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Journal ArticleDOI

Fire suppression and ecosystem carbon storage

01 Oct 2000-Ecology (Ecological Society of America)-Vol. 81, Iss: 10, pp 2680-2685
TL;DR: A 35-year controlled burning experiment in Minnesota oak savanna showed that fire frequency had a great impact on ecosystem carbon (C) stores, with most carbon stored in woody biomass.
Abstract: A 35-year controlled burning experiment in Minnesota oak savanna showed that fire frequency had a great impact on ecosystem carbon (C) stores. Specifically, compared to the historical fire regime, fire suppression led to an average of 1.8 Mg·ha−1·yr−1 of C storage, with most carbon stored in woody biomass. Forest floor carbon stores were also significantly impacted by fire frequency, but there were no detectable effects of fire suppression on carbon in soil and fine roots combined, or in woody debris. Total ecosystem C stores averaged ∼110 Mg/ha in stands experiencing presettlement fire frequencies, but ∼220 Mg/ha in stands experiencing fire suppression. If comparable rates of C storage were to occur in other ecosystems in response to the current extent of fire suppression in the United States, fire suppression in the USA might account for 8–20% of missing global carbon.

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Citations
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Book ChapterDOI
26 Oct 2015

63 citations


Cites background from "Fire suppression and ecosystem carb..."

  • ...Current estimates suggest that woody plant encroachment into grasslands and savannas may result in the sequestration of 0.10 to 0.13 Pg C yr−1 in the United States, which represents 20 to 40% of the current U.S. carbon sink strength (Houghton et al., 2000; Tilman et al., 2000; Pacala et al., 2001)....

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Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: It is estimated that 6%–80% of the pooled C to a mineral-soil depth of 30 cm could be lost during a fire considered detrimental to soil productivity, which will vary with local climatic regimes, fire severity across the burned area, the size and decay class of W...
Abstract: When sampling woody residue (WR) and organic matter (OM) present in forest floor, soil wood, and surface mineral soil (0–30 cm) in 14 mid- to late-successional stands across a wide variety of soil types and climatic regimes in the northwestern USA, we found that 44%–84% of carbon (C) was in WR and surface OM, whereas >80% of nitrogen (N) was in the mineral soil. In many northwestern forests fire suppression and natural changes in stand composition have increased the amounts of WR and soil OM susceptible to wildfire losses. Stands with high OM concentrations on the soil surface are at greater risk of losing large amounts of C and N after high-severity surface fires. Using the USDA Forest Service Regional Soil Quality Standards and Guidelines, we estimate that 6%–80% of the pooled C to a mineral-soil depth of 30 cm could be lost during a fire considered detrimental to soil productivity. These estimates will vary with local climatic regimes, fire severity across the burned area, the size and decay class of W...

57 citations


Cites background from "Fire suppression and ecosystem carb..."

  • ...However, climatic conditions, especially above- and below-ground temperature and moisture regimes, also play major roles in soil C and N accumulation by controlling both tree-growth and OMdecomposition rates ( Tilman et al. 2000 )....

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  • ...However, climatic conditions, especially above- and below-ground temperature and moisture regimes, also play major roles in soil C and N accumulation by controlling both tree-growth and OMdecomposition rates (Tilman et al. 2000)....

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Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this article, the authors found that the magnitude of decline in net N mineralization in oak versus grass-dominated patches with increasing fire frequency can be attributed to differences in volatilization and leaching or plant traits affecting decomposition and mineralization.
Abstract: Long-term prescribed fires have increased woody canopy openness and reduced nitrogen (N) cycling (that is, net N mineralization) in an oak savanna in Minnesota, USA. It is unclear how fire-induced shifts from oak-dominated to C4 grass-dominated vegetation contribute to this decline in N cycling compared to direct effects of increasing fire frequency promoting greater N losses. We determined (1) the magnitude of decline in net N mineralization in oak versus grass-dominated patches with increasing fire frequency and (2) if differences in net N mineralization between oak and grass patches in frequently burned oak savanna (burned 8 out of 10 years on average during the last 40 years) could be attributed to differences in N losses through volatilization and leaching or to plant traits affecting decomposition and mineralization. In situ net N mineralization declined with increasing fire frequency overall, but this decline was less in oakthan in grass-dominated patches, with oak-dominated patches having more than two times higher net N mineralization than grass-dominated patches. Greater net N mineralization in oak-dominated patches occurred despite greater N losses through volatilization and leaching (on average 1.8 and 1.4 g m )2 y )1 for oak- and grass-dominated patches, respectively), likely because of higher plant litter N concentration in the oak-dominated patches. As total soil N pools in the first 15 cm did not differ between oak- and grass-dominated patches (on average 83 g N m )2 ), N inputs from atmospheric deposition and uptake from deep soil layers may offset higher N losses. Our results further show that net N mineralization rates decline within 5 years after tree death and subsequent colonization by C4 grasses to levels observed in grass-dominated patches. Although long-term prescribed fires often directly reduce N stocks and cycling because of increased N losses, this study has shown that fire-induced shifts in vegetation composition can strongly contribute to the declines in N cycling in systems that are frequently disturbed by fires with potential feedbacks to plant productivity.

