Short- to medium-term effects of crown and surface fires on soil respiration in a Canadian boreal forest

Author:

Ribeiro-Kumara Caius1,Santín Cristina23,Doerr Stefan H.4,Pumpanen Jukka5,Baxter Greg6,Köster Kajar17

Affiliation:

1. Department of Forest Sciences, University of Helsinki, Institute for Atmospheric and Earth System Research/Forest Sciences, Helsinki, Finland.

2. Research Institute of Biodiversity (IMIB), Spanish National Research Council-University of Oviedo-Principality of Asturias, Mieres, Spain.

3. Department of Biosciences, Swansea University, Swansea, Wales, United Kingdom.

4. Department of Geography, Swansea University, Swansea, Wales, United Kingdom.

5. Department of Environmental and Biological Sciences, University of Eastern Finland, Kuopio, Finland.

6. Wildfire Operations Research, FPInnovations, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada.

7. Department of Environmental and Biological Sciences, University of Eastern Finland, Joensuu, Finland.

Abstract

Fires are an important perturbation for the carbon (C) dynamics of boreal forests, especially when they are stand-replacing. In North American boreal forests, crown fires are predominant and, therefore, the most studied. However, surface fires can also lead to major tree mortality with substantial implications for the C balance. Here, we assess the short- (hours to days) to medium-term (1–3 years) effects of the different fire types (surface vs. crown) on the postfire soil C effluxes in jack pine (Pinus banksiana Lamb.) and black spruce (Picea mariana (Mill.) BSP) forest stands in the Northwest Territories, Canada. We found that while trees were instantly killed by the four crown fires studied, trees also died within 1 year after two of three surface fires studied. Associated with this tree mortality, soil autotrophic respiration decreased after both fire types, although at different timings. The soil heterotrophic respiration was either lower or unchanged when measured 1–3 years after either fire type but was increased when measured immediately after a surface fire, possibly due to the interaction between ash generation and wetting performed to suppress the fire. Our results suggest that both fire types can thus substantially alter C fluxes in the short to medium term, both through changes in vegetation and the soil environment.

Publisher

Canadian Science Publishing

Subject

Ecology,Forestry,Global and Planetary Change

Reference66 articles.

1. Alexander, M.E., Stefner, C.N., Mason, J.A., Stocks, B.J., Hartley, G.R., Maffey, M.E., et al. 2004. Characterizing the jack pine – black spruce fuel complex of the International Crown Fire Modelling Experiment (ICFME). Information Report NOR-X-393. Natural Resources Canada, Canadian Forest Service, Northern Forestry Centre, Edmonton, Alberta.

2. Application of wood ash leads to strong vertical gradients in soil pH changing prokaryotic community structure in forest top soil

3. Fire effects on tree physiology

4. Wildland fire ash: Production, composition and eco-hydro-geomorphic effects

5. Contribution of root respiration to soil surface CO2flux in a boreal black spruce chronosequence

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