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Optimal Fire Regimes for Soil Carbon Storage in Tropical Savannas of Northern Australia

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Abstract

Modification of fire regimes in tropical savannas can have significant impacts on the global carbon (C) cycle, and therefore, on the climate system. In Australian tropical savannas, there has been recent, large-scale implementation of fire management that aims to decrease Kyoto-compliant non-CO2 greenhouse gas emissions by reducing late dry season intense fires through strategic early dry season burning. However, there is no accounting for changes to soil C stocks resulting from changes to savanna fire management, although impacts on these pools may be considerable. We present a hypothesis that soil C storage is greatest under low intensity fires with an intermediate fire return interval. Simulations using the CENTURY Soil Organic Matter Model confirmed this hypothesis with greatest soil C storage under a fire regime of one low intensity fire every 5 years. Key areas of uncertainty for CENTURY model simulations include fine root dynamics, charcoal production and nitrogen (N) cycling, and better understanding of these processes could improve model predictions. Soil C stocks measured in the field after 5 years of annual, 3 year and unburned fire treatments were not significantly different (range 41–58 t ha−1), but further CENTURY modelling suggests that changes in fire management will take up to 100 years to have a detectable impact (+4 t ha−1) on soil C stocks. However, implementation of fire management that reduces fire frequency and intensity within the large area of intact savanna landscapes in northern Australia could result in emissions savings of 0.17 t CO2-e ha−1 y−1, four times greater than reductions of non-CO2 emissions.

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Acknowledgements

We would like to thank Robert Eager, Felicity Watt, Nick Cuff and Cameron Yates for their assistance with fire and vegetation mapping. The Bushfires Council of the NT provided data on fire history, while the NT department of Natural Resources, Environment, the Arts and Sport provided vegetation and land systems maps. We would also like to acknowledge the Bushfire CRC and the Territory Wildlife Park for establishing and maintaining the long-term fire experimental sites. We are grateful to John Raison who provided valuable feedback on the draft manuscript and to Lindsay Hutley who provided the Howard Springs flux tower data for Figure 1.

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  1. CSIRO Ecosystem Sciences, PMB 44, Winnellie, Northern Territory, 0822, Australia

    Anna E. Richards & Garry D. Cook

  2. Northern Territory Department of Natural Resources, Environment, The Arts and Sport, Goyder Building, 25 Chung Wah Tce, Palmerston, Northern Territory, 0831, Australia

    Brian T. Lynch

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  1. Anna E. Richards
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Correspondence to Anna E. Richards.

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AER designed the research, collected and analysed the data and wrote the paper. GDC assisted with study design and contributed to paper writing. BTL collected mapping data and assisted with data analysis.

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Richards, A.E., Cook, G.D. & Lynch, B.T. Optimal Fire Regimes for Soil Carbon Storage in Tropical Savannas of Northern Australia. Ecosystems 14, 503–518 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10021-011-9428-8

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