Boutton

Black carbon in a temperate mixed-grass savanna
X. Daia, T.W. Boutton a,*, B. Glaser b, R.J. Ansley c, W. Zech b
Soil Biology & Biochemistry 37 (2005) 1879–1881

Abstract
Black carbon (BC) or charcoal is thought to represent an important component of the carbon cycle, but has seldom been quantified in soils. We quantified soil BC in a temperate mixed-grass savanna in the southern Great Plains using benzenecarboxylic acids as molecular markers for BC. Soils were collected from four fire treatments (repeated summer fires in 1992 and 1994; repeated winter fires in 1991, 1993 and 1995;