Long-term summer warming reduces post-fire carbon dioxide losses in an arctic heath tundra
Publikation: Bidrag til tidsskrift › Tidsskriftartikel › Forskning › fagfællebedømt
Standard
Long-term summer warming reduces post-fire carbon dioxide losses in an arctic heath tundra. / Xu, Wenyi; Elberling, Bo; Ambus, Per Lennart.
I: Agricultural and Forest Meteorology, Bind 344, 109823, 2024.Publikation: Bidrag til tidsskrift › Tidsskriftartikel › Forskning › fagfællebedømt
Harvard
APA
Vancouver
Author
Bibtex
}
RIS
TY - JOUR
T1 - Long-term summer warming reduces post-fire carbon dioxide losses in an arctic heath tundra
AU - Xu, Wenyi
AU - Elberling, Bo
AU - Ambus, Per Lennart
N1 - Publisher Copyright: © 2023 The Author(s)
PY - 2024
Y1 - 2024
N2 - The frequency and extent of wildfires in the Arctic has been increasing due to climate change. However, there is a lack of understanding about long-term impacts of climate warming on post-fire carbon dioxide (CO2) exchange in arctic tundra ecosystems. To investigate this, we conducted an experimental low-intensity fire in combination with summer warming (using open top chambers) in a dry heath tundra ecosystem in West Greenland. We report here on the impact four and five years after the fire. We also examined immediate effects of soil heating to three temperature levels (35, 55 and 80 °C), as a simulation of heat transfer during a typical tundra fire. Fire increased soil organic phosphorus concentrations up to at least four years after the burning. The burned areas remained a net CO2 source five years after the fire, mainly due to the lower aboveground vegetation biomass and reduced gross ecosystem production (GEP). However, with four to five years of summer warming, the GEP, ecosystem respiration and soil respiration significantly increased, and burned areas turned into a net CO2 sink. Ex-situ soil heating to the temperature of 55 °C, reaching the heat load comparable with in-situ burning, had minor effects on soil GHG fluxes. This suggests that soil GHG activities are not immediately affected by heat transfer and associated soil temperature increases during a typical low-intensity wildfire in arctic dry tundra. Overall, our results reveal that in a future warmer climate, vegetation is likely to recover more quickly from fires, resulting in a reduction in post-fire CO2 losses.
AB - The frequency and extent of wildfires in the Arctic has been increasing due to climate change. However, there is a lack of understanding about long-term impacts of climate warming on post-fire carbon dioxide (CO2) exchange in arctic tundra ecosystems. To investigate this, we conducted an experimental low-intensity fire in combination with summer warming (using open top chambers) in a dry heath tundra ecosystem in West Greenland. We report here on the impact four and five years after the fire. We also examined immediate effects of soil heating to three temperature levels (35, 55 and 80 °C), as a simulation of heat transfer during a typical tundra fire. Fire increased soil organic phosphorus concentrations up to at least four years after the burning. The burned areas remained a net CO2 source five years after the fire, mainly due to the lower aboveground vegetation biomass and reduced gross ecosystem production (GEP). However, with four to five years of summer warming, the GEP, ecosystem respiration and soil respiration significantly increased, and burned areas turned into a net CO2 sink. Ex-situ soil heating to the temperature of 55 °C, reaching the heat load comparable with in-situ burning, had minor effects on soil GHG fluxes. This suggests that soil GHG activities are not immediately affected by heat transfer and associated soil temperature increases during a typical low-intensity wildfire in arctic dry tundra. Overall, our results reveal that in a future warmer climate, vegetation is likely to recover more quickly from fires, resulting in a reduction in post-fire CO2 losses.
KW - Ecosystem respiration
KW - Greenland
KW - Gross ecosystem production
KW - Net ecosystem exchange
KW - Soil heating
KW - Vegetation recovery
U2 - 10.1016/j.agrformet.2023.109823
DO - 10.1016/j.agrformet.2023.109823
M3 - Journal article
AN - SCOPUS:85178060105
VL - 344
JO - Agricultural and Forest Meteorology
JF - Agricultural and Forest Meteorology
SN - 0168-1923
M1 - 109823
ER -
ID: 380699039