with greatest soil C storage under a fire regime of one low intensity fire every 5 years. Key areas of uncertainty for CENTURY model simulations include fine root dynamics, charcoal production and nitrogen (N) cycling, and better understanding of these processes could improve model predictions. Soil C stocks measured in the field after 5 years of annual, 3 year and unburned fire treatments were not significantly different (range 41–58 t ha⁻¹), but further CENTURY modelling suggests that changes in fire management will take up to 100 years to have a detectable impact (+4 t ha⁻¹) on soil C stocks. However, implementation of fire management that reduces fire frequency and intensity within the large area of intact savanna landscapes in northern Australia could result in emissions savings of 0.17 t CO₂-e ha⁻¹ y⁻¹, four times greater than reductions of non-CO₂ emissions.     

Negative fire feedback in a transitional forest of southeastern Amazonia

Anthropogenic understory fires affect large areas of tropical forest, particularly during severe droughts. Yet, the mechanisms that control tropical forests' susceptibility to fire remain ambiguous. We tested the widely accepted hypothesis that Amazon forest fires increase susceptibility to further burning by conducting a 150 ha fire experiment in a closed-canopy forest near the southeastern Amazon forest–savanna boundary. Forest flammability and its possible determinants were measured in adjacent 50 ha forest plots that were burned annually for 3 consecutive years (B3), once (B1), and not at all (B0). Contrary to expectation, an annual burning regime led to a decline in forest flammability during the third burn. Microclimate conditions were more favorable compared with the first burn (i.e. vapor pressure deficit increased and litter moisture decreased), yet flame heights declined and burned area halved. A slight decline in fine fuels after the second burn appears to have limited fire spread and intensity. Supporting this conclusion, fire spread rates doubled and burned area increased fivefold in B3 subplots that received fine fuel additions. Slow replacement of surface fine fuels in this forest may be explained by (i) low leaf litter production (4.3 Mg ha⁻¹ yr⁻¹), half that of other Amazon forests; and (ii) low fire-induced tree and liana mortality (5.5±0.5% yr⁻¹, SE, in B3), the lowest measured in closed-canopy Amazonian forests. In this transitional forest, where severe seasonal drought removed moisture constraints on fire propagation, a lack of fine fuels inhibited the intensity and spread of recurrent fire in a negative feedback. This reduction in flammability, however, may be short-lived if delayed tree mortality or treefall increases surface fuels in future years. This study highlights that understanding fuel input rate and timing relative to fire frequency is fundamental to predicting transitional forest flammability – which has important implications for carbon emissions and potential replacement by scrub vegetation.     

Landscape-Scale Simulation of Heterogeneous Fire Effects on Pyrogenic Carbon Emissions,Tree Mortality,and Net Ecosystem Production

Fire influences carbon dynamics from local to global scales, but many uncertainties remain regarding the remote detection and simulation of heterogeneous fire effects. This study integrates Landsat-based remote sensing and Biome-BGC process modeling to simulate the effects of high-, moderate-, and low-severity fire on pyrogenic emissions, tree mortality, and net ecosystem production. The simulation area (244,600 ha) encompasses four fires that burned approximately 50,000 ha in 2002–2003 across the Metolius Watershed, Oregon, USA, as well as in situ measurements of postfire carbon pools and fluxes that we use for model evaluation. Simulated total pyrogenic emissions were 0.732 Tg C (2.4% of equivalent statewide anthropogenic carbon emissions over the same 2-year period). The simulated total carbon transfer due to tree mortality was fourfold higher than pyrogenic carbon emissions, but dead wood decomposition will occur over decades. Immediately postfire, burned areas were a simulated carbon source (net C exchange: −0.076 Tg C y⁻¹; mean ± SD: −142 ± 121 g C m⁻² y⁻¹). As expected, high-severity, stand-replacement fire had disproportionate carbon impacts. The per-unit area effects of moderate-severity fire were substantial, however, and the extent of low-severity fire merits its inclusion in landscape-scale analyses. These results demonstrate the potential to reduce uncertainties in landscape to regional carbon budgets by leveraging Landsat-based fire products that account for both stand-replacement and partial disturbance.     

