Wildfire and harvesting effects on carbon dynamics in an oak-pine mixed forest

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Kaptanoglu A. S., NAMLI A.

IFOREST-BIOGEOSCIENCES AND FORESTRY, cilt.13, ss.435-440, 2020 (SCI-Expanded) identifier identifier

  • Yayın Türü: Makale / Tam Makale
  • Cilt numarası: 13
  • Basım Tarihi: 2020
  • Doi Numarası: 10.3832/ifor3312-013
  • Dergi Adı: IFOREST-BIOGEOSCIENCES AND FORESTRY
  • Derginin Tarandığı İndeksler: Science Citation Index Expanded (SCI-EXPANDED), Scopus, Academic Search Premier, CAB Abstracts, Veterinary Science Database, Directory of Open Access Journals
  • Sayfa Sayıları: ss.435-440
  • Anahtar Kelimeler: CO2 Evolution, beta-D Glucosidase Activity, qCO(2), Soil Microbial Biomass Carbon, Wildfire, SOIL MICROBIAL BIOMASS, MEDITERRANEAN FOREST, METABOLIC QUOTIENT, FIRE, NITROGEN, MICROORGANISMS, SEQUESTRATION, DISTURBANCES, RESPIRATION, EXTRACTION
  • Ankara Üniversitesi Adresli: Evet

Özet

CO2 emission to the atmosphere is the main cause of global warming. The impacts of land-use changes for agriculture and urbanisation, deforestation, and fire disturbance are attributed to the increase in CO2 emissions. Soil respiration, largely due to microbial activity, is one of the CO2 sources being released to the atmosphere. In this regard, several soil parameters related with carbon cycle, including organic matter, total N, C/N ratio, CO2 efflux, microbial biomass C (C-mic), the C-mic/C-org ratio, the metabolic quotient qCO(2), and beta-D glucosidase activity, were determined in a burned (harvested, H; non-harvested, NH), and its adjacent unburned (UB), mixed oak-pine forest to estimate the effects of burning and removal of residual woods. The C-mic increased gradually with burning and harvesting after Month 9, and sharp increases were observed in all areas, likely due to the abundant rainfall after Month 12. CO2 efflux decreased in the burned areas at Months 4 and 6; however, this reversed in Month 9. In spite of non-significant differences, we detected higher CO2 efflux values in the unburned areas compared to the burned ones, probably as a result of the drought effect observed in the burned areas up to Months 9 and 12 due to the increased soil heat. There was no significant difference between the H and NH burned areas, while both areas were different from the unburned areas in all soil parameters, except CO2 efflux and qCO(2). The harvesting effect was not significant compared to the fire effect with regard to the considered soil variables, likely due to the management and protection of the burned area which allowed a fast vegetation recover. The abundance of the microbial biomass was independent of the changes in CO2 efflux and showed a negative correlation with beta-D glucosidase activity. This might be related to the variation in substrate quality, microbial composition and abundance after burning and harvesting.