Skip to main content

Lund University Publications

LUND UNIVERSITY LIBRARIES

Soil carbon storage capacity of drylands under altered fire regimes

Pellegrini, Adam F.A. ; Reich, Peter B. ; Hobbie, Sarah E. ; Coetsee, Corli ; Wigley, Benjamin ; February, Edmund ; Georgiou, Katerina ; Terrer, Cesar ; Brookshire, E. N.J. and Ahlström, Anders LU orcid , et al. (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)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
author
; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; and , et al. (More)
; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; and (Less)
organization
publishing date
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
2023-10-16 18:03:12
@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}},
}