Rapid Recovery of Gross Production and Respiration in a Mesic Mountain Big Sagebrush Ecosystem Following Prescribed Fire

The impact of land management actions such as prescribed fire remains a key uncertainty in understanding the spatiotemporal patterns of carbon cycling in the Western USA. We therefore quantified carbon exchange and aboveground carbon stocks following a prescribed fire in a mountain big sagebrush ecosystem located in the northern Great Basin, USA. Specifically, we examined the changes in plant functional type, leaf area index, standing aboveground carbon stocks, net ecosystem production (NEP), gross ecosystem production (GEP), and ecosystem-level respiration (R-eco) for 2years before and 7 of 9years after a prescribed fire. Post-burn GEP and R-eco exceeded pre-burn GEP and R-eco within 2years and remained elevated. The variation in GEP and R-eco provided no evidence of a large and prolonged net efflux of carbon in the 9years after the fire. Rather, NEP indicated the site was a sink before and after the fire, with little change in sink strength associated with the burn. Re-sprouting and recruitment of grasses and forbs drove the post-burn increase in GEP. Woody shrub growth was the dominant control on aboveground biomass accumulation after fire, with shrub aboveground biomass reaching11% of pre-burn biomass after 5years. The rapid recovery of GEP and the growth of mid-successional shrubs suggest ecosystem-level carbon fluxes and stocks can recover rapidly after fire in mesic mountain big sagebrush ecosystems.