Description
From the Introduction ... 'This chapter reports on a study to estimate carbon emissions from fires in the Russian boreal forest (excluding postfire forest regeneration). These emissions result from the effects of fire on the dynamics of the primary carbon pools of terrestrial ecosystems: phytomass, coarse woody debris, and soils. Fire-related carbon flux is divided into two parts: direct fire emissions and postfire emissions. Direct fire emission is the carbon released from biomass burning during the year in which the fire occurred. Postfire emissions are the result of both unburned residuals of forest combustibles (FC), postfire dieback (mortality), and changes in soil organic matter. Due to the significant interseasonal variation of the extent of fire and hence carbon emissions, the results are presented as the annual average for the period 1988-1992.The area evaluated in this study includes the Russian Forest Fund and state land reserves (all territories situated north of the forest zone). These categories represent 75% of the total land of Russia. The basic features of the fire regime in Russian forests are presented in Chapter 8.' © 2000 Springer-Verlag New York, Inc.