HR: 08:35h
AN: A31C-03 INVITED     [Abstracts]
TI: Boreal Forests and Wildlfire Severity - Effects of Climate Change and the Fire Regime on Processes Influencing Biogeochemical Cycles
AU: * Kasischke, E S
EM: ekasisch@geog.umd.edu
AF: Department of Geography University of Maryland, 2181 LeFrak Hall, College Park, MD 20742 United States
AU: Turetsky, M R
EM: mrt@msu.edu
AF: Department of Plant Biology, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI 48824-1312 United States
AU: Johnstone, J F
EM: jjohnsto@yukoncollege@yk.ca
AF: University of Alaska, Fairbanks Campus, Fairbanks, AK 99775 United States
AU: McGuire, A D
EM: ffadm@uaf.edu
AF: University of Alaska, Fairbanks Campus, Fairbanks, AK 99775 United States
AU: Chapin, F S
EM: fffsc@uaf.edu
AF: University of Alaska, Fairbanks Campus, Fairbanks, AK 99775 United States
AU: Harden, J W
EM: jharden@usgs.gov
AF: U.S. Geological Survey, 345 Middlefield Rd, Menlo Park, CA 94025 United States
AU: Manies, K
EM: kmanies@usgs.gov
AF: U.S. Geological Survey, 345 Middlefield Rd, Menlo Park, CA 94025 United States
AU: Bourgeau-Chavez, L
EM: laura.chavez@gd-ais.com
AF: Ocean and Terrestrial Applications Group General Dynamics Advanced Information Systems, P.O. Box 990, Ypsilanti, MI 48197 United States
AB: Recent warming trends in the North American boreal forest region (NABR) have resulted in a dramatic increase in annual burned area between the 1960s and 1990s. This rise is the result of an increase in the frequency of large (greater than 2.5 percent of long-term annual area burned) and very-large (greater than 5 percent of long-term annual area burned) fire years that occur at regional scales. Changes in the fire regime may be particularly important for carbon cycling in the black spruce forests that are common throughout the NABR. These forests are a large terrestrial carbon sink because the presence of permafrost in many sites leads to the formation of deep organic layers. During fires in NABR black spruce forests, the surface organic layer is consumed to varying degrees, which in turn affects the permafrost at the site as well as post-fire vegetation recovery. Here we will present recent observations from studies in Alaska on how variations in surface fuel consumption affect carbon emissions, soil temperature and moisture, and post-fire vegetation recovery. We will present observations on factors contributing to large and very-large fire years in Alaska, and hypotheses as to how these factors may influence processes controlling carbon cycling.
DE: 0400 BIOGEOSCIENCES
DE: 0414 Biogeochemical cycles, processes, and modeling (0412, 0793, 1615, 4805, 4912)
DE: 0426 Biosphere/atmosphere interactions (0315)
DE: 0428 Carbon cycling (4806)
DE: 0439 Ecosystems, structure and dynamics (4815)
SC: Atmospheric Sciences [A]
MN: Fall Meeting 2005