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Has fire suppression increased the amount of carbon stored in western U.S. forests?
Author(s) -
Fellows Aaron W.,
Goulden Michael L.
Publication year - 2008
Publication title -
geophysical research letters
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.007
H-Index - 273
eISSN - 1944-8007
pISSN - 0094-8276
DOI - 10.1029/2008gl033965
Subject(s) - carbon sink , environmental science , sink (geography) , biomass (ecology) , carbon fibers , carbon sequestration , forestry , carbon cycle , montane ecology , carbon stock , agroforestry , atmospheric sciences , climate change , carbon dioxide , ecology , geography , biology , ecosystem , geology , materials science , cartography , composite number , composite material
Active 20th century fire suppression in western US forests, and a resulting increase in stem density, is thought to account for a significant fraction of the North American carbon sink. We compared California forest inventories from the 1930s with inventories from the 1990s to quantify changes in aboveground biomass. Stem density in mid‐montane conifer forests increased by 34%, while live aboveground carbon stocks decreased by 26%. Increased stem density reflected an increase in the number of small trees and a net loss of large trees. Large trees contain a disproportionate amount of carbon, and the loss of large trees accounts for the decline in biomass between surveys. 20th century fire suppression and increasing stand density may have decreased, rather than increased, the amount of aboveground carbon in western US forests.