Fire exclusion, pyrogenic carbon, and ecosystem function: What have we lost?

IF 3.3 2区地球科学 Q2 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES

Anthropocene Pub Date : 2024-06-01 DOI:10.1016/j.ancene.2024.100438

Si Gao , Cristina Eisenberg , Scott L. Morford , Thomas H. DeLuca

引用次数: 0

Abstract

Settler colonialism and active fire exclusion greatly eliminated recurrent fire from forests and grasslands in the United States. Pyrogenic carbon (PyC), a key legacy of fire and a stable form of carbon (C) in soils, has inadvertently been lost with the cessation of biomass burning. Using a simple simulation, we estimate that fire exclusion from grasslands over the last 125 years has resulted in a loss of 963–1,028 Tg of PyC, approximately equivalent to a 12% - 22% decline in the soil PyC reservoir. This loss of PyC from grassland ecosystems and the lack of introduction of fresh PyC has likely had a significant impact on soil health in the Great Plains. To rebuild this lost stable C pool and the associated ecosystem function of PyC, we recommend combining Indigenous Knowledge and western science to restore historical fire regimes to forests and grasslands and reintroduce PyC via biochar application to agricultural fields.

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火灾排斥、热原碳和生态系统功能：我们失去了什么？

定居殖民主义和积极的防火措施大大消除了美国森林和草地中的经常性火灾。火烧碳（PyC）是火烧留下的重要遗产，也是土壤中碳（C）的一种稳定形式，随着生物量燃烧的停止而无意中消失了。通过简单的模拟，我们估计在过去的 125 年中，草原上的火灾导致了 963-1,028 兆吨的 PyC 损失，大约相当于土壤中 PyC 储库减少了 12%-22% 。草原生态系统中 PyC 的流失以及缺乏新鲜 PyC 的引入可能对大平原的土壤健康产生了重大影响。为了重建失去的稳定碳库以及 PyC 的相关生态系统功能，我们建议将土著知识与西方科学相结合，恢复森林和草地的历史火灾制度，并通过在农田施用生物炭重新引入 PyC。

本文章由计算机程序翻译，如有差异，请以英文原文为准。

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来源期刊

Anthropocene Earth and Planetary Sciences-Earth and Planetary Sciences (miscellaneous)

CiteScore

6.30

自引率

0.00%

发文量

审稿时长

102 days

期刊介绍： Anthropocene is an interdisciplinary journal that publishes peer-reviewed works addressing the nature, scale, and extent of interactions that people have with Earth processes and systems. The scope of the journal includes the significance of human activities in altering Earth’s landscapes, oceans, the atmosphere, cryosphere, and ecosystems over a range of time and space scales - from global phenomena over geologic eras to single isolated events - including the linkages, couplings, and feedbacks among physical, chemical, and biological components of Earth systems. The journal also addresses how such alterations can have profound effects on, and implications for, human society. As the scale and pace of human interactions with Earth systems have intensified in recent decades, understanding human-induced alterations in the past and present is critical to our ability to anticipate, mitigate, and adapt to changes in the future. The journal aims to provide a venue to focus research findings, discussions, and debates toward advancing predictive understanding of human interactions with Earth systems - one of the grand challenges of our time.