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Carbon and Nitrogen Cycling are Resistant to Fire in Nutrient‐Poor Grassland
Author(s) -
Li Wenjin,
Knops Johannes Jean M. H.,
Zuo Xiaoan,
Laungani Ramesh
Publication year - 2014
Publication title -
soil science society of america journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.836
H-Index - 168
eISSN - 1435-0661
pISSN - 0361-5995
DOI - 10.2136/sssaj2014.02.0056
Subject(s) - grassland , environmental science , cycling , nutrient cycle , nitrogen , carbon cycle , nutrient , nitrogen cycle , carbon fibers , agroforestry , agronomy , forestry , ecology , ecosystem , geography , chemistry , materials science , biology , organic chemistry , composite number , composite material
We used a long‐term experiment with four different fire frequencies, annual burns (B1), biennial burns (B2), burn every 4 yr (B4), and no burn (BC) over a 27‐yr period. We quantified temporal changes in vegetation dynamics, aboveground and belowground carbon (C) and nitrogen (N) pools, and we examined the cumulative effects of fires on N cycling in a nutrient‐poor, old field grassland at Cedar Creek, MN. Compared with fires in fertile grasslands with high productivity, fire in this nutrient‐poor and low‐productivity old field grassland caused only minor shifts in plant functional groups and did not change net primary productivity (NPP) or N cycling rates. We also found that fire frequency did not affect ecosystem C pools or N pools, and the soil C was accumulating at 28 times of the rate of N accumulation for the period 2000 to 2010. This N accumulation in the soil, combined with the low‐productivity and the dominant C 4 grasses, which have relative low litter N concentration and thereby low fire‐induced N losses, makes this successional grassland resistant to fire‐induced N cycling and C and N pool changes for at least decades after agricultural abandonment.