Minor changes in soil organic carbon and charcoal concentrations detected in a temperate deciduous forest a year after an experimental slash-and-burn

Submitted by Erin Rasmussen on

Publication Type:

Journal Article

Authors:

Eckmeier, E.; Gerlach, R.; J. O. Skjemstad; Ehrmann, O.; Schmidt, M.W. I.

Source:

Biogeosciences, Number 4, p.377-383 (2007)

URL:

http://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/docs/00/29/76/20/PDF/bg-4-377-2007.pdf

Abstract:

Anthropogenic fires affected the temperate deciduous forests of Central Europe over millennia. Biomass burning releases carbon to the atmosphere and producescharcoal, which potentially contributes to the stable soil carbon pools and is an important archive of environmental history. The fate of charcoal in soils of temperate deciduousforests, i.e. the processes of charcoal incorporation and transportation and the effects on soil organic matter are still not clear. We investigated the effects of slash-and-burn at a longterm experimental burning site and determined soil organic carbon and charcoal carbon concentrations as well as the soil lightness of colour (L*) in the topmost soil material (0