Carbon Storage on Landscapes with Stand-replacing Fires

Abstract Many conifer forests experience stand-replacing wildfires, and these fires and subsequent recovery can change the amount of carbon released to the atmosphere because conifer forests contain large carbon stores. Stand-replacing fires switch ecosystems to being a net source of carbon as decomposition exceeds photosynthesis—a short-term effect (years to decades) that may be important over the next century if fire frequency increases. Over the long term (many centuries), net carbon storage through a fire cycle is zero if stands replace themselves. Therefore, equilibrium response of landscape carbon storage to changes in fire frequency will depend on how stand age distribution changes, on the carbon storage of different stand ages, and on postfire regeneration. In a case study of Yellowstone National Park, equilibrium values of landscape carbon storage were resistant to large changes in fire frequency because these forests regenerate quickly, the current fire interval is very long, the most rapid changes in carbon storage occur in the first century, and carbon storage is similar for stands of different ages. The conversion of forest to meadow or to sparser forest can have a large impact on landscape carbon storage, and this process is likely to be important for many conifer forests.

[1]  E. Kasischke,et al.  Environmental Controls on Soil Co2 Flux Following Fire in Black Spruce, White Spruce, and Aspen Stands of Interior Alaska , 2002 .

[2]  D. H. Knight,et al.  Coarse Woody Debris following Fire and Logging in Wyoming Lodgepole Pine Forests , 2000, Ecosystems.

[3]  B. Stocks,et al.  Effect of fire on soil‐atmosphere exchange of methane and carbon dioxide in Canadian boreal forest sites , 1997 .

[4]  R. K. Dixon,et al.  The global terrestrial carbon cycle , 1993 .

[5]  M. Turner,et al.  Landscape dynamics in crown fire ecosystems , 1994, Landscape Ecology.

[6]  M. Turner,et al.  THE INFLUENCE OF FIRE INTERVAL AND SEROTINY ON POSTFIRE LODGEPOLE PINE DENSITY IN YELLOWSTONE NATIONAL PARK , 2003 .

[7]  P. Bartlein,et al.  Future Climate in the Yellowstone National Park Region and Its Potential Impact on Vegetation , 1997 .

[8]  F. Smith,et al.  Age-related changes in production and below-ground carbon allocation in Pinus contorta forests , 1999 .

[9]  A. Lugo,et al.  Climate Change and Forest Disturbances , 2001 .

[10]  M. Harmon,et al.  Successional changes in live and dead wood carbon stores: implications for net ecosystem productivity. , 2002, Tree physiology.

[11]  E. Kasischke.  Effects of Climate Change and Fire on Carbon Storage in North American Boreal Forests , 2000 .

[12]  E. Kasischke,et al.  Carbon Release from Fires in the North American Boreal Forest , 2000 .

[13]  K. Erb.  Land use–related Changes in Aboveground Carbon Stocks of Austria’s Terrestrial Ecosystems , 2004, Ecosystems.

[14]  M. Heimann,et al.  Climate change. Managing forests after Kyoto. , 2000, Science.

[15]  D. Despain.  Yellowstone Vegetation: Consequences of Environment and History in a Natural Setting , 1990 .

[16]  S. Roxburgh,et al.  Forecasting landscape-level carbon sequestration using gridded, spatially adjusted tree growth , 2004 .

[17]  D. H. Knight,et al.  Biomass and Nutrient Accumulation During Stand Development in Wyoming Lodgepole Pine Forests. , 1987, Ecology.

[18]  M. Turner,et al.  Spatial heterogeneity of lodgepole pine sapling densities following the 1988 fires in Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming, USA , 2004 .

[19]  R. E. Schoenike.  Geographical Variations in Jack Pine (Pinus banksiana) , 1976 .

[20]  Johann G. Goldammer,et al.  Fire in the Environment: The Ecological, Atmospheric, and Climatic Importance of Vegetation Fires , 1994 .

[21]  Eric S. Kasischke,et al.  Modeling of geometric properties of loblolly pine tree and stand characteristics for use in radar backscatter studies , 1994, IEEE Trans. Geosci. Remote. Sens..

[22]  J. W. H. A R D E N,et al.  The role fire in the carbon budget , 1910 .

[23]  Christian Wirth,et al.  Managing Forests After Kyoto , 2000, Science.

[24]  Herman H. Shugart,et al.  Environmental Factors and Ecological Processes in Boreal Forests , 1989 .

