Soil carbon storage capacity of drylands under altered fire regimes
(2023) In Nature Climate Change 13(10). p.1089-1094- Abstract
The determinants of fire-driven changes in soil organic carbon (SOC) across broad environmental gradients remains unclear, especially in global drylands. Here we combined datasets and field sampling of fire-manipulation experiments to evaluate where and why fire changes SOC and compared our statistical model to simulations from ecosystem models. Drier ecosystems experienced larger relative changes in SOC than humid ecosystems—in some cases exceeding losses from plant biomass pools—primarily explained by high fire-driven declines in tree biomass inputs in dry ecosystems. Many ecosystem models underestimated the SOC changes in drier ecosystems. Upscaling our statistical model predicted that soils in savannah–grassland regions may have... (More)
The determinants of fire-driven changes in soil organic carbon (SOC) across broad environmental gradients remains unclear, especially in global drylands. Here we combined datasets and field sampling of fire-manipulation experiments to evaluate where and why fire changes SOC and compared our statistical model to simulations from ecosystem models. Drier ecosystems experienced larger relative changes in SOC than humid ecosystems—in some cases exceeding losses from plant biomass pools—primarily explained by high fire-driven declines in tree biomass inputs in dry ecosystems. Many ecosystem models underestimated the SOC changes in drier ecosystems. Upscaling our statistical model predicted that soils in savannah–grassland regions may have gained 0.64 PgC due to net-declines in burned area over the past approximately two decades. Consequently, ongoing declines in fire frequencies have probably created an extensive carbon sink in the soils of global drylands that may have been underestimated by ecosystem models.
(Less)
- author
- organization
-
- LU Profile Area: Nature-based future solutions
- Dept of Physical Geography and Ecosystem Science
- MERGE: ModElling the Regional and Global Earth system
- BECC: Biodiversity and Ecosystem services in a Changing Climate
- LTH Profile Area: Aerosols
- eSSENCE: The e-Science Collaboration
- MERGE: ModElling the Regional and Global Earth System
- publishing date
- 2023-10
- type
- Contribution to journal
- publication status
- published
- subject
- in
- Nature Climate Change
- volume
- 13
- issue
- 10
- pages
- 6 pages
- publisher
- Nature Publishing Group
- external identifiers
-
- scopus:85173121809
- ISSN
- 1758-678X
- DOI
- 10.1038/s41558-023-01800-7
- language
- English
- LU publication?
- yes
- additional info
- Publisher Copyright: © 2023, The Author(s).
- id
- e53e7c3a-4879-4a74-b453-b123ec44692e
- date added to LUP
- 2023-10-16 10:23:06
- date last changed
- 2024-05-03 14:23:01
@article{e53e7c3a-4879-4a74-b453-b123ec44692e, abstract = {{<p>The determinants of fire-driven changes in soil organic carbon (SOC) across broad environmental gradients remains unclear, especially in global drylands. Here we combined datasets and field sampling of fire-manipulation experiments to evaluate where and why fire changes SOC and compared our statistical model to simulations from ecosystem models. Drier ecosystems experienced larger relative changes in SOC than humid ecosystems—in some cases exceeding losses from plant biomass pools—primarily explained by high fire-driven declines in tree biomass inputs in dry ecosystems. Many ecosystem models underestimated the SOC changes in drier ecosystems. Upscaling our statistical model predicted that soils in savannah–grassland regions may have gained 0.64 PgC due to net-declines in burned area over the past approximately two decades. Consequently, ongoing declines in fire frequencies have probably created an extensive carbon sink in the soils of global drylands that may have been underestimated by ecosystem models.</p>}}, author = {{Pellegrini, Adam F.A. and Reich, Peter B. and Hobbie, Sarah E. and Coetsee, Corli and Wigley, Benjamin and February, Edmund and Georgiou, Katerina and Terrer, Cesar and Brookshire, E. N.J. and Ahlström, Anders and Nieradzik, Lars and Sitch, Stephen and Melton, Joe R. and Forrest, Matthew and Li, Fang and Hantson, Stijn and Burton, Chantelle and Yue, Chao and Ciais, Philippe and Jackson, Robert B.}}, issn = {{1758-678X}}, language = {{eng}}, number = {{10}}, pages = {{1089--1094}}, publisher = {{Nature Publishing Group}}, series = {{Nature Climate Change}}, title = {{Soil carbon storage capacity of drylands under altered fire regimes}}, url = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41558-023-01800-7}}, doi = {{10.1038/s41558-023-01800-7}}, volume = {{13}}, year = {{2023}}, }