[Text] / E. A. Kukavskaya [et al.] // Environ. Res. Lett. - 2013. -
Vol. 8,
Is. 4. - Ст. 45034,
DOI 10.1088/1748-9326/8/4/045034. - Cited References: 43. - The authors gratefully acknowledge financial support for this research from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), the Land Cover Land Use Change (LCLUC) Science Program, the Russian Foundation for Basic Research (grant No. 12-04-31258), and the Russian Academy of Sciences, Siberian Branch. The authors would like to thank the three anonymous reviewers for their helpful comments and useful suggestions.
. - 11. - ISSN 1748-9326
РУБ Environmental Sciences + Meteorology & Atmospheric Sciences
Аннотация: The Russian boreal zone supports a huge terrestrial carbon pool. Moreover, it is a tremendous reservoir of wood products concentrated mainly in Siberia. The main natural disturbance in these forests is wildfire, which modifies the carbon budget and has potentially important climate feedbacks. In addition, both legal and illegal logging increase landscape complexity and affect burning conditions and fuel consumption. We investigated 100 individual sites with different histories of logging and fire on a total of 23 study areas in three different regions of Siberia to evaluate the impacts of fire and logging on fuel loads, carbon emissions, and tree regeneration in pine and larch forests. We found large variations of fire and logging effects among regions depending on growing conditions and type of logging activity. Logged areas in the Angara region had the highest surface and ground fuel loads (up to 135 t ha(-1)), mainly due to logging debris. This resulted in high carbon emissions where fires occurred on logged sites (up to 41 tC ha(-1)). The Shushenskoe/Minusinsk and Zabaikal regions are characterized by better slash removal and a smaller amount of carbon emitted to the atmosphere during fires. Illegal logging, which is widespread in the Zabaikal region, resulted in an increase in fire hazard and higher carbon emissions than legal logging. The highest fuel loads (on average 108 t ha(-1)) and carbon emissions (18-28 tC ha(-1)) in the Zabaikal region are on repeatedly burned unlogged sites where trees fell on the ground following the first fire event. Partial logging in the Shushenskoe/Minusinsk region has insufficient impact on stand density, tree mortality, and other
forest conditions to substantially increase fire hazard or affect carbon stocks. Repeated fires on logged sites resulted in insufficient tree regeneration and transformation of
forest to grasslands. We conclude that negative impacts of fire and logging on air quality, the carbon cycle, and ecosystem sustainability could be decreased by better slash removal in the Angara region, removal of trees killed by fire in the Zabaikal region, and tree planting after fires in drier conditions where natural regeneration is hampered by soil overheating and grass proliferation.
WOS,
Scopus Держатели документа: [Kukavskaya, E. A.
Ivanova, G. A.
Zhila, S. V.] Russian Acad Sci, Siberian Branch, VN Sukachev Inst
Forest, Krasnoyarsk 660036, Russia
[Buryak, L. V.
Kalenskaya, O. P.] Siberian State Technol Univ, Krasnoyarsk 660049, Russia
[Conard, S. G.] US
Forest Serv, Rocky Mt Res Stn, Missoula, MT 59807 USA
[Conard, S. G.] George Mason Univ, Fairfax, VA 22030 USA
[McRae, D. J.] Canadian
Forest Serv, Nat Resources Canada, Sault Ste Marie, ON P6A 2E5, Canada
ИЛ СО РАН
Доп.точки доступа: Kukavskaya, E.A.; Buryak, L.V.; Ivanova, G.A.; Conard, S.G.; Kalenskaya, O.P.; Zhila, S.V.; McRae, D.J.; National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA); Land Cover Land Use Change (LCLUC) Science Program; Russian Foundation for Basic Research [12-04-31258]; Russian Academy of Sciences, Siberian Branch