Climate and socioeconomic drivers of biomass burning and carbon emissions from fires in tropical dry forests: A Pantropical analysis

Global burned area has declined by nearly one quarter between 1998 and 2015. Drylands contain a large proportion of these global fires but there are important differences within the drylands, for example, savannas and tropical dry forests (TDF). Savannas, a biome fire-prone and fire-adapted, have reduced the burned area, while the fire in the TDF is one of the most critical factors impacting biodiversity and carbon emissions. Moreover, under climate change scenarios TDF is expected to increase its current extent and raise the risk of fires. Despite regional and global scale effects, and the influence of this ecosystem on the global carbon cycle, little effort has been dedicated to studying the influence of climate (seasonality and extreme events) and socioeconomic conditions of fire regimen in TDF. Here we use the Global Fire Emissions Database and, climate and socioeconomic metrics to better understand long-term factors explaining the variation in burned area and biomass in TDF at Pantropical scale. On average, fires affected 1.4% of the total TDF' area (60,208 km²) and burned 24.4% (259.6 Tg) of the global burned biomass annually at Pantropical scales. Climate modulators largely influence local and regional fire regimes. Inter-annual variation in fire regime is shaped by El Niño and La Niña. During the El Niño and the forthcoming year of La Niña, there is an increment in extension (35.2% and 10.3%) and carbon emissions (42.9% and 10.6%). Socioeconomic indicators such as land-management and population were modulators of the size of both, burned area and carbon emissions. Moreover, fires may reduce the capability to reach the target of “half protected species” in the globe, that is, high-severity fires are recorded in ecoregions classified as nature could reach half protected. These observations may contribute to improving fire-management.     

Savanna fires and their impact on net ecosystem productivity in North Australia

Savannas comprise a large area of the global land surface and are subject to frequent disturbance through fire. The role of fire as one of the primary natural carbon cycling mechanisms is a key issue in considering global change feedbacks. The savannas of Northern Australia burn regularly and we aimed to determine their annual net ecosystem productivity (NEP) and the impact of fire on productivity. We established a long‐term eddy covariance flux tower at Howard Springs, Australia and present here 5 years of data from 2001 to 2005. Fire has direct impacts through emissions but also has indirect effects through the loss of productivity due to reduced functional leaf area index and the carbon costs of rebuilding the canopy. The impact of fire on the canopy latent energy exchange was evident for 40 days while the canopy was rebuilt; however, the carbon balance took approximately 70 days to recover. The annual fire free NEP at Howard Springs was estimated at −4.3 t C ha⁻¹ yr⁻¹ with a range of −3.5 to −5.1 t C ha⁻¹ yr⁻¹ across years. We calculated the average annual indirect fire effect as +0.7 t C ha⁻¹ yr⁻¹ using a neural network model approach and estimated average emissions of fine and coarse fuels as +1.6 t C ha⁻¹ yr^‐1. This allowed us to calculate a net biome production of −2.0 t C ha⁻¹ yr^‐1. We then partitioned this remaining sink and suggest that most of this can be accounted for by woody increment (1.2 t C ha⁻¹ yr^‐1) and shrub encroachment (0.5 t C ha⁻¹ yr^‐1). Given the consistent sink at this site, even under an almost annual fire regime, there may be management options to increase carbon sequestration by reducing fire frequency.     

