Biological Activity of Soils in Mountain Tundra Ecosystems under Postpyrogenic Restoration

Maslov, M. N.; Маслова, О. А.; Pozdnyakov, L. A.; Kopeina, Ekaterina

doi:10.1134/s1064229318060108

Cited by 9 publications

(5 citation statements)

References 32 publications

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“…This pattern is less likely linked to the temperature-mediated increased microbial activity as the soil temperature in the oldest fire scar recovered to control levels (Heim et al, 2021a). Rather, this might be explained by the increased cover of vascular plants, which produce more root exudates, have symbiotic nitrogen fixation, and lead to easily decomposable falloff litter (Maslov et al, 2018;McLaren et al, 2017).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The vegetation on burnt plots did not return to control levels within > 44 years and was dominated by bryophytes; herbaceous plants; and shrubs, especially Betula nana (Heim et al, 2021a). Vascular plants, and especially woody species, accumulate more soil C in roots and litter (Cahoon et al, 2016), and due to root exudates and their ability of symbiotic N fixation burnt plots can also contain more N than unburnt lichen-dominated plots (Maslov et al, 2018).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Fire in lichen-rich subarctic tundra changes carbon and nitrogen cycling between ecosystem compartments but has minor effects on stocks

Heim¹,

Yurtaev

Bucharová

et al. 2022

Biogeosciences

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Abstract. Fires are predicted to increase in Arctic regions due to ongoing climate change. Tundra fires can alter carbon and nutrient cycling and release a substantial quantity of greenhouse gases with global consequences. Yet, the long-term effects of tundra fires on carbon (C) and nitrogen (N) stocks and cycling are still unclear. Here we used a space-for-time approach to investigate the long-term fire effects on C and N stocks and cycling in soil and aboveground living biomass. We collected data from three large fire scars (>44, 28, and 12 years old) and corresponding control areas and used linear mixed-effect models in a Bayesian framework to analyse long-term development of C and N stocks and cycling after fire. We found that tundra fires had no long-term effect on total C and N stocks because a major part of the stocks was located belowground in soils which were largely unaltered by fire. However, fire had a strong long-term effect on stocks in the aboveground vegetation, mainly due to the reduction in the lichen layer. Fire reduced N concentrations in graminoids and herbs on the younger fire scars, which affected respective C/N ratios and may indicate an increased post-fire competition between vascular plants. Aboveground plant biomass was depleted in 13C in all three fire scars. In soil, the relative abundance of 13C changed with time after fire. Our results indicate that in lichen-rich subarctic tundra ecosystems, the contribution of fires to the release of additional carbon to the atmosphere might be relatively small as soil stocks appear to be resilient within the observed time frame.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Fire in lichen-rich subarctic tundra changes carbon and nitrogen cycling between ecosystem compartments but has minor effects on stocks

Heim¹,

Yurtaev

Bucharová

et al. 2022

Biogeosciences

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“…This indicates a fire duration time of approximately 7 min under the prevailing weather conditions at the time of experiment start could be comparable to wildfires. Wildfires in dry tundra ecosystems are predominant of moderate or low intensity due to fuel limitations in form of low shrubs and thin organic layers (Maslov et al, 2018; Walker et al, 2020). However, wildfires, such as in the Alaskan Anakutuvuk River area, did not burn homogenously but left areas with different degress of burn severity (moderate and severe; Rocha & Shaver, 2011).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Effects of fire on CO₂, CH₄, and N₂O exchange in a well‐drained Arctic heath ecosystem

Hermesdorf

Elberling

D’Imperio

et al. 2022

Global Change Biology

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In the Arctic, the air temperature has increased more than twice the global average during the last few decades (Meredith et al., 2019) and may increase by 2-8°C before 2100 (Meredith et al., 2019), amplified by feedback mechanisms such as decreased sea ice extent Johannessen et al. (2016) and changes in surface albedo due to snow cover changes (Chapin et al., 2005). Such changes in climatic conditions (including precipitation) are expected to alter the exchange of methane (CH 4 ), carbon dioxide (CO 2 ), and nitrous oxide (N 2 O),

