Fire in boreal black spruce (Picea mariana mill.) forests: respiration, temperature sensitivity, and bioavailability of soil organic matter

Abstract

Boreal forests store large quantities of carbon (C) and currently act as atmospheric C sinks; however, predicted increases in temperature and fire frequency may change the boreal forest from a net C sink to a net source. This study evaluates the response of organic soil C and nitrogen (N) mineralization, and the bioavailability of C and N to burning in non-permafrost upland black spruce stands in Interior Alaska. Two years after an experimental wildfire, burned soils were warmer than control soils at all depths measured, and decay of common substrates was greater in the burned than in the control soils. Burned soils had higher concentrations of total C, lignin, N, and mineral N, and lower concentrations of dissolved organic carbon (DOC) and soluble organic matter. However, apparent differences in organic matter quality did not correlate well with respiration metrics. In laboratory incubations, burned soils respired less than control soils, and this difference was entirely due to differences on the first day of the incubation. Mean Q₁₀ values ranged from 2.1 to 2.5 and were greater in the burned soils than in the control soils.