Low‐severity fire as a mechanism of organic matter protection in global peatlands: Thermal alteration slows decomposition

Worldwide, regularly recurring wildfires shape many peatland ecosystems to the extent that fire‐adapted species often dominate plant communities, suggesting that wildfire is an integral part of peatland ecology rather than an anomaly. The most destructive blazes are smoldering fires that are usually initiated in periods of drought and can combust entire peatland carbon stores. However, peatland wildfires more typically occur as low‐severity surface burns that arise in the dormant season when vegetation is desiccated, and soil moisture is high. In such low‐severity fires, surface layers experience flash heating, but there is little loss of underlying peat to combustion. This study examines the potential importance of such processes in several peatlands that span a gradient from hemiboreal to tropical ecozones and experience a wide range of fire return intervals. We show that low‐severity fires can increase the pool of stable soil carbon by thermally altering the chemistry of soil organic matter (SOM), thereby reducing rates of microbial respiration. Using X‐ray photoelectron spectroscopy and Fourier transform infrared, we demonstrate that low‐severity fires significantly increase the degree of carbon condensation and aromatization of SOM functional groups, particularly on the surface of peat aggregates. Laboratory incubations show lower CO₂ emissions from peat subjected to low‐severity fire and predict lower cumulative CO₂ emissions from burned peat after 1–3 years. Also, low‐severity fires reduce the temperature sensitivity (Q₁₀) of peat, indicating that these fires can inhibit microbial access to SOM. The increased stability of thermally altered SOM may allow a greater proportion of organic matter to survive vertical migration into saturated and anaerobic zones of peatlands where environmental conditions physiochemically protect carbon stores from decomposition for thousands of years. Thus, across latitudes, low‐severity fire is an overlooked factor influencing carbon cycling in peatlands, which is relevant to global carbon budgets as climate change alters fire regimes worldwide.     

Carbon dioxide emissions through oxidative peat decomposition on a burnt tropical peatland

In Southeast Asia, a huge amount of peat has accumulated under swamp forests over millennia. Fires have been widely used for land clearing after timber extraction, thus land conversion and land management with logging and drainage are strongly associated with fire activity. During recent El Niño years, tropical peatlands have been severely fire‐affected and peatland fires enlarged. To investigate the impact of peat fires on the regional and global carbon balances, it is crucial to assess not only direct carbon emissions through peat combustion but also oxidative peat decomposition after fires. However, there is little information on the carbon dynamics of tropical peat damaged by fires. Therefore, we continuously measured soil CO₂ efflux [peat respiration (RP)] through oxidative peat decomposition using six automated chambers on a burnt peat area, from which about 0.7 m of the upper peat had been lost during two fires, in Central Kalimantan, Indonesia. The RP showed a clear seasonal variation with higher values in the dry season. The RP increased logarithmically as groundwater level (GWL) lowered. Temperature sensitivity or Q₁₀ of RP decreased as GWL lowered, mainly because the vertical distribution of RP would shift downward with the expansion of an unsaturated soil zone. Although soil temperature at the burnt open area was higher than that in a near peat swamp forest, model simulation suggests that the effect of temperature rise on RP is small. Annual gap‐filled RP was 382 ± 82 (the mean ± 1 SD of six chambers) and 362 ± 74 gC m^?2 yr^?1 during 2004–2005 and during 2005–2006 years, respectively. Simulated RP showed a significant negative relationship with GWL on an annual basis, which suggests that every GWL lowering by 0.1 m causes additional RP of 89 gC m^?2 yr^?1. The RP accounted for 21–24% of ecosystem respiration on an annual basis.     

