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Science 2 May 2008:
Vol. 320. no. 5876, p. 629
DOI: 10.1126/science.1154960
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Brevia

Fire-Derived Charcoal Causes Loss of Forest Humus

David A. Wardle,* Marie-Charlotte Nilsson, Olle Zackrisson

Fire is a global driver of carbon storage and converts a substantial proportion of plant biomass to black carbon (for example, charcoal), which remains in the soil for thousands of years. Black carbon is therefore often proposed as an important long-term sink of soil carbon. We ran a 10-year experiment in each of three boreal forest stands to show that fire-derived charcoal promotes loss of forest humus and that this is associated with enhancement of microbial activity by charcoal. This result shows that charcoal-induced losses of belowground carbon in forests can partially offset the benefits of charcoal as a long-term carbon sink.

Department of Forest Ecology and Management, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, SE901-83 Umeå, Sweden.

* To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: david.wardle{at}svek.slu.se

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THIS ARTICLE HAS BEEN CITED BY OTHER ARTICLES:
Comment on "Fire-Derived Charcoal Causes Loss of Forest Humus".
J. Lehmann and S. Sohi (2008)
Science 321, 1295c
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Response to Comment on "Fire-Derived Charcoal Causes Loss of Forest Humus".
D. A. Wardle, M.-C. Nilsson, and O. Zackrisson (2008)
Science 321, 1295d
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »


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Science. ISSN 0036-8075 (print), 1095-9203 (online)