HR: 1340h
AN: B43D-1589    [Abstracts]
TI: The Effect of Fire on Soil Respiration Rates in Siberia Scotch Pine Forest
AU: * Baker, S P
EM: sbaker03@fs.fed.us
AF: USFS Rocky Mountain Research Station, Fire Sciences Laboratory 5775 US Hwy. 10 W., Missoula, MT 59808, United States
AU: Bogorodskaya, A
EM: anbog@ksc.krasn.ru
AF: Sukachev Institute of Forest Research, Russian Academy of Sciences, Siberian Branch, Akademgorodok, Krasnoyarsk, 660036, Russian Federation
AB: Russian boreal forests contain approximately 25% of the world's terrestrial biomass storage, and have an annual wildfire activity averaging 10 to 15 million ha, that has been increasing in recent years. Wildfire activity, in response to changing climate has the potential to significantly affect the carbon storage capacity of Siberian forests. Experimental fires were conducted on a total of 13 plots (4 ha) at 3 Scotch pine sites in central Siberia from 2000 to 2003. Fire intensities on the plots ranged from low to medium with one high fire intensity plot. Soil respiration was measured immediately before and after burning, and has been measured annually on the burn plots and controls for the last five years through 2007. A systematic grid point sampling scheme was employed on each plot. The soil respiration rate was reduced by an average of 71% one day after burning for all plots measured. Regressions of soil respiration vs. fireline intensity, and other measures of fire severity had r² values of .6 to .9. These relationships are tracked as the burns age and soil respiration recovers. On one of the sites, after 3 years soil respiration rates of the burn plots had recovered to approximately 60% of the adjacent control plot rates. Soil respiration rates in mid- summer are presented for Siberia Scotch pine forest for control and 1 to 5 year old burn plots of different fire severity classes. These results are part of the Russian FIREBEAR (Fire Effects in the Boreal Eurasia Region) Project, which quantifies the impacts of fire severity on ecosystem processes, emissions, and the carbon cycle. The annual measurements of soil respiration will continue, to get a better understanding of how soil respiration rates are changing and how they recover after fire in Siberia Scotch Pine forests.
DE: 0426 Biosphere/atmosphere interactions (0315)
DE: 0428 Carbon cycling (4806)
SC: Biogeosciences [B]
MN: 2007 Fall Meeting