Proportion of charcoal carbon in the forest floor carbon pool in relation to fire history in a boreal forest landscape

Fire in the boreal forests emits substantial amounts of organically bound carbon (C) to the atmosphere and converts a fraction of the burnt organic matter into charcoal, which in turn is highly refractory and functions as a long-term stable C pool. It is well established that the boreal forest charcoal pool is sufficiently large to play a significant role in the global C cycle. However, there is a need for spatially representative estimates of how large proportions of the forest floor C pool are made up of charcoal across different plant communities in the boreal forest ecosystem. Thus, we have quantified the amounts of C separately in charcoal and the organic layers of the forest floor across fine spatial scales in a boreal forest landscape with a well-documented fire history. We found that the proportion of charcoal C made up an average of 1.2% of the total forest floor C, and the charcoal proportions showed a high small-scale spatial variability and were concentrated in the organic-mineral soil interface. Proportions of charcoal C decreased with increasing time since last fire. Deeper soils, denser soils, and local concave areas had the highest proportions of charcoal C, whereas historical fire frequencies and current differences in vegetation did not relate to the proportions of charcoal C.

Automated summary

Fires in boreal forests release significant amounts of organically bound carbon and convert some of the burnt organic matter into charcoal, which acts as a long-term stable carbon pool. The proportion of charcoal carbon in the forest floor varies spatially, with greater concentrations found in deeper and denser soils. Historical fire frequency and current vegetation differences do not appear to influence the proportion of charcoal carbon.