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Science 9 May 2003:
Vol. 300. no. 5621, pp. 972 - 975
DOI: 10.1126/science.1082709
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Reports

Long-Term Effects of Wildfire on Ecosystem Properties Across an Island Area Gradient

David A. Wardle,1,2* Greger Hörnberg,1 Olle Zackrisson,1 Maarit Kalela-Brundin,3 David A. Coomes4

Boreal forest soils play an important role in the global carbon cycle by functioning as a large terrestrial carbon sink or source, and the alteration of fire regime through global change phenomena may influence this role. We studied a system of forested lake islands in the boreal zone of Sweden for which fire frequency increases with increasing island size. Large islands supported higher plant productivity and litter decomposition rates than did smaller ones, and, with increasing time since fire, litter decomposition rates were suppressed sooner than was ecosystem productivity. This contributes to greater carbon storage with increasing time since fire; for every century without a major fire, an additional 0.5 kilograms per square meter of carbon becomes stored in the humus.

1 Department of Forest Vegetation Ecology, Faculty of Forestry, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, SE901 83 Umeå, Sweden.
2 Landcare Research, Post Office Box 69, Lincoln, New Zealand.
3 Museum of Forestry, Box 176, SE921 23 Lycksele, Sweden.
4 Department of Plant Sciences, University of Cambridge, Downing Street, Cambridge CB23EA, UK.

* To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: david.wardle{at}svek.slu.se

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THIS ARTICLE HAS BEEN CITED BY OTHER ARTICLES:
Ecosystem Feedbacks and Nitrogen Fixation in Boreal Forests.
T. H. DeLuca, O. Zackrisson, M. J. Gundale, and M.-C. Nilsson (2008)
Science 320, 1181
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Scaling of tree vascular transport systems along gradients of nutrient supply and altitude.
D. A Coomes, K. L Jenkins, and L. E.S Cole (2007)
Biol Lett 3, 87-90
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Long-term ecological dynamics: reciprocal insights from natural and anthropogenic gradients.
T. Fukami and D. A Wardle (2005)
Proc R Soc B 272, 2105-2115
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Response to Comment on "Ecosystem Properties and Forest Decline in Contrasting Long-Term Chronosequences".
D. A. Wardle, L. R. Walker, and R. D. Bardgett (2005)
Science 308, 633c
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Ecosystem Properties and Forest Decline in Contrasting Long-Term Chronosequences.
D. A. Wardle, L. R. Walker, and R. D. Bardgett (2004)
Science 305, 509-513
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Ecological Linkages Between Aboveground and Belowground Biota.
D. A. Wardle, R. D. Bardgett, J. N. Klironomos, H. Setala, W. H. van der Putten, and D. H. Wall (2004)
Science 304, 1629-1633
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Science. ISSN 0036-8075 (print), 1095-9203 (online)