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Increasing wildfires threaten historic carbon sink of boreal forest soils

Author

Listed:
  • Xanthe J. Walker

    (Northern Arizona University)

  • Jennifer L. Baltzer

    (Wilfrid Laurier University)

  • Steven G. Cumming

    (Laval University)

  • Nicola J. Day

    (Wilfrid Laurier University)

  • Christopher Ebert

    (Northern Arizona University)

  • Scott Goetz

    (Northern Arizona University
    Northern Arizona University
    Woods Hole Research Center)

  • Jill F. Johnstone

    (University of Saskatchewan
    University of Alaska Fairbanks)

  • Stefano Potter

    (Woods Hole Research Center)

  • Brendan M. Rogers

    (Woods Hole Research Center)

  • Edward A. G. Schuur

    (Northern Arizona University
    Northern Arizona University)

  • Merritt R. Turetsky

    (University of Guelph
    University of Colorado Boulder)

  • Michelle C. Mack

    (Northern Arizona University
    Northern Arizona University)

Abstract

Boreal forest fires emit large amounts of carbon into the atmosphere primarily through the combustion of soil organic matter1–3. During each fire, a portion of this soil beneath the burned layer can escape combustion, leading to a net accumulation of carbon in forests over multiple fire events4. Climate warming and drying has led to more severe and frequent forest fires5–7, which threaten to shift the carbon balance of the boreal ecosystem from net accumulation to net loss1, resulting in a positive climate feedback8. This feedback will occur if organic-soil carbon that escaped burning in previous fires, termed ‘legacy carbon’, combusts. Here we use soil radiocarbon dating to quantitatively assess legacy carbon loss in the 2014 wildfires in the Northwest Territories of Canada2. We found no evidence for the combustion of legacy carbon in forests that were older than the historic fire-return interval of northwestern boreal forests9. In forests that were in dry landscapes and less than 60 years old at the time of the fire, legacy carbon that had escaped burning in the previous fire cycle was combusted. We estimate that 0.34 million hectares of young forests (

Suggested Citation

  • Xanthe J. Walker & Jennifer L. Baltzer & Steven G. Cumming & Nicola J. Day & Christopher Ebert & Scott Goetz & Jill F. Johnstone & Stefano Potter & Brendan M. Rogers & Edward A. G. Schuur & Merritt R., 2019. "Increasing wildfires threaten historic carbon sink of boreal forest soils," Nature, Nature, vol. 572(7770), pages 520-523, August.
    • Handle: RePEc:nat:nature:v:572:y:2019:i:7770:d:10.1038_s41586-019-1474-y
    DOI: 10.1038/s41586-019-1474-y
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    Citations

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    Cited by:

    1. Emmett, Kristen D. & Renwick, Katherine M. & Poulter, Benjamin, 2021. "Adapting a dynamic vegetation model for regional biomass, plant biogeography, and fire modeling in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem: Evaluating LPJ-GUESS-LMfireCF," Ecological Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 440(C).
    2. Carson A. Baughman & Rachel A. Loehman & Dawn R. Magness & Lisa B. Saperstein & Rosemary L. Sherriff, 2020. "Four Decades of Land-Cover Change on the Kenai Peninsula, Alaska: Detecting Disturbance-Influenced Vegetation Shifts Using Landsat Legacy Data," Land, MDPI, vol. 9(10), pages 1-22, October.
    3. Yang Shu & Chunming Shi & Bole Yi & Pengwu Zhao & Lijuan Guan & Mei Zhou, 2022. "Influence of Climatic Factors on Lightning Fires in the Primeval Forest Region of the Northern Daxing’an Mountains, China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(9), pages 1-11, May.
    4. Patrick Moriarty & Damon Honnery, 2020. "New Approaches for Ecological and Social Sustainability in a Post-Pandemic World," World, MDPI, vol. 1(3), pages 1-14, October.
    5. C. E. Richards & R. C. Lupton & J. M. Allwood, 2021. "Re-framing the threat of global warming: an empirical causal loop diagram of climate change, food insecurity and societal collapse," Climatic Change, Springer, vol. 164(3), pages 1-19, February.
    6. Xi Li & Yao Chen & Shixiong Jiang & Chongqing Wang & Sunxian Weng & Dengyong Rao, 2022. "The Importance of Adding Short-Wave Infrared Bands for Forest Disturbance Monitoring in the Subtropical Region," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(16), pages 1-9, August.

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