Abstract
Aims
In many mixed grass-shrub ecosystems, increased shrub biomass tends to promote overall carbon storage, but the distribution of carbon pools may be complicated by disturbances such as wildfires. We investigated the spatial distribution of surface soil organic carbon (SOC) and its relative contribution from grasses and shrubs after fires in a grass-shrub transition zone in the northern Chihuahuan Desert, USA.
Methods
We used a prescribed fire to create a burned treatment, then collected soil and plant samples. The biogeochemical approaches, geostatistical analyses, and carbon partitioning analyses were used to quantify the SOC and soil δ13C spatial patterns.
Results
Before the prescribed fire, up to 98% of the spatial dependence of SOC was autocorrelated at a distance of 1.91 m, corresponding to the approximate average shrub canopy diameter, but the spatial dependence dropped to 81% at a larger autocorrelation distance (3.74 m) two windy seasons after the fire. C4 grasses and C3 shrubs contributed approximately equal amounts of carbon to the surface SOC pool before the prescribed fire. However, C4 grasses became the dominant source of SOC two windy seasons following the fire. For individual microsites, a substantially increased proportion of SOC was derived from C4 grasses at the shrub microsites following the fire.
Conclusions
The higher proportion of C4 grasses-derived SOC at the shrub microsites post-fire suggests that SOC may have preferred pathways to move among different microsites following fire disturbance. The distinct spatial distribution patterns of δ13C, and the increased contribution of SOC from grasses may be explained by the rapid recovery of grasses following the fire. Overall, our results provide insights into how fire might be used as a management tool to alter soil carbon pools in the context of shrub encroachment.
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Abbreviations
- SOC:
-
Soil organic carbon
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Acknowledgements
This research was supported by the U.S. National Science Foundation Award EAR-1451489 for J. Li, EAR-1451518 for S. Ravi, and the Sevilleta LTER Summer Research Fellowship for G. Wang. The authors greatly acknowledge Jon Erz, Eric Krueger and Andy Lopez (FWS, SNWR), Scott Collins and Amaris Swan (Sevilleta LTER, New Mexico), and Julie McDonald (The University of Tulsa) for their assistance in field work and laboratory analysis. This manuscript is submitted for publication with the understanding that the US Government is authorized to reproduce and distribute reprints for Governmental purposes. Any use of trade, firm, or product names is for descriptive purposes only and does not imply endorsement by the U.S. Government. The data used in the paper can be accessed at http://sev.lternet.edu/ (DOI: doi:https://doi.org/10.6073/pasta/993cd7029af115ee4508c2a688af7bf9).
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Wang, G., Li, J., Ravi, S. et al. Fire changes the spatial distribution and sources of soil organic carbon in a grassland-shrubland transition zone. Plant Soil 435, 309–321 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11104-018-3895-z
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11104-018-3895-z