[25]  Barbara L. Marks,et al.  Effects of silvicultural practices on carbon stores in Douglas-fir western hemlock forests in the Pacific Northwest, U.S.A.: results from a simulation model , 2002 .

[26]  Werner A. Kurz,et al.  A 70-YEAR RETROSPECTIVE ANALYSIS OF CARBON FLUXES IN THE CANADIAN FOREST SECTOR , 1999 .

[27]  Michael G. Ryan,et al.  Age-Related Decline in Forest Productivity: Pattern and Process , 1997 .

[28]  T. Givnish.  SEROTINY, GEOGRAPHY, AND FIRE IN THE PINE BARRENS OF NEW JERSEY , 1981, Evolution; international journal of organic evolution.

[29]  E. Kasischke,et al.  Stand-level effects of soil burn severity on postfire regeneration in a recently burned black spruce forest , 2005 .

[30]  B. Stocks,et al.  Some potential carbon budget implications of fire management in the boreal forest , 1996 .

[31]  E. Schulze,et al.  Fire and site type effects on the long-term carbon and nitrogen balance in pristine Siberian Scots pine forests , 2002, Plant and Soil.

[32]  M. Cannell,et al.  Long-term effects of fire frequency on carbon storage and productivity of boreal forests: a modeling study. , 2004, Tree physiology.

[33]  M. Turner,et al.  Influence of fire regimes on lodgepole pine stand age and density across the Yellowstone National Park (USA) landscape , 2006, Landscape Ecology.

[34]  M. Harmon,et al.  Effects on Carbon Storage of Conversion of Old-Growth Forests to Young Forests , 1990, Science.

[35]  E. Kasischke,et al.  Fire, Global Warming, and the Carbon Balance of Boreal Forests , 1995 .

[36]  Michael G. Ryan,et al.  EFFECTS OF TREE DENSITY AND STAND AGE ON CARBON ALLOCATION PATTERNS IN POSTFIRE LODGEPOLE PINE , 2004 .

[37]  Harbin Li,et al.  Modeling landscape net ecosystem productivity (LandNEP) under alternative management regimes , 2002 .

[38]  E. Kasischke,et al.  Variation in postfire organic layer thickness in a black spruce forest complex in interior Alaska and its effects on soil temperature and moisture , 2005 .

[39]  M. Mack,et al.  Isotopic composition of carbon dioxide from a boreal forest fire: Inferring carbon loss from measurements and modeling , 2003 .

[40]  David P. Turner,et al.  A Carbon Budget for Forests of the Conterminous United States , 1995 .

[41]  M. Turner,et al.  Landscape Patterns of Sapling Density, Leaf Area, and Aboveground Net Primary Production in Postfire Lodgepole Pine Forests, Yellowstone National Park (USA) , 2004, Ecosystems.

[42]  Kurt S. Pregitzer,et al.  Carbon cycling and storage in world forests: biome patterns related to forest age , 2004 .

[43]  Mark E. Harmon,et al.  Carbon Sequestration in Forests: Addressing the Scale Question , 2001 .

[44]  W. Romme,et al.  FIRE AND LANDSCAPE DIVERSITY IN SUBALPINE FORESTS OF YELLOWSTONE NATIONAL PARK , 1982 .

[45]  W. Hargrove,et al.  EFFECTS OF FIRE SIZE AND PATTERN ON EARLY SUCCESSION IN YELLOWSTONE NATIONAL PARK , 1997 .

[46]  F. Stuart Chapin,et al.  Effects of Soil Burn Severity on Post-Fire Tree Recruitment in Boreal Forest , 2006, Ecosystems.

[47]  Ronald P. Neilson,et al.  Potentially complex biosphere responses to transient global warming , 1998 .

[48]  Daniel M. Kashian,et al.  VARIABILITY AND CONVERGENCE IN STAND STRUCTURAL DEVELOPMENT ON A FIRE-DOMINATED SUBALPINE LANDSCAPE , 2005 .

[49]  K. Treseder,et al.  Experimental warming and burn severity alter soil CO2 flux and soil functional groups in a recently burned boreal forest , 2004 .

[50]  T. B. Carter,et al.  Forest wildfires as a recent source of CO2 at northern latitudes , 1993 .

[51]  R. Wein,et al.  Postfire vegetation recovery and tree establishment at the Arctic treeline: climate-change-vegetation-response hypotheses , 1993 .

[52]  P. Bartlein,et al.  Variations in fire frequency and climate over the past 17 000 yr in central Yellowstone National Park , 2000 .