Carbon emissions from fires in tropical and subtropical ecosystems

Global carbon emissions from fires are difficult to quantify and have the potential to influence interannual variability and long‐term trends in atmospheric CO₂ concentrations. We used 4 years of Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) Visible and Infrared Scanner (VIRS) satellite data and a biogeochemical model to assess spatial and temporal variability of carbon emissions from tropical fires. The TRMM satellite data extended between 38°N and 38°S and covered the period from 1998 to 2001. A relationship between TRMM fire counts and burned area was derived using estimates of burned area from other satellite fire products in Africa and Australia and reported burned areas from the United States. We modified the Carnegie‐Ames‐Stanford‐Approach (CASA) biogeochemical model to account for both direct combustion losses and the decomposition from fire‐induced mortality, using both TRMM and Sea‐viewing Wide Field of view Sensor (SeaWiFS) satellite data as model drivers. Over the 1998–2001 period, we estimated that the sum of carbon emissions from tropical fires and fuel wood use was 2.6 Pg C yr^?1. An additional flux of 1.2 Pg C yr^?1 was released indirectly, as a result of decomposition of vegetation killed by fire but not combusted. The sum of direct and indirect carbon losses from fires represented 9% of tropical and subtropical net primary production (NPP). We found that including fire processes in the tropics substantially alters the seasonal cycle of net biome production by shifting carbon losses to months with low soil moisture and low rates of soil microbial respiration. Consequently, accounting for fires increases growing season net flux by ～12% between 38°N and 38°S, with the greatest effect occurring in highly productive savanna regions.     

Increasing aridity causes larger and more severe forest fires across Europe

Area burned has decreased across Europe in recent decades. This trend may, however, reverse under ongoing climate change, particularly in areas not limited by fuel availability (i.e. temperate and boreal forests). Investigating a novel remote sensing dataset of 64,448 fire events that occurred across Europe between 1986 and 2020, we find a power-law relationship between maximum fire size and area burned, indicating that large fires contribute disproportionally to fire activity in Europe. We further show a robust positive correlation between summer vapor pressure deficit and both maximum fire size (R² = .19) and maximum burn severity (R² = .12). Europe's fire regimes are thus highly sensitive to changes in future climate, with the probability for extreme fires more than doubling by the end of the century. Our results suggest that climate change will challenge current fire management approaches and could undermine the ability of Europe's forests to provide ecosystem services to society.     

Patch and landscape features drive fire regime in a Brazilian flammable ecosystem

The flammable ecosystems are evolutionary dependent on the periodic action of fire. Several environmental factors, both at local and landscape scales, can affect fire regimes in these ecosystems differently. Here, we evaluated the influence of local and landscape features on two parameters of the fire regime of a flammable protected area of the Brazilian savanna: The Chapada Diamantina National Park. We characterized both fire frequency and the time since the last fire, from 1990 to 2019 and measured five environmental predictors (tree canopy cover, altitude, water surface, predominant land use and distance to the nearest municipality). We used Generalized Additive Models for Location, Scale and Shape (GAMLSS) to assess the influence of environmental predictors on the measured fire regime parameters. We found a large interannual variation in the total annual area burned in the studied period. In total, 68 % of the protected area (1030 km²) was burned at least once and 32 % (486 km²) was unaffected by fires during the study period. Predominant land use, distance to the nearest municipality, tree cover and the interaction between tree cover and altitude were negatively related to fire frequency, while the water surface and altitude positively influenced fire frequency in the park. Compared to older fires, recent fires occurred in landscapes at lower altitudes and with lower tree cover. Our results demonstrate that the fire frequency and time since the last fire were highly variable across the park, reflecting the strong influence of landscape heterogeneity on their parameters.     

Nitrogen deposition in tropical forests from savanna and deforestation fires

We used satellite‐derived estimates of global fire emissions and a chemical transport model to estimate atmospheric nitrogen (N) fluxes from savanna and deforestation fires in tropical ecosystems. N emissions and reactive N deposition led to a net transport of N equatorward, from savannas and areas undergoing deforestation to tropical forests. Deposition of fire‐emitted N in savannas was only 26% of emissions – indicating a net export from this biome. On average, net N loss from fires (the sum of emissions and deposition) was equivalent to approximately 22% of biological N fixation (BNF) in savannas (4.0 kg N ha^?1 yr^?1) and 38% of BNF in ecosystems at the deforestation frontier (9.3 kg N ha^?1 yr^?1). Net N gains from fires occurred in interior tropical forests at a rate equivalent to 3% of their BNF (0.8 kg N ha^?1 yr^?1). This percentage was highest for African tropical forests in the Congo Basin (15%; 3.4 kg N ha^?1 yr^?1) owing to equatorward transport from frequently burning savannas north and south of the basin. These results provide evidence for cross‐biome atmospheric fluxes of N that may help to sustain productivity in some tropical forest ecosystems on millennial timescales. Anthropogenic fires associated with slash and burn agriculture and deforestation in the southern part of the Amazon Basin and across Southeast Asia have substantially increased N deposition in these regions in recent decades and may contribute to increased rates of carbon accumulation in secondary forests and other N‐limited ecosystems.     

