Open AccessThe effect of biochar management on soil and plant community properties in a boreal forest
Author(s) -
Gundale Michael J.,
Nilsson MarieCharlotte,
Pluchon Nathalie,
Wardle David A.
Publication year - 2016
Publication title -
gcb bioenergy
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.378
H-Index - 63
eISSN - 1757-1707
pISSN - 1757-1693
DOI - 10.1111/gcbb.12274
Subject(s) - biochar , environmental science , agronomy , soil water , vegetation (pathology) , mineralization (soil science) , soil science , chemistry , biology , pyrolysis , organic chemistry , medicine , pathology
Abstract Biochar management has been proposed as a possible tool to mitigate anthropogenic CO 2 emissions, and thus far its impacts in forested environments remain poorly understood. We conducted a large‐scale, replicated field experiment using 0.05‐ha plots in the boreal region in northern Sweden to evaluate how soil and vegetation properties and processes responded to biochar application and the disturbance associated with burying biochar in the soil. We employed a randomized block design, where biochar and soil mixing treatments were established in factorial combination (i.e., control, soil mixing only, biochar only, and biochar and soil mixing; n = 6 plots of each). After two growing seasons, we found that biochar application enhanced net soil N mineralization rates and soil NH 4 + concentrations regardless of the soil mixing treatment, but had no impact on the availability of NO 3 − , the majority of soil microbial community parameters, or soil respiration. Meanwhile, soil mixing enhanced soil NO 3 − concentrations, but had negative impacts on net N mineralization rates and several soil microbial community variables. Many of the effects of soil mixing on soil nutrient and microbial community properties were less extreme when biochar was also added. Biochar addition had almost no effects on vegetation properties (except for a small reduction in species richness of the ground layer vegetation), while soil mixing caused significant reductions in graminoid and total ground layer vegetation cover, and enhanced seedling survival rates of P. sylvestris, and seed germination rates for four tree species. Our results suggest that biochar application can serve as an effective tool to store soil C in boreal forests while enhancing NH 4 + availability. They also suggest that biochar may serve as a useful complement to site preparation techniques that are frequently used in the boreal region, by enhancing soil fertility and reducing nutrient losses when soils are scarified during site preparation.