Impacts of a changing fire frequency on soil carbon stocks in interior Alaskan boreal forests

Elizabeth E Hoy, University of Maryland, elizabeth.hoy@gmail.com (Presenter)
Eric S. Kasischke, University of Maryland, ekasisch@umd.edu

Numerous changes have been observed in the fire regime of the North American boreal forest, and climate change has been cited as a possible control. There have been significant increases in average area burned across this region, which has lead to increasing fire frequency. These changes in the fire regime have important implications for carbon cycling and carbon storage. In the interior boreal forests of Alaska alone, black spruce (Picea mariana) forests represent 45% of the landscape and have deep organic soils that represent the dominant terrestrial carbon reservoir in this region (1140.4 ± 117.3 Tg C). This research assesses the impacts of changes in fire frequency on carbon reservoirs present in the surface organic soils of black spruce forests using a combination of geospatial and field data. The vulnerability of the landscape to more frequent reburning has been examined through analyses of multiple geospatial and remote sensing datasets, including Landsat TM/ETM+ data. Currently over 30% of the interior has burned since 1950, and 5% of the interior has burned 2 or more times in that period. Field-based research has shown the impacts of fire frequency on the amount of residual soil organic matter remaining following fire through comparisons of mature and immature burned stands. Through this better understanding of frequent reburning within black spruce forests it will be possible to better model carbon stocks throughout this region.

Presentation Type:  Poster

Session:  Global Change Impact & Vulnerability   (Tue 11:30 AM)

Associated Project(s): 

• Kasischke, Eric: The influence of fire-free interval on carbon cycling in the Alaskan boreal forest ...details

Poster Location ID: 210