黑龙江省温带森林火灾碳排放的计量估算

森林火灾干扰作为森林生态系统重要的干扰因子,剧烈地改变着森林生态系统的结构、功能、格局与过程,对区域乃至全球的碳循环与碳平衡产生重要影响。随着全球气候变暖,森林火灾干扰的频率和强度进一步加剧,其排放的含碳气体对大气中温室气体浓度的贡献率更大,进而加快气候变暖的速率。科学有效地对森林火灾碳排放及含碳气体排放量进行计量估算,对了解区域乃至全球的碳循环及碳平衡具有重要的理论价值和实践意义。根据黑龙江省温带森林1953—2012年火灾统计资料和森林调查数据,结合地理信息系统GIS技术,通过野外火烧迹地调查以及实验室的控制环境实验来确定森林火灾碳排放计量中的各种参数,在林分水平上,利用排放因子的方法,估算了黑龙江省温带森林60年间火灾碳排放量和含碳气体排放量。结果表明:黑龙江省温带森林60年间火灾碳排放量为5.88×107t,年均排放量为9.80×105t,约占全国年均森林火灾碳排放量的8.66%;含碳气体CO2、CO、CH4和非甲烷烃(nonmethane hydrocarbons,NMHC)的排放量分别为1.89×108、1.06×107、6.33×105和4.43×105t,含碳气体CO2、CO、CH4和NMHC的年均排放量分别为3.15×106、1.77×105、1.05×104和7.38×103t,分别占全国年均森林火灾各含碳气体排放量的7.74%、6.52%、9.42%和6.53%。研究发现针阔混交林型的森林火灾面积占总过火林地面积的57.54%,由于其燃烧效率较低,在森林火灾中的碳排放量仅占排放总量的38.57%;尤其是针阔混交林森林火灾面积占总过火林地面积的20.71%,而碳排放量仅占总排放量的9.67%;且CO2的排放因子较低,其CO2排放量仅占总排放量的8.95%。同时研究表明,黑龙江省温带森林年均的碳排放对该区域的碳循环与碳平衡产生重要影响,并针对研究结果提出了应对气候变化的森林经营可持续管理策略,亦提出了科学的林火管理策略及其合理化的林火管理路径。     

Biochar in Combination with Nitrogen Fertilizer is a Technique: To Enhance Physiological and Morphological Traits of Rice (Oryza sativa L.) by Improving Soil Physio-biochemical Properties

The over use of synthetic nitrogen (N) fertilizers is the major anthropogenic cause of low N-use efficiency and environmental damage in wetland rice production. Biochar (B) addition to soil is suggested as a climate change mitigation tool that supports carbon sequestration and reduces N losses and greenhouse gas emissions from the soil. Therefore, this study assessed the effect of four levels of B (0, 10, 20 and 30 t ha^?1) combined with two levels of N (135 and 180 kg ha^?1) on soil health, roots dynamics, physiological attributes, and yield components of rice. The addition of B at 30 t ha^?1 combined with 135 N kg ha^?1 increased chlorophyll content, net photosynthetic rate, biomass, and grain yield by 104%, 64%, 12%, and 30%, respectively, over control. Further, root traits such as total root length (TRL), total root volume (TRV), total root surface area (TRSA), and total average root diameter (TARD) were improved under 30 t ha^?1 combined with 135 N kg ha^?1 by 20%, 13%, 13%, and 25%, respectively, than non-biochar treatment under lower N application. Improvements in these traits resulted from higher N uptake due to improved soil physiochemical properties and soil microbial biomass combined with biochar. Interestingly, enhanced N metabolizing enzyme activities, including nitrate reductase (NR), glutamine synthetase (GS), and glutamine oxoglutarate aminotransferase (GOGAT) in biochar-treated plots, further supported the increases in these traits. Our results revealed that the integration of 30 t B ha^?1 with 135 kg N ha^?1 is a favorable option for enhancing soil health and rice grain yield.

