Estimating The Storage Of Carbon In Alaskan Boreal Forests And Its Release During Fires

Abstract

Boreal forests represent one of the earth’s largest terrestrial biomes, covering 15 96 of the total land surface of the earth. These ecosystems also contain one of the largest pools of terrestrial carbon, containing between 200 and 270 petagrams (1 petagram = 10’’ grams) of carbon (1). Fire plays a central role in the cycling of carbon in boreal forests. Fire results in a direct release of carbon through consumption of living and dead biomass in the vegetation and ground-layers of these forests, and indirectly causes carbon release through increased decomposition of dead and dissolved organic matter, which in tum is caused by the warming of the ground layer after fire (1,2).