Pyrogenic carbon production in eucalypt forests under low to moderate fire severities

García-Carmona, Minerva; Nuno, Cristina Santin; Cawson, Jane; Chafer, Chris J.; Duff, Thomas; Knowles, Louisa; McCaw, W. Lachlan; Doerr, Stefan

doi:10.1016/j.foreco.2025.122590

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Pyrogenic carbon production in eucalypt forests under low to moderate fire severities

Minerva García-Carmona

, Cristina Santin Nuno, Jane Cawson

, Chris J. Chafer, Thomas Duff

, Louisa Knowles, W. Lachlan McCaw, Stefan Doerr

Forest Ecology and Management, Volume: 585, Start page: 122590

Swansea University Authors: Cristina Santin Nuno, Louisa Knowles, Stefan Doerr

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DOI (Published version): 10.1016/j.foreco.2025.122590

Abstract

Wildfires play an important role in the global carbon cycle, influencing both atmospheric carbon concentrations and terrestrial carbon storage. The production of pyrogenic carbon (PyC; the C-enriched product of incomplete combustion) is a globally significant buffering mechanism for fire-related car...

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Published in:	Forest Ecology and Management
ISSN:	0378-1127
Published:	Elsevier BV 2025
Online Access:	Check full text
URI:	https://cronfa.swan.ac.uk/Record/cronfa69498

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The production of pyrogenic carbon (PyC; the C-enriched product of incomplete combustion) is a globally significant buffering mechanism for fire-related carbon emissions. PyC production varies widely with vegetation fuel and fire characteristics, and data on the production rates for PyC for specific ecosystems, fuel components and fire severities remain scarce. This limits our understanding of the quantitative importance of PyC production, its role in the carbon budgets of fire-affected ecosystems, and our ability to modify planned fires towards maximizing this long-term carbon store. Eucalypt forests, which incur frequent wildfires and human-prescribed fires, provide an important context for understanding PyC dynamics. Here we quantify PyC production in experimental fires conducted with low- to moderate fire severities in three Eucalyptus forest types across southern Australia. This involved comprehensive pre and post-fire fuel inventories and quantifying all pyrogenic materials generated in eucalypt forest sites near Sydney, Melbourne, and Perth. We also estimate PyC conversion rates in the main fuel components: forest floor, understory, down wood, and overstory (comprising only tree bark as these surface fires did not affect the crowns). Our results show that, of all the carbon affected by the fire, 2.7 t C ha−1 (2.4 – 3.1 t C ha−1) was transformed into PyC and 9.3 t C ha−1 (7.9 – 11.0 t C ha−1) emitted to the atmosphere. This translates into an average pyrogenic carbon conversion rate of 23 % of carbon affected by fire, underscoring the relevance of PyC in carbon budgets from eucalypt forest fires. The conversion rates varied substantially among fuel components, with the bark exhibiting the highest conversion rate, at approximately 40 %, and the down wood component displaying the lowest rate at around 15 %. Intermediate conversion values were found for forest floor and understory components (20 % and 31 %, respectively). Our findings highlight the critical importance of bark in PyC production in low to moderate fires, an aspect frequently overlooked in general inventories. Given the high fire recurrence in eucalypt forests in Australia, both naturally and under human-prescribed conditions, and the expansion of eucalypt plantations in many regions around the world, our findings are relevant for fire-related carbon budget estimations at both regional and global levels and can inform the optimization of prescribed burning for reducing carbon emissions.</abstract><type>Journal Article</type><journal>Forest Ecology and Management</journal><volume>585</volume><journalNumber/><paginationStart>122590</paginationStart><paginationEnd/><publisher>Elsevier BV</publisher><placeOfPublication/><isbnPrint/><isbnElectronic/><issnPrint>0378-1127</issnPrint><issnElectronic/><keywords>Bark; Carbon budgets; Charcoal; Eucalypt plantations; Fuels; Prescribed burning; Southern Australia</keywords><publishedDay>1</publishedDay><publishedMonth>6</publishedMonth><publishedYear>2025</publishedYear><publishedDate>2025-06-01</publishedDate><doi>10.1016/j.foreco.2025.122590</doi><url/><notes/><college>COLLEGE NANME</college><department>Biosciences Geography and Physics School</department><CollegeCode>COLLEGE CODE</CollegeCode><DepartmentCode>BGPS</DepartmentCode><institution>Swansea University</institution><apcterm/><funders>This work was primarily funded by a Leverhulme Trust Research Project Grant (RPG-2014–095) to S. Doerr and C. Santin. S. Doerr also acknowledges funding by Leverhulme Trust (Grant RF-2016-456\2). C. Santín was supported by the Spanish “Ramon y Cajal” programme (RYC2018- 025797-I). C. Santín and M. 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spelling	2025-06-12T16:36:51.5181099 v2 69498 2025-05-12 Pyrogenic carbon production in eucalypt forests under low to moderate fire severities 993c82cbaf875c1268156360e83c4dfd Cristina Santin Nuno Cristina Santin Nuno true false 296d70cb0f2633d2b4684471b6ee352b Louisa Knowles Louisa Knowles true false 575eb5094f2328249328b3e43deb5088 0000-0002-8700-9002 Stefan Doerr Stefan Doerr true false 2025-05-12 BGPS Wildfires play an important role in the global carbon cycle, influencing both atmospheric carbon concentrations and terrestrial carbon storage. The production of pyrogenic carbon (PyC; the C-enriched product of incomplete combustion) is a globally significant buffering mechanism for fire-related carbon emissions. PyC production varies widely with vegetation fuel and fire characteristics, and data on the production rates for PyC for specific ecosystems, fuel components and fire severities remain scarce. This limits our understanding of the quantitative importance of PyC production, its role in the carbon budgets of fire-affected ecosystems, and our ability to modify planned fires towards maximizing this long-term carbon store. Eucalypt forests, which incur frequent wildfires and human-prescribed fires, provide an important context for understanding PyC dynamics. Here we quantify PyC production in experimental fires conducted with low- to moderate fire severities in three Eucalyptus forest types across southern Australia. This involved comprehensive pre and post-fire fuel inventories and quantifying all pyrogenic materials generated in eucalypt forest sites near Sydney, Melbourne, and Perth. We also estimate PyC conversion rates in the main fuel components: forest floor, understory, down wood, and overstory (comprising only tree bark as these surface fires did not affect the crowns). Our results show that, of all the carbon affected by the fire, 2.7 t C ha−1 (2.4 – 3.1 t C ha−1) was transformed into PyC and 9.3 t C ha−1 (7.9 – 11.0 t C ha−1) emitted to the atmosphere. This translates into an average pyrogenic carbon conversion rate of 23 % of carbon affected by fire, underscoring the relevance of PyC in carbon budgets from eucalypt forest fires. The conversion rates varied substantially among fuel components, with the bark exhibiting the highest conversion rate, at approximately 40 %, and the down wood component displaying the lowest rate at around 15 %. Intermediate conversion values were found for forest floor and understory components (20 % and 31 %, respectively). Our findings highlight the critical importance of bark in PyC production in low to moderate fires, an aspect frequently overlooked in general inventories. Given the high fire recurrence in eucalypt forests in Australia, both naturally and under human-prescribed conditions, and the expansion of eucalypt plantations in many regions around the world, our findings are relevant for fire-related carbon budget estimations at both regional and global levels and can inform the optimization of prescribed burning for reducing carbon emissions. Journal Article Forest Ecology and Management 