摘要：Forest fires contribute a significant amount of CO2 to the atmosphere each year, and CO2 emissions from fires are likely to increase under projected conditions of global climate change. In addition to volatilizing aboveground biomass and litter layers, forest fires have a profound effect on belowground carbon (C) pools and the cycling of soil organic matter as a whole. However, the influence of fire on belowground organic matter cycling is not well defined and varies widely with fire severity. We measured soil organic matter (SOM) characteristics across a range of fire severities two years after the 2002 Biscuit Fire in southwest Oregon, USA, to address the following questions: (1) Which C pools are preferentially volatilized or transformed to charcoal under low-severity and high-severity fire? (2) How does fire change the distribution of SOM among density fractions and depths? (3) How does fire affect the general character of SOM including such variables as abundance, C:N ratio, 13C abundance, and 14C abundance? We examined soils from a mixed hardwood-evergreen forest across a range of burn severities: unburned, low severity, mixed severity, and high severity. Results indicated that increasing burn severity led to progressive loss of forest floor mass, but not to progressive loss of C from the mineral soil. Although fire significantly increased the charcoal content of the soils, fire did not significantly change the distribution of soil organic matter between heavy and free or light fractions. Other significant changes in soil organic matter characteristics included a progressive increase in nitrogen (N) with increasing burn severity, possibly due to the encroachment of N-fixing shrubs following the loss of native vegetation. Although qualitative changes in total root abundance following fire were noted, differences among burn severity treatments were not statistically significant. Increased concentrations of rock fragments in burned areas may be suggestive of erosion in these areas, consistent with previous studies documenting varying degrees of soil erosion following fire. In addition, although 13C abundances were similar among severely burned and unburned plots, soils from severely burned plots were significantly depleted in 14C in comparison to soils from unburned plots. This 14C depletion is most likely the combined result of erosion and preferential combustion of organics enriched in 14C relative to the bulk soil, perhaps reflecting a historical pattern of fire occurrence and severity across the landscape.
关键词：Biscuit Fire ; charcoal ; density separation ; radiocarbon ; soil organic matter ; wildfire
