Drivers of legacy soil organic matter decomposition after fire in boreal forests in Northwest Territories, Canada, 2014 ...

• Main Authors: Izbiki, Brian, Walker, Xanthe J., Mack, Michelle C.
• Format: Dataset
• Language: English
• Published: NSF Arctic Data Center 2023
• Subjects: Canada; Northwest Territories
• Online Access: https://dx.doi.org/10.18739/a2tq5rg23; https://arcticdata.io/catalog/view/doi:10.18739/A2TQ5RG23

Boreal forests harbor as much carbon (C) as the atmosphere and significant amounts of organic nitrogen (N), the nutrient most likely to limit plant productivity in high-latitude ecosystems. In the boreal biome, the primary disturbance is wildfire, which consumes plant biomass and soil material, emits greenhouse gasses, and influences long-term C and N cycling. Climate warming and drying is increasing wildfire severity and frequency and is combusting more soil organic matter (SOM). Combustion of surface SOM exposes deeper older layers of accumulated soil material that previously escaped combustion during past fires, here termed legacy SOM. Postfire SOM decomposition and nutrient availability are determined by these layers, but the drivers of legacy SOM decomposition are unknown. We collected soils from plots after the largest fire year on record in the Northwest Territories, Canada, in 2014. We used radiocarbon dating to measure Δ14C (soil age index), soil extractions to quantify N pools and microbial ...