Fire in lichen-rich subarctic tundra changes carbon and nitrogen cycling between ecosystem compartments but has minor effects on stocks
Fires are predicted to increase in Arctic regions due to ongoing climate change. Tundra fires can alter carbon and nutrient cycling and release a substantial quantity of greenhouse gases with global consequences. Yet, the long-term effects of tundra fires on carbon (C) and nitrogen (N) stocks and cy...
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COPERNICUS GESELLSCHAFT MBH
2022
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Online Access: | https://www.utupub.fi/handle/10024/162262 https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-19-2729-2022 |
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ftunivturku:oai:www.utupub.fi:10024/162262 2023-05-15T15:11:41+02:00 Fire in lichen-rich subarctic tundra changes carbon and nitrogen cycling between ecosystem compartments but has minor effects on stocks Heim Ramona J. Schilling Dora Lampei Christian Kutskir Valeriya Sulkarnaev Farid Heim Wieland Knorr Klaus-Holger Bucharova Anna Pechkin Alexandr Yurtaev Andrey Hoelzel Norbert ekologia ja evoluutiobiologia, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology 2606402 2022-10-28T13:01:29Z 2729 2740 https://www.utupub.fi/handle/10024/162262 https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-19-2729-2022 en eng COPERNICUS GESELLSCHAFT MBH Saksa Germany DE 19 10.5194/bg-19-2729-2022 Biogeosciences 10 https://www.utupub.fi/handle/10024/162262 https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-19-2729-2022 URN:NBN:fi-fe2022081154391 1726-4189 1726-4170 2022 ftunivturku https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-19-2729-2022 2022-11-03T00:00:30Z Fires are predicted to increase in Arctic regions due to ongoing climate change. Tundra fires can alter carbon and nutrient cycling and release a substantial quantity of greenhouse gases with global consequences. Yet, the long-term effects of tundra fires on carbon (C) and nitrogen (N) stocks and cycling are still unclear. Here we used a space-for-time approach to investigate the long-term fire effects on C and N stocks and cycling in soil and aboveground living biomass. We collected data from three large fire scars (>44, 28, and 12 years old) and corresponding control areas and used linear mixed-effect models in a Bayesian framework to analyse long-term development of C and N stocks and cycling after fire.We found that tundra fires had no long-term effect on total C and N stocks because a major part of the stocks was located belowground in soils which were largely unaltered by fire. However, fire had a strong long-term effect on stocks in the aboveground vegetation, mainly due to the reduction in the lichen layer. Fire reduced N concentrations in graminoids and herbs on the younger fire scars, which affected respective C/N ratios and may indicate an increased post-fire competition between vascular plants. Aboveground plant biomass was depleted in C-13 in all three fire scars. In soil, the relative abundance of C-13 changed with time after fire.Our results indicate that in lichen-rich subarctic tundra ecosystems, the contribution of fires to the release of additional carbon to the atmosphere might be relatively small as soil stocks appear to be resilient within the observed time frame. Other/Unknown Material Arctic Climate change Subarctic Tundra University of Turku: UTUPub Arctic Biogeosciences 19 10 2729 2740 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
University of Turku: UTUPub |
op_collection_id |
ftunivturku |
language |
English |
description |
Fires are predicted to increase in Arctic regions due to ongoing climate change. Tundra fires can alter carbon and nutrient cycling and release a substantial quantity of greenhouse gases with global consequences. Yet, the long-term effects of tundra fires on carbon (C) and nitrogen (N) stocks and cycling are still unclear. Here we used a space-for-time approach to investigate the long-term fire effects on C and N stocks and cycling in soil and aboveground living biomass. We collected data from three large fire scars (>44, 28, and 12 years old) and corresponding control areas and used linear mixed-effect models in a Bayesian framework to analyse long-term development of C and N stocks and cycling after fire.We found that tundra fires had no long-term effect on total C and N stocks because a major part of the stocks was located belowground in soils which were largely unaltered by fire. However, fire had a strong long-term effect on stocks in the aboveground vegetation, mainly due to the reduction in the lichen layer. Fire reduced N concentrations in graminoids and herbs on the younger fire scars, which affected respective C/N ratios and may indicate an increased post-fire competition between vascular plants. Aboveground plant biomass was depleted in C-13 in all three fire scars. In soil, the relative abundance of C-13 changed with time after fire.Our results indicate that in lichen-rich subarctic tundra ecosystems, the contribution of fires to the release of additional carbon to the atmosphere might be relatively small as soil stocks appear to be resilient within the observed time frame. |
author2 |
ekologia ja evoluutiobiologia, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology 2606402 |
author |
Heim Ramona J. Schilling Dora Lampei Christian Kutskir Valeriya Sulkarnaev Farid Heim Wieland Knorr Klaus-Holger Bucharova Anna Pechkin Alexandr Yurtaev Andrey Hoelzel Norbert |
spellingShingle |
Heim Ramona J. Schilling Dora Lampei Christian Kutskir Valeriya Sulkarnaev Farid Heim Wieland Knorr Klaus-Holger Bucharova Anna Pechkin Alexandr Yurtaev Andrey Hoelzel Norbert Fire in lichen-rich subarctic tundra changes carbon and nitrogen cycling between ecosystem compartments but has minor effects on stocks |
author_facet |
Heim Ramona J. Schilling Dora Lampei Christian Kutskir Valeriya Sulkarnaev Farid Heim Wieland Knorr Klaus-Holger Bucharova Anna Pechkin Alexandr Yurtaev Andrey Hoelzel Norbert |
author_sort |
Heim Ramona J. |
title |
Fire in lichen-rich subarctic tundra changes carbon and nitrogen cycling between ecosystem compartments but has minor effects on stocks |
title_short |
Fire in lichen-rich subarctic tundra changes carbon and nitrogen cycling between ecosystem compartments but has minor effects on stocks |
title_full |
Fire in lichen-rich subarctic tundra changes carbon and nitrogen cycling between ecosystem compartments but has minor effects on stocks |
title_fullStr |
Fire in lichen-rich subarctic tundra changes carbon and nitrogen cycling between ecosystem compartments but has minor effects on stocks |
title_full_unstemmed |
Fire in lichen-rich subarctic tundra changes carbon and nitrogen cycling between ecosystem compartments but has minor effects on stocks |
title_sort |
fire in lichen-rich subarctic tundra changes carbon and nitrogen cycling between ecosystem compartments but has minor effects on stocks |
publisher |
COPERNICUS GESELLSCHAFT MBH |
publishDate |
2022 |
url |
https://www.utupub.fi/handle/10024/162262 https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-19-2729-2022 |
geographic |
Arctic |
geographic_facet |
Arctic |
genre |
Arctic Climate change Subarctic Tundra |
genre_facet |
Arctic Climate change Subarctic Tundra |
op_relation |
19 10.5194/bg-19-2729-2022 Biogeosciences 10 https://www.utupub.fi/handle/10024/162262 https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-19-2729-2022 URN:NBN:fi-fe2022081154391 1726-4189 1726-4170 |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-19-2729-2022 |
container_title |
Biogeosciences |
container_volume |
19 |
container_issue |
10 |
container_start_page |
2729 |
op_container_end_page |
2740 |
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1766342501818433536 |