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Wild fi res and geochemical change in a subalpine forest over the past six millennia
| Content Provider | Semantic Scholar |
|---|---|
| Author | Leys, Berangere A. Higuera, Philip E. McLauchlan, Kendra K. Dunnette, And Paul V. |
| Copyright Year | 2016 |
| Abstract | The frequency of largewildfires inwesternNorthAmerica has been increasing in recent decades, yet the geochemical impacts of these events are poorly understood. Themultidecadal timescales of both disturbance-regime variability and ecosystem responsesmake it challenging to study the effects offire on terrestrial nutrient cycling. Nonetheless, disturbance-mediated changes in nutrient concentrations could ultimately limit forest productivity over centennial tomillennial time scales. Here, we use a novel approach that combines quantitative elemental analysis of lake sediments using x-ray fluorescence to assess the geochemical impacts of high-severity fires in a 6200 year long sedimentary record from a small subalpine lake in RockyMountainNational Park, Colorado, USA. Immediately after 17 high-severity fires, the sedimentary concentrations offive elements increased (Ti, Ca, K, Al, and P), but returned to pre-fire levels within three decades.Multivariate analyses indicate that erosion of weatheredmineralmaterial from the catchment is a primarymechanism thoughwhich highseverity fires impact element cycling. A longer-term trend in sediment geochemistry was also identified overmillennial time scales. This decrease in the concentrations of six elements (Al, Si, K, Ti, Mn, and Fe) over the past 6200 yearsmay have been due to a decreased rate of high-severity fires, longterm ecosystemdevelopment, or changes in precipitation regime.Our results indicate that highseverity fire events can determine elemental concentrations in subalpine forests. The degree of variability in geochemical response across time scales suggests that shifting rates of high-severity burning can cause significant changes in key rock-derived nutrients. To our knowledge, these results are the first to reveal repeated loss of rock-derived nutrients from the terrestrial ecosystemdue to high-severity fires. Understanding the future offire-prone coniferous forests requires further documentation and quantification of this importantmechanism linkingfire regimes and biogeochemical cycles. |
| File Format | PDF HTM / HTML |
| Alternate Webpage(s) | http://files.cfc.umt.edu/phiguera/publications/Leys_et_al_2016_ERL.pdf |
| Language | English |
| Access Restriction | Open |
| Subject Keyword | Biogeochemistry Documentation Ecosystem Elemental Field electron emission Fluorescence Forests GeForce 6 series Heart rate variability Iron Nutrient cycle Nutrients Quantitation Roentgen Rays Sediment Spatial variability Terrestrial television Titanium |
| Content Type | Text |
| Resource Type | Article |