55 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this paper, a review of the literature from the last two decades on the three selected issues, with a specific focus on the Mediterranean region, was conducted, aiming to generate more realistic models and effective planning in support of fire management in the Mediterranean basin.
Abstract: Fuel moisture and chemical content affecting live plant flammability can be measured through laboratory and field techniques, or remotely assessed. Standardization of methodologies and a better understanding of plant attributes and phenological status can improve models for fire management. Wildland fire management is subject to manifold sources of uncertainty. Beyond the difficulties of predicting accurately the fire behavior, uncertainty stems from incomplete understanding of ecological susceptibility to fire. We aimed at reviewing current knowledge of (i) plant attributes and flammability: fuel moisture and chemical content in leaves; (ii) experimental evaluation of flammability in the laboratory and in the field; and (iii) proxy evaluation of flammability: vegetation cover assessment at large scale, fuel seasonality, and biomass distribution using remote sensing and Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR) techniques. We conducted a review of scientific literature from the last two decades on the three selected issues, with a specific focus on the Mediterranean region. We have evidenced important knowledge gaps: (i) developing standardized methodologies for laboratory- and field-scale assessment of vegetation flammability; (ii) introducing reliable approaches to test the impact of biogenic volatile organic compounds on fire spread; (iii) improving the analysis of spatiotemporal changes in vegetation dynamics, acknowledging distinctive vegetation phenological status as a relevant driver affecting leaf biomass and moisture contents; and (iv) further exploring the processes that shape fuel dynamics to understand how fuel characteristics change over time and space. We propose some improvements in the current knowledge of vegetation science and wildland fire ecology, aiming to generate more realistic models and effective planning in support of fire management in the Mediterranean basin.

53 citations


Cites background from "Fire suppression and ecosystem carb..."

  • ...1) aimed at mitigating fire danger and maintaining the capacity for Mediterranean forests to provide ecosystem services (Tilman et al. 2000; Keane 2013)....

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Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: Evidence for the antiquity of African grassy ecosystems and the fires that maintain them are ancient are reviewed and there is no support for the idea that humans caused large-scale deforestation.
Abstract: Africa has the most extensive C4 grassy biomes of any continent. They are highly flammable accounting for greater than 70% of the world's burnt area. Much of Africa's savannas and grasslands occur in climates warm enough and wet enough to support closed forests. The combination of open grassy systems and the frequent fires they support have long been interpreted as anthropogenic artefacts caused by humans igniting frequent fires. True grasslands, it was believed, would be restricted to climates too dry or too cold to support closed woody vegetation. The idea that higher-rainfall savannas are anthropogenic and that fires are of human origin has led to initiatives to 'reforest' Africa's open grassy systems paid for by carbon credits under the assumption that the net effect of converting these system to forests would sequester carbon, reduce greenhouse gases and mitigate global warming. This paper reviews evidence for the antiquity of African grassy ecosystems and for the fires that they sustain. Africa's grassy biomes and the fires that maintain them are ancient and there is no support for the idea that humans caused large-scale deforestation. Indicators of old-growth grasslands are described. These can help distinguish secondary grasslands suitable for reforestation from ancient grasslands that should not be afforested.This article is part of the themed issue 'The interaction of fire and mankind'.

52 citations

References
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Book
06 Mar 1997
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors present a perspective of the global cycle of nitrogen and phosphorous, the global water cycle, and the global sulfur cycle from a global point of view.
Abstract: Part 1 Processes and reactions: origins the atmosphere the lithosphere the terrestrial biosphere biogeochemical cycling on land biogeochemistry in freshwater wetlands and lakes rivers and estuaries the sea. Part 2 Global cycles: the global water cycle the global carbon cycle the global cycle of nitrogen and phosphorous the global sulfur cycle a perspective.

