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Fire Effects and Forest Recovery Active

By Forest and Rangeland Ecosystem Science Center November 9, 2017

This research theme examines the impacts of prescribed fire on plant productivity, soil physical, chemical, and biological characteristics, and nutrient leaching. Results from this research will enable improved decision-making of how to manage fire-prone forests to maintain long-term forest fertility and productivity, especially across wide climate gradients characteristic of the Pacific Northwest. 

Click here to return to FRESC Terrestrial Ecosystems Laboratory.

Below are other science projects associated with this project.

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Views from Siuslaw National Forest

Terrestrial Ecosystems Laboratory (FRESC)

Research in our laboratory centers on the ecology and biogeochemistry of forest ecosystems, as well as grassland and riparian systems. We examine how factors such as natural and human disturbances, climate and climate change, succession, and soil fertility shape ecosystem biogeochemistry - and the reciprocal effect of biogeochemical cycles on these and other factors.
By
Ecosystems Mission Area, Land Management Research Program, Forest and Rangeland Ecosystem Science Center
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Terrestrial Ecosystems Laboratory (FRESC)

Research in our laboratory centers on the ecology and biogeochemistry of forest ecosystems, as well as grassland and riparian systems. We examine how factors such as natural and human disturbances, climate and climate change, succession, and soil fertility shape ecosystem biogeochemistry - and the reciprocal effect of biogeochemical cycles on these and other factors.
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Below are publications associated with this project.

Frequent burning causes large losses of carbon from deep soil layers in a temperate savanna

Fire activity is changing dramatically across the globe, with uncertain effects on ecosystem processes, especially below‐ground. Fire‐driven losses of soil carbon (C) are often assumed to occur primarily in the upper soil layers because the repeated combustion of above‐ground biomass limits organic matter inputs into surface soil. However, C losses from deeper soil may occur if frequent burning re
Authors
Adam Pellegrini, Kendra K McLauchlan, Sarah E Hobbie, Michelle C. Mack, Abbey L Marcotte, David M. Nelson, Steven Perakis, Peter B. Reich, Kyle Whittinghill
By
Ecosystems Mission Area, Forest and Rangeland Ecosystem Science Center

Regional constraints to biological nitrogen fixation in post-fire forest communities

Biological nitrogen fixation (BNF) is a key ecological process that can restore nitrogen (N) lost in wildfire and shape the pace and pattern of post-fire forest recovery. To date, there is limited information on how climate and soil fertility interact to influence different pathways of BNF in early forest succession. We studied asymbiotic (forest floor and soil) and symbiotic (the shrub Ceanothus
Authors
Stephanie Yelenik, Steven S. Perakis, David Hibbs
By
Ecosystems Mission Area, Forest and Rangeland Ecosystem Science Center

Four centuries of soil carbon and nitrogen change after stand-replacing fire in a forest landscape in the western Cascade Range of Oregon

Episodic stand-replacing wildfire is a significant disturbance in mesic and moist Douglas-fir (Pseudotsuga menziesii (Mirb.) Franco) forests of the Pacific Northwest. We studied 24 forest stands with known fire histories in the western Cascade Range in Oregon to evaluate long-term impacts of stand-replacing wildfire on carbon (C) and nitrogen (N) pools and dynamics within the forest floor (FF, Oe
Authors
T.W. Giesen, S.S. Perakis, K. Cromack
By
Ecosystems Mission Area, Forest and Rangeland Ecosystem Science Center