Biogeosciences
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4
3
2007
10.5194/bg-4-377-2007
http://www.biogeosciences.net/4/377/2007/
http://www.biogeosciences.net/4/377/2007/bg-4-377-2007.html
http://www.biogeosciences.net/4/377/2007/bg-4-377-2007.pdf
377
383
2007-06-22
Minor changes in soil organic carbon and charcoal concentrations detected in a temperate deciduous forest a year after an experimental slash-and-burn
E. Eckmeier
eckmeier@geo.unizh.ch
R. Gerlach
J. O. Skjemstad
O. Ehrmann
M. W. I. Schmidt
University of Zurich, Department of Geography, Winterthurerstrasse 190, 8057 Zurich, Switzerland
Rheinisches Amt für Bodendenkmalpflege, Endenicher Str. 133, 53115 Bonn, Germany
CSIRO Land and Water, PMB 2, Glen Osmond, SA 5064, Australia
Münster 12, 97933 Creglingen, Germany
Anthropogenic fires affected the temperate deciduous forests of Central
Europe over millennia. Biomass burning releases carbon to the atmosphere and
produces charcoal, which potentially contributes to the stable soil carbon
pools and is an important archive of environmental history. The fate of
charcoal in soils of temperate deciduous forests, i.e. the processes of
charcoal incorporation and transportation and the effects on soil organic
matter are still not clear. We investigated the effects of slash-and-burn at
a long-term experimental burning site and determined soil organic carbon and
charcoal carbon concentrations as well as the soil lightness of colour (L*)
in the topmost soil material (0–1, 1–2.5 and 2.5–5 cm depths) before,
immediately after the fire and one year later. The main results are that (i)
only a few of the charcoal particles from the forest floor were incorporated
into the soil matrix, presumably by soil mixing animals. In the 0–1 cm
layer, during one year, the charcoal C concentration increased only by
0.4 g kg<sup>−1</sup> and the proportion of charcoal C to SOC concentration increased
from 2.8 to 3.4%; (ii) the SOC concentrations did not show any
significant differences; (iii) soil lightness decreased significantly in the
topmost soil layer and correlated well with the concentrations of charcoal C
(<i>r</i>=−0.87**) and SOC (<i>r</i>=−0.94**) in the samples from the 0–5 cm layer. We
concluded that Holocene biomass burning could have influenced soil charcoal
concentrations and soil colour.
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