     

Post-fire dynamics of woody vegetation in seasonally flooded forests (impucas) in the Cerrado-Amazonian Forest transition zone

Fire disturbance alters the structural complexity of forests, above-ground biomass stocks and patterns of growth, recruitment and mortality that determine temporal dynamics of communities. These changes may also alter forest species composition, richness, and diversity. We compared changes in plant recruitment, mortality, and turnover time over three years between burned and unburned sites of two seasonally flooded natural forest patches in a predominantly savanna landscape (regionally called ‘impucas’) in order to determine how fire alters forest dynamics and species composition. Within each impuca, 50 permanent plots (20 m × 10 m) were established and all individuals ≥5 cm diameter at breast height (DBH) identified and measured in two censuses, the first in 2007 and the second in 2010. Unplanned fires burned 30 plots in impuca 1 and 35 in impuca 2 after the first census, which enabled thereafter the comparison between burned and unburned sites. The highest mortality (8.0 and 24.3% year⁻¹ for impuca 1 and 2) and turnover time (69 and 121.5 years) were observed in the burned sites, compared to 3.7 and 5.2% year⁻¹ (mortality), and 28.4 and 40.9 years (turnover), respectively, for the unburned sites. Although these seasonally flooded impuca forests are embedded in a fire-adapted savanna landscape, the impucas vegetation appears to be sensitive to fire, with burned areas having higher mortality and turnover than unburned areas. This indicates that these forest islands are potentially at risk if regional fire frequency increases.     

Afforestation does not necessarily reduce nitrous oxide emissions from managed boreal peat soils

Pristine peatlands have generally low nitrous oxide (N₂O) emissions but drainage and management practices enhance the microbial processes and associated N₂O emissions. It is assumed that leaving peat soils from intensive management, such as agriculture, will decrease their N₂O emissions. In this paper we report how the annual N₂O emission rates will change when agricultural peat soil is either left abandoned or afforested and also N₂O emissions from afforested peat extraction sites. In addition, we evaluated a biogeochemical model (DNDC) with a view to explaining GHG emissions from peat soils under different land uses. The abandoned agricultural peat soils had lower mean annual N₂O emissions (5.5?±?5.4?kg?N?ha^?1) than the peat soils in active agricultural use in Finland. Surprisingly, N₂O emissions from afforested organic agricultural soils (12.8?±?9.4?kg?N?ha^?1) were similar to those from organic agricultural soils in active use. These emissions were much higher than those from the forests on nutrient rich peat soils. Abandoned and afforested peat extraction sites emitted more N₂O, (2.4?±?2.1?kg?N?ha^?1), than the areas under active peat extraction (0.7?±?0.5?kg?N?ha^?1). Emissions outside the growing season contributed significantly, 40% on an average, to the annual emissions. The DNDC model overestimated N₂O emission rates during the growing season and indicated no emissions during winter. The differences in the N₂O emission rates were not associated with the age of the land use change, vegetation characteristics, peat depth or peat bulk density. The highest N₂O emissions occurred when the soil C:N ratio was below 20 with a significant variability within the measured C:N range (13–27). Low soil pH, high nitrate availability and water table depth (50–70?cm) were also associated with high N₂O emissions. Mineral soil has been added to most of the soils studied here to improve the fertility and this may have an impact on the N₂O emissions. We infer from the multi-site dataset presented in this paper that afforestation is not necessarily an efficient way to reduce N₂O emissions from drained boreal organic fields.     

