Soil Carbon Sequestration by Holocene Fires Inferred from Soil Charcoal in the Dry French Alps

Carcaillet, Christopher; Talon, Brigitte

doi:10.1080/15230430.2001.12003432

Cited by 28 publications

(33 citation statements)

References 23 publications

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“…Overall, soil charcoal pools reported here are comparable to results from other temperate forest and shrubland ecosystems [4,27]. We identified a significant main effect (GLMM analysis) of vegetation type on SOC and CC content from foothill shrublands to subalpine forests along the Colorado Front Range.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 66%

“…For example, Carcaillet and Talon [27] analyzed five transects that graded from subalpine conifer forests into alpine tundra in the French Alps. They observed an inverse relationship with less soil CC mass with increasing elevation (0.1 to 3.0 mg charcoal C ha ) and CC/SOC ratios (0.05-0.08) observed in these watersheds are lower than other temperate ecosystems in the western United States [4,20].…”

Section: Vegetationmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Charcoal and Total Carbon in Soils from Foothills Shrublands to Subalpine Forests in the Colorado Front Range

Licata

Sanford

2012

Forests

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Temperate conifer forests in the Colorado Front Range are fire-adapted ecosystems where wildland fires leave a legacy in the form of char and charcoal. Long-term soil charcoal C (CC) pools result from the combined effects of wildland fires, aboveground biomass characteristics and soil transfer mechanisms. We measured CC pools in surface soils (0-10 cm) at mid-slope positions on east facing aspects in five continuous foothills shrubland and conifer forest types. We found a significant statistical effect of vegetation type on CC pools along this ecological gradient, but not a linear pattern increasing with elevation gain. There is a weak bimodal pattern of CC gain with elevation between foothills shrublands (1.2 mg CC ha) and the lower montane, ponderosa pine (1.5 mg CC ha ). We propose that CC forms and accumulates via unique ecological conditions such as fire regime. The range of soil CC amounts and ratios of CC to total SOC are comparable to but lower than other regional estimates.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 66%

Section: Vegetationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Charcoal and Total Carbon in Soils from Foothills Shrublands to Subalpine Forests in the Colorado Front Range

Licata

Sanford

2012

Forests

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“…Charcoal accounted for 15-32% of total soil C, or 15 000-140 000 kg ha −1 . A similar result was found for Corsican forests, with 9800 to 148 000 kg ha −1 of soil charcoal (Carcaillet and Talon, 2001).…”

Section: Pyc In Forest Soils -Quantitative Analysessupporting

confidence: 71%

“…Carcaillet and Talon (2001) determined charcoal stocks in soil profiles along altitudinal transects in dry valleys in the French Alps. In the current conifer-dominated forest belt (1700 to 2200 m a.s.l.)…”

Section: Pyc In Forest Soils -Quantitative Analysesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Black (pyrogenic) carbon: a synthesis of current knowledge and uncertainties with special consideration of boreal regions

2006

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“…For example, Carnelli et al (2004) found much less charcoal (up to 19.35 mg kg −1 ) in an alpine Podzol (10-30 cm depth), or an average of 6.18 mg kg −1 in soils below 2400 m a.s.l. Carcaillet and Talon (2001) reported charcoal masses of 102-863 mg kg −1 (800-1280 kg ha −1 ) in soils under temperate Fagus-Abies forests. The comparison of charcoal C concentrations to studies that investigated the black carbon content of soils is difficult, in consideration of the methodological differences (Schmidt et al, 2001).…”

Section: Incorporation Of Charcoal From the Forest Floor Into The Soimentioning

confidence: 99%

Minor changes in soil organic carbon and charcoal concentrations detected in a temperate deciduous forest a year after an experimental slash-and-burn

Eckmeier

Gerlach²,

Skjemstad

et al. 2007

Biogeosciences

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Abstract. Anthropogenic fires affected the temperate deciduous forests of Central Europe over millennia. Biomass burning releases carbon to the atmosphere and produces charcoal, which potentially contributes to the stable soil carbon pools and is an important archive of environmental history. The fate of charcoal in soils of temperate deciduous forests, i.e. the processes of charcoal incorporation and transportation and the effects on soil organic matter are still not clear. We investigated the effects of slash-and-burn at a longterm experimental burning site and determined soil organic carbon and charcoal carbon concentrations as well as the soil lightness of colour (L*) in the topmost soil material (0-1, 1-2.5 and 2.5-5 cm depths) before, immediately after the fire and one year later. The main results are that (i) only a few of the charcoal particles from the forest floor were incorporated into the soil matrix, presumably by soil mixing animals. In the 0-1 cm layer, during one year, the charcoal C concentration increased only by 0.4 g kg −1 and the proportion of charcoal C to SOC concentration increased from 2.8 to 3.4%; (ii) the SOC concentrations did not show any significant differences; (iii) soil lightness decreased significantly in the topmost soil layer and correlated well with the concentrations of charcoal C (r=−0.87**) and SOC (r=−0.94**) in the samples from the 0-5 cm layer. We concluded that Holocene biomass burning could have influenced soil charcoal concentrations and soil colour.

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Soil Carbon Sequestration by Holocene Fires Inferred from Soil Charcoal in the Dry French Alps

Cited by 28 publications

References 23 publications

Charcoal and Total Carbon in Soils from Foothills Shrublands to Subalpine Forests in the Colorado Front Range

Charcoal and Total Carbon in Soils from Foothills Shrublands to Subalpine Forests in the Colorado Front Range

Black (pyrogenic) carbon: a synthesis of current knowledge and uncertainties with special consideration of boreal regions

Minor changes in soil organic carbon and charcoal concentrations detected in a temperate deciduous forest a year after an experimental slash-and-burn

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