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Type: Journal Article
Author(s): M. R.A. Pingree; P. S. Homann; B. Morrissette; R. Darbyshire
Publication Date: June 2012

In 2002, the Biscuit Wildfire burned a portion of the previously established, replicated conifer unthinned and thinned experimental units of the Siskiyou Long-Term Ecosystem Productivity (LTEP) experiment, southwest Oregon. Charcoal C in pre and post-fire O horizon and mineral soil was quantified by physical separation and a peroxide-acid digestion method. The abrupt, short-term fire event caused O horizon charcoal C to increase by a factor of ten to >200 kg C ha-1. The thinned wildfire treatment produced less charcoal C than unthinned wildfire and thinned prescribed fire treatments. The charcoal formation rate was 1 to 8% of woody fuels consumed, and this percentage was negatively related to woody fuels consumed, resulting in less charcoal formation with greater fire severity. Charcoal C averaged 2000 kg ha-1 in 0-3 cm mineral soil and may have decreased as a result of fire, coincident with convective or erosive loss of mineral soil. Charcoal C in 3-15 cm mineral soil was stable at 5500 kg C ha-1. Long-term soil C sequestration in the Siskiyou LTEP soils is greatly influenced by the contribution of charcoal C, which makes up 20% of mineral soil organic C. This research reiterates the importance of fire to soil C in a southwestern Oregon coniferous forest ecosystem.

Citation: Pingree, M. R. A., P. S. Homann, B. Morrissette, and R. Darbyshire. 2012. Long and short-term effects of fire on soil charcoal of a conifer forest in southwest Oregon. Forests, v. 3, no. 2, p. 353-369. 10.3390/f3020353.

Cataloging Information

Topics:
Regions:
Keywords:
  • Biscuit Wildfire
  • black carbon
  • carbon
  • charcoal
  • charcoal
  • coniferous forests
  • fire case histories
  • fire management
  • forest management
  • mineral soils
  • nitrogen
  • Oregon
  • peroxide-acid digestion
  • pre-and post-fire measurement
  • soil carbon
  • soil change
  • soil nutrients
  • thinning
  • wildfire
  • wildfires
  • woody fuels
Tall Timbers Record Number: 28989Location Status: Not in fileCall Number: AvailableAbstract Status: Okay, Fair use, Reproduced by permission
Record Last Modified:
Record Maintained By: FRAMES Staff (https://www.frames.gov/contact)
FRAMES Record Number: 51968

This bibliographic record was either created or modified by Tall Timbers and is provided without charge to promote research and education in Fire Ecology. The E.V. Komarek Fire Ecology Database is the intellectual property of Tall Timbers.