Introduced annual grass increases regional fire activity across the arid western USA (1980–2009)

Non‐native, invasive grasses have been linked to altered grass‐fire cycles worldwide. Although a few studies have quantified resulting changes in fire activity at local scales, and many have speculated about larger scales, regional alterations to fire regimes remain poorly documented. We assessed the influence of large‐scale Bromus tectorum (hereafter cheatgrass) invasion on fire size, duration, spread rate, and interannual variability in comparison to other prominent land cover classes across the Great Basin, USA. We compared regional land cover maps to burned area measured using the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) for 2000–2009 and to fire extents recorded by the USGS registry of fires from 1980 to 2009. Cheatgrass dominates at least 6% of the central Great Basin (650 000 km²). MODIS records show that 13% of these cheatgrass‐dominated lands burned, resulting in a fire return interval of 78 years for any given location within cheatgrass. This proportion was more than double the amount burned across all other vegetation types (range: 0.5–6% burned). During the 1990s, this difference was even more extreme, with cheatgrass burning nearly four times more frequently than any native vegetation type (16% of cheatgrass burned compared to 1–5% of native vegetation). Cheatgrass was also disproportionately represented in the largest fires, comprising 24% of the land area of the 50 largest fires recorded by MODIS during the 2000s. Furthermore, multi‐date fires that burned across multiple vegetation types were significantly more likely to have started in cheatgrass. Finally, cheatgrass fires showed a strong interannual response to wet years, a trend only weakly observed in native vegetation types. These results demonstrate that cheatgrass invasion has substantially altered the regional fire regime. Although this result has been suspected by managers for decades, this study is the first to document recent cheatgrass‐driven fire regimes at a regional scale.     

1965–2010年大兴安岭森林火灾碳排放的估算研究

 火干扰是森林生态系统的重要干扰因子, 是导致植被和土壤碳储量发生变化的重要原因。火干扰所排放的含碳气体对气候变化具有重要的影响。科学有效地对森林火灾所排放的碳进行计量, 对了解区域和全球的碳平衡及碳循环具有重要的意义。根据大兴安岭森林资源调查数据和1965–2010年森林火灾统计资料, 利用地理信息系统GIS (geographic information system)技术, 通过野外火烧迹地调查与室内控制环境实验相结合的方法确定各种计量参数, 从林分水平上, 采用排放因子法, 估算了大兴安岭1965–2010年46年间森林火灾所排放的碳和含碳气体量。结果表明: 大兴安岭46年间森林火灾排放的碳为2.93 × 10⁷ t, 年平均排放量为6.38 × 10⁵ t, 约占全国年均森林火灾碳排放量的5.64%; 含碳气体CO₂、CO、CH₄和非甲烷烃(NMHC)的排放量分别为1.02 × 10⁸、9.41 × 10⁶、5.41 × 10⁵和2.11 × 10⁵ t, 含碳气体CO₂、CO、CH₄和NMHC的年均排放量分别为2.22 × 10⁶、2.05 × 10⁵、1.18 × 10⁴和4.59 × 10³ t, 分别占全国年均森林火灾各含碳气体排放量的5.46%、7.56%、10.54%和4.06%; 针阔混交林燃烧效率较低, 虽然火烧面积占总过火面积的21.23%, 但排放的碳只占总排放量的7.81%, 为此提出了相应的林火管理策略。     

Methane emissions in Danish riparian wetlands: Ecosystem comparison and pursuit of vegetation indexes as predictive tools

