Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/1959.11/19686
Title: Forest burning affects quality and quantity of soil organic matter
Contributor(s): Hobley, Eleanor U (author); Le Gay Brereton, Adrian J (author); Wilson, Brian  (author)orcid 
Publication Date: 2017
DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2016.09.231
Handle Link: https://hdl.handle.net/1959.11/19686
Abstract: Fire alters ecosystem carbon cycling and generates pyrogenic matter such as charcoal,which can be incorporated into soils. The incorporation and cycling of charcoal in soils is a potential carbon sink, but studies investigating charcoal and carbon dynamics in soils are still lacking. We investigated soil carbon, charcoal and nitrogen dynamics in the top 20 cm of a sandy soil within a eucalypt forest in eastern Australia at three sites representing a chronosequence from 3 months to 14 years post-fire. In the short-term, fire removed litter, but resulted in an increase in both the charcoal and non-charcoal SOC content of the soils, which we attribute to above-ground charcoal generation and its incorporation into the soil profile, as well as below-ground root mortality. On a decadal timeframe, charcoal was preferentially retained in the sandy soil, in which other stabilisation mechanisms are limited, so that the influx of dead root carbon had no remnant effects. The incorporation and retention of charcoal in the soil profile is highly important to carbon cycling in such sandy soils with high fire frequency. It is highly likely that these effects are not limited to the upper 20 cm of soil and future studies should investigate deep soil charcoal cycling.
Publication Type: Journal Article
Source of Publication: Science of the Total Environment, v.575, p. 41-49
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Place of Publication: Netherlands
ISSN: 1879-1026
0048-9697
Fields of Research (FoR) 2008: 050301 Carbon Sequestration Science
Fields of Research (FoR) 2020: 410601 Land capability and soil productivity
410101 Carbon sequestration science
410604 Soil chemistry and soil carbon sequestration (excl. carbon sequestration science)
Socio-Economic Objective (SEO) 2008: 961403 Forest and Woodlands Soils
Socio-Economic Objective (SEO) 2020: 180605 Soils
Peer Reviewed: Yes
HERDC Category Description: C1 Refereed Article in a Scholarly Journal
Appears in Collections:Journal Article

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