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“…The vegetation on burnt plots did not return to control levels within >44 years and was dominated by bryophytes, herbaceous plants, and shrubs, especially Betula nana (Heim et al, 2021). Vascular plants, and especially woody species, accumulate more soil C in roots and litter (Cahoon et al, 2016), and due to root exudates and their ability of symbiotic N fixation burnt plots can also contain more N than unburnt lichen dominated plots (Maslov et al, 2018). In contrast to soil, fire substantially reduced C and N stocks in vegetation.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…This pattern is less likely linked to the temperature-mediated increased microbial activity, as the soil temperature in the oldest fire scar recovered to control levels (Heim et al, 2021). Rather, this could be explained by the increased cover of vascular plants, which produce more root exudates, have symbiotic nitrogen fixation, and easily decomposable falloff litter (Maslov et al, 2018;McLaren et al, 2017).…”

Section: Fire Affected Long-term C and N Cyclingmentioning

confidence: 98%

Fire in lichen-rich subarctic tundra changes carbon and nitrogen cycling between ecosystem compartments but has minor effects on stocks

Heim¹,

Yurtaev

Bucharová

et al. 2021

Preprint

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Abstract. Fires are predicted to increase in Arctic regions due to ongoing climate change. Tundra fires can alter carbon and nutrient cycling and release a substantial amount of greenhouse gases with global consequences. Yet, the long-term effects of tundra fires on carbon (C) and nitrogen (N) stocks and cycling are still unclear. Here we used a space-for-time approach to investigate the long-term fire effects on C and N stocks and cycling in soil and aboveground living biomass. We collected data from three large fire scars (> 44, 28 and 12 years old) and corresponding control areas and used linear mixed-effects models in a Bayesian framework to analyse how the stocks and cycling were influenced by fire. We found that tundra fires did not affect total C and N stocks because a major part of the stocks was located belowground in soils, which were largely unaltered by fire. However, fire had a strong effect on stocks in the aboveground vegetation, mainly due to the reduction of the lichen layer. Fire reduced N concentrations in graminoids and herbs on the younger fire scars, which affected respective C / N ratios and indicated an increased post-fire competition between vascular plants. Aboveground plant biomass was depleted in 13C in all three fire scars. This could be related to a lower 13C abundance in CO2 in the ambient air because of increased post-fire decomposition, providing a source of 13C-depleted CO2. In soil, the relative abundance of 13C changed with time after fire because of the combined effects of microbial decomposition and plant-related fractionation processes. Our results indicate that in lichen-rich subarctic tundra ecosystems, the contribution of fires to the release of additional carbon to the atmosphere might be relatively small as soil stocks appear to be resilient.

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Biological Activity of Soils in Mountain Tundra Ecosystems under Postpyrogenic Restoration

Cited by 9 publications

References 32 publications

Fire in lichen-rich subarctic tundra changes carbon and nitrogen cycling between ecosystem compartments but has minor effects on stocks

Fire in lichen-rich subarctic tundra changes carbon and nitrogen cycling between ecosystem compartments but has minor effects on stocks

Effects of fire on CO₂, CH₄, and N₂O exchange in a well‐drained Arctic heath ecosystem

Fire in lichen-rich subarctic tundra changes carbon and nitrogen cycling between ecosystem compartments but has minor effects on stocks

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Biological Activity of Soils in Mountain Tundra Ecosystems under Postpyrogenic Restoration

Cited by 9 publications

References 32 publications

Fire in lichen-rich subarctic tundra changes carbon and nitrogen cycling between ecosystem compartments but has minor effects on stocks

Fire in lichen-rich subarctic tundra changes carbon and nitrogen cycling between ecosystem compartments but has minor effects on stocks

Effects of fire on CO2, CH4, and N2O exchange in a well‐drained Arctic heath ecosystem

Fire in lichen-rich subarctic tundra changes carbon and nitrogen cycling between ecosystem compartments but has minor effects on stocks

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Effects of fire on CO₂, CH₄, and N₂O exchange in a well‐drained Arctic heath ecosystem