We found a match
Your institution may have access to this item. Find your institution then sign in to continue.
- Title
Aeolian nutrient fluxes following wildfire in sagebrush steppe: implications for soil carbon storage.
- Authors
Hasselquist, N. J.; Germino, M. J.; Sankey, J. B.; Ingram, L. J.; Glenn, N. F.; Bahn, M.
- Abstract
Pulses of aeolian transport following fire can profoundly affect the biogeochemical cycling of nutrients in semi-arid and arid ecosystems. Our objective was to determine horizontal nutrient fluxes occurring in the saltation zone during an episodic pulse of aeolian transport that occurred following a wildfire in a semi-arid sagebrush steppe ecosystem in southern Idaho, USA. We also examined how temporal trends in nutrient fluxes were affected by changes in particle sizes of eroded mass as well as nutrient concentrations associated with different particle size classes. In the burned area, total carbon (C) and nitrogen (N) fluxes were as high as 235 g C m-1 d-1 and 19 g N m-1 d-1 during the first few months following fire, whereas C and N fluxes were negligible in an adjacent unburned area throughout the study. Temporal variation in C and N fluxes following fire was largely attributable to the redistribution of saltation-sized particles. Total N and organic C concentrations in the soil surface were significantly lower in the burned relative to the unburned area one year after fire. Our results show how an episodic pulse of aeolian transport following fire can affect the spatial distribution of soil C and N, which, in turn, can have important implications for soil C storage. These findings demonstrate how an ecological disturbance can exacerbate a geomorphic process and highlight the need for further research to better understand the role aeolian transport plays in the biogeochemical cycling of C and N in recently burned landscapes.
- Subjects
WILDFIRES; SAGEBRUSH steppe ecology; CARBON in soils; BIOGEOCHEMICAL cycles; BIOTIC communities; SOIL ecology; ATMOSPHERIC transport
- Publication
Biogeosciences, 2011, Vol 8, Issue 12, p3649
- ISSN
1726-4170
- Publication type
Article
- DOI
10.5194/bg-8-3649-2011