Boreal forest floor greenhouse gas emissions across a Pleurozium schreberi-dominated, wildfire-disturbed chronosequence

Mason, Kelly E. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3426-3178; Oakley, Simon ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5757-7420; Street, Lorna E.; Arroniz-Crespo, Maria; Jones, David L.; DeLuca, Thomas H.; Ostle, Nicholas J.. 2019 Boreal forest floor greenhouse gas emissions across a Pleurozium schreberi-dominated, wildfire-disturbed chronosequence. Ecosystems, 22 (6). 1381-1392. 10.1007/s10021-019-00344-2

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Official URL: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10021-019-00344-2

Abstract/Summary

The boreal forest is a globally critical biome for carbon cycling. Its forests are shaped by wildfire events that affect ecosystem properties and climate feedbacks including greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Improved understanding of boreal forest floor processes is needed to predict the impacts of anticipated increases in fire frequency, severity, and extent. In this study, we examined relationships between time since last wildfire (TSF), forest floor soil properties, and GHG emissions (CO2, CH4, N2O) along a Pleurozium schreberi-dominated chronosequence in mid- to late succession located in northern Sweden. Over three growing seasons in 2012–2014, GHG flux measurements were made in situ and samples were collected for laboratory analyses. We predicted that P. schreberi-covered forest floor GHG fluxes would be related to distinct trends in the soil properties and microbial community along the wildfire chronosequence. Although we found no overall effect of TSF on GHG emissions, there was evidence that soil C/N, one of the few properties to show a trend with time, was inversely linked to ecosystem respiration. We also found that local microclimatic conditions and site-dependent properties were better predictors of GHG fluxes than TSF. This shows that site-dependent co-variables (that is, forest floor climate and plant-soil properties) need to be considered as well as TSF to predict GHG emissions as wildfires become more frequent, extensive and severe.

Item Type:	Publication - Article
Digital Object Identifier (DOI):	10.1007/s10021-019-00344-2
UKCEH and CEH Sections/Science Areas:	Soils and Land Use (Science Area 2017-)
ISSN:	1432-9840
Additional Information. Not used in RCUK Gateway to Research.:	Publisher link (see Related URLs) provides a read-only full-text copy of the published paper.
Additional Keywords:	boreal forest, wildfire disturbance, greenhouse gas emissions, carbon dynamics, forest floor, chronosequence
NORA Subject Terms:	Ecology and Environment Agriculture and Soil Science
Related URLs:	Publisher
Date made live:	02 Apr 2019 15:39 +0 (UTC)
URI:	https://nora.nerc.ac.uk/id/eprint/522429

Item Type:

Publication - Article

Digital Object Identifier (DOI):

10.1007/s10021-019-00344-2

UKCEH and CEH Sections/Science Areas:

Soils and Land Use (Science Area 2017-)

ISSN:

1432-9840

Additional Information. Not used in RCUK Gateway to Research.:

Publisher link (see Related URLs) provides a read-only full-text copy of the published paper.

Additional Keywords:

boreal forest, wildfire disturbance, greenhouse gas emissions, carbon dynamics, forest floor, chronosequence