The present study was conducted to (i) investigate parameters influencing the fluxes of the greenhouse gas methane (CH₄) in Danish riparian wetlands with contrasting vegetation characteristics and (ii) develop models relating CH₄ emissions to soil and/or vegetation parameters integrating the spatial and temporal variability in the fluxes. Fluxes of CH₄ were monitored in 12 wetland plots over a year using static chambers, yielding a dataset with more than 800 measured fluxes of CH₄. Yearly emissions of CH₄ ranged from −0.2 to 38.3 g CH₄-C m⁻² year⁻¹, and significant effects of groundwater level, soil temperature (10 cm depth), peat depth, sulfate, nitrate, and soil carbon content were found. Two methods based on easily available environmental parameters to estimate yearly CH₄ emissions from riparian wetlands are presented. The first uses a generalized linear model (GLM) to predict yearly CH₄ emissions based on the humidity preference of vegetation (Ellenberg-F), peat depth and degree of humification of the peat (von Post index). The second method relies solely on plant species composition and uses weighted-average regression and calibration to link the vegetation assemblage to yearly CH₄ emission. Both models gave reliable predictions of the yearly CH₄ fluxes in riparian wetlands (modeling efficiency > 0.35). Our findings support the use of vegetation, possibly in combination with some soil parameters such as peat depth, as indicator of CH₄ emission in wetlands.     

Vertical Redistribution of Soil Organic Carbon Pools After Twenty Years of Nitrogen Addition in Two Temperate Coniferous Forests

Nitrogen (N) inputs from atmospheric deposition can increase soil organic carbon (SOC) storage in temperate and boreal forests, thereby mitigating the adverse effects of anthropogenic CO₂ emissions on global climate. However, direct evidence of N-induced SOC sequestration from low-dose, long-term N addition experiments (that is, addition of < 50 kg N ha⁻¹ y⁻¹ for > 10 years) is scarce worldwide and virtually absent for European temperate forests. Here, we examine how tree growth, fine roots, physicochemical soil properties as well as pools of SOC and soil total N responded to 20 years of regular, low-dose N addition in two European coniferous forests in Switzerland and Denmark. At the Swiss site, the addition of 22 kg N ha⁻¹ y⁻¹ (or 1.3 times throughfall deposition) stimulated tree growth, but decreased soil pH and exchangeable calcium. At the Danish site, the addition of 35 kg N ha⁻¹ y⁻¹ (1.5 times throughfall deposition) impaired tree growth, increased fine root biomass and led to an accumulation of N in several belowground pools. At both sites, elevated N inputs increased SOC pools in the moderately decomposed organic horizons, but decreased them in the mineral topsoil. Hence, long-term N addition led to a vertical redistribution of SOC pools, whereas overall SOC storage within 30 cm depth was unaffected. Our results imply that an N-induced shift of SOC from older, mineral-associated pools to younger, unprotected pools might foster the vulnerability of SOC in temperate coniferous forest soils.

     

No changes in soil organic carbon and nitrogen following long-term prescribed burning and livestock exclusion in the Sudan-savanna woodlands of Burkina Faso

Fire and overgrazing reduce aboveground biomass, leading to land degradation and potential impacts on soil organic carbon (SOC) and total nitrogen (TN) dynamics. However, empirical data are lacking on how prescribed burning and livestock exclusion impact SOC in the long-term. Here we analyse the effects of 19 years of prescribed annual burning and livestock exclusion on tree density, SOC and TN concentrations in the Sudanian savanna ecoregion at two sites (Tiogo and Laba) in Burkina Faso. Results revealed that neither livestock exclusion nor prescribed burning had significant impact on SOC and TN concentrations. The results at both sites indicate that 19 years of livestock and fire exclusion did not result in a significant increase in tree density compared to grazing and annual prescribed burning. The overall mean (± SEM) of SOC stocks in the 0–50 cm depth increment in the unburnt (53.5 ± 4.7 Mg C ha⁻¹) and annually burnt (56.4 ± 4.3 Mg C ha⁻¹) plots at Tiogo were not statistically different. Similarly, at Laba there was no significant difference between the corresponding figures in the unburnt (37.9 ± 2.6 Mg ha⁻¹) and in the annually burnt plots (38.6 ± 1.9 Mg ha⁻¹). Increases in belowground inputs from root turnover may have countered changes in aboveground biomass, resulting in no net change in SOC and TN. We conclude that, contrary to our expectation and current policy recommendations, restricting burning or grazing did not result in increase in SOC stocks in this dry savanna ecosystem.