3,871 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
14 Jan 1994-Science
TL;DR: Slowing deforestation, combined with an increase in forestation and other management measures to improve forest ecosystem productivity, could conserve or sequester significant quantities of carbon.
Abstract: Forest systems cover more than 4.1 x 109 hectares of the Earth9s land area. Globally, forest vegetation and soils contain about 1146 petagrams of carbon, with approximately 37 percent of this carbon in low-latitude forests, 14 percent in mid-latitudes, and 49 percent at high latitudes. Over two-thirds of the carbon in forest ecosystems is contained in soils and associated peat deposits. In 1990, deforestation in the low latitudes emitted 1.6 ± 0.4 petagrams of carbon per year, whereas forest area expansion and growth in mid- and high-latitude forest sequestered 0.7 ± 0.2 petagrams of carbon per year, for a net flux to the atmosphere of 0.9 ± 0.4 petagrams of carbon per year. Slowing deforestation, combined with an increase in forestation and other management measures to improve forest ecosystem productivity, could conserve or sequester significant quantities of carbon. Future forest carbon cycling trends attributable to losses and regrowth associated with global climate and land-use change are uncertain. Model projections and some results suggest that forests could be carbon sinks or sources in the future.

3,175 citations


"Fire suppression and ecosystem carb..." refers background or methods in this paper

  • ...…biomass creates ;20–25% of annual anthropogenic CO2 (Andreae 1991, Schimel 1995), modifications of fire frequency may significantly change regional and global C budgets (e.g., Fahenstock and Agee 1983, Andreae 1991, Stocks 1991, Dixon and Krankina 1993, Dixon et al. 1994, Sohngen and Haynes 1997)....

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  • ...This work was supported by National Science Foundation Grant 9411972 and by the Andrew Mellon Foundation....

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  • ...Our work supports the proposal that increased fire suppression and decreased anthropogenic burning of vegetation could significantly influence global carbon dynamics (Dixon et al. 1994, Sampson and Clark 1995, Sohngen and Haynes 1997, San Jose et al. 1998)....

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  • ...Dixon et al. (1994) calculated that fire management in Russia could lead to long-term C storage of 0.6 3 1015 g C/yr....

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Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: The terrestrial biosphere plays an important role in the global carbon cycle as mentioned in this paper, which is the fluxes of carbon among four main reservoirs: fossil carbon, the atmosphere, the oceans, and the terrestrial Biosphere.
Abstract: The terrestrial biosphere plays an important role in the global carbon cycle. In the 1994 Intergovernmental Panel Assessment on Climate Change (IPCC), an effort was made to improve the quantification of terrestrial exchanges and potential feedbacks from climate, changing CO2, and other factors; this paper presents the key results from that assessment, together with expanded discussion. The carbon cycle is the fluxes of carbon among four main reservoirs: fossil carbon, the atmosphere, the oceans, and the terrestrial biosphere. Emissions of fossil carbon during the 1980s averaged 5.5 Gt y−1. During the same period, the atmosphere gained 3.2 Gt C y−1 and the oceans are believed to have absorbed 2.0 Gt C y−1. The regrowing forests of the Northern Hemisphere may have absorbed 0.5 Gt C y−1 during this period. Meanwhile, tropical deforestation is thought to have released an average 1.6 Gt C y−1 over the 1980s. While the fluxes among the four pools should balance, the average 198Ds values lead to a ‘missing sink’ of 1.4 Gt C y−1 Several processes, including forest regrowth, CO2 fertilization of plant growth (c. 1.0 Gt C y−1), N deposition (c. 0.6 Gt C y−1), and their interactions, may account for the budget imbalance. However, it remains difficult to quantify the influences of these separate but interactive processes. Uncertainties in the individual numbers are large, and are themselves poorly quantified. This paper presents detail beyond the IPCC assessment on procedures used to approximate the flux uncertainties. Lack of knowledge about positive and negative feedbacks from the biosphere is a major limiting factor to credible simulations of future atmospheric CO2 concentrations. Analyses of the atmospheric gradients of CO2 and 13 CO2 concentrations provide increasingly strong evidence for terrestrial sinks, potentially distributed between Northern Hemisphere and tropical regions, but conclusive detection in direct biomass and soil measurements remains elusive. Current regional-to-global terrestrial ecosystem models with coupled carbon and nitrogen cycles represent the effects of CO2 fertilization differently, but all suggest longterm responses to CO2 that are substantially smaller than potential leaf- or laboratory whole plant-level responses. Analyses of emissions and biogeochemical fluxes consistent with eventual stabilization of atmospheric CO2 concentrations are sensitive to the way in which biospheric feedbacks are modeled by c. 15%. Decisions about land use can have effects of 100s of Gt C over the next few centuries, with similarly significant effects on the atmosphere. Critical areas for future research are continued measurements and analyses of atmospheric data (CO2 and 13CO2) to serve as large-scale constraints, process studies of the scaling from the photosynthetic response to CO2 to whole-ecosystem carbon storage, and rigorous quantification of the effects of changing land use on carbon storage.

1,510 citations


"Fire suppression and ecosystem carb..." refers background or methods in this paper

  • ...2680 Key words: carbon storage; fire suppression; missing carbon; oak savanna....

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  • ...San Jose et al. (1998) calculated that fire suppression, by causing the transformation of the 2.8 3 107 ha Venezuelan Orinoco Llanos from grassland to semideciduous forest, could lead to a C sink of 0.08 3 1015 g C/yr....

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  • ...Atmospheric CO2 is currently accumulating at ;3.2 3 1015 g C/yr (Schimel 1995)....

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  • ...Dixon et al. (1994) calculated that fire management in Russia could lead to long-term C storage of 0.6 3 1015 g C/yr....

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  • ...Because the burning of ecosystem biomass creates ;20–25% of annual anthropogenic CO2 (Andreae 1991, Schimel 1995), modifications of fire frequency may significantly change regional and global C budgets (e.g., Fahenstock and Agee 1983, Andreae 1991, Stocks 1991, Dixon and Krankina 1993, Dixon et al.…...

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Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: The first edition of Schlesinger's Biogeochemistry in 1991 was an early entry in the field of Earth system science/global change, and has since gained sufficient popularity and demand to merit a second, extensively revised edition.
Abstract: Compared to the well-established disciplines, the field of Earth system science/global change has relatively few books from which to choose. Of the small subset of books dealing specifically with biogeochemical aspects of global change, the first edition of Schlesinger's Biogeochemistry in 1991 was an early entry. It has since gained sufficient popularity and demand to merit a second, extensively revised edition. The first part of the book provides a general introduction to biogeochemistry and cycles, and to the origin of elements, our planet, and life on Earth. It then describes the functioning and biogeochemistry of the atmosphere, lithosphere, biosphere, and hydrosphere, including marine and freshwater systems. Although system function and features are stressed, the author begins to introduce global change topics, such as soil organic matter and global change in Chapter 5, and landscape and mass balance in Chapter 6.

1,075 citations


"Fire suppression and ecosystem carb..." refers background or methods in this paper

  • ...This work was supported by National Science Foundation Grant 9411972 and by the Andrew Mellon Foundation....

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  • ...Moreover, the immense global extent of tropical savanna and woodland, 2.45 3 109 ha (Schlesinger 1997), suggests that even moderate fire suppression in this ecosystem type could provide a globally significant C sink....

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Journal ArticleDOI
23 Jul 1999-Science
TL;DR: The rates at which lands in the United States were cleared for agriculture, abandoned, harvested for wood, and burned were reconstructed from historical data for the period 1700-1990 and used in a terrestrial carbon model to calculate annual changes in the amount of carbon stored in terrestrial ecosystems, including wood products.
Abstract: The rates at which lands in the United States were cleared for agriculture, abandoned, harvested for wood, and burned were reconstructed from historical data for the period 1700-1990 and used in a terrestrial carbon model to calculate annual changes in the amount of carbon stored in terrestrial ecosystems, including wood products. Changes in land use released 27 +/- 6 petagrams of carbon to the atmosphere before 1945 and accumulated 2 +/- 2 petagrams of carbon after 1945, largely as a result of fire suppression and forest growth on abandoned farmlands. During the 1980s, the net flux of carbon attributable to land management offset 10 to 30 percent of U.S. fossil fuel emissions.

1,035 citations


"Fire suppression and ecosystem carb..." refers background or methods in this paper

  • ...Houghton et al. (1999) estimated various sources of C storage in the United States....

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  • ...Because fire suppression might lead to a period of C accumulation (Houghton et al. 1999), current fire suppression in the United States (Fig....

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  • ...This work was supported by National Science Foundation Grant 9411972 and by the Andrew Mellon Foundation....

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  • ...2680 Key words: carbon storage; fire suppression; missing carbon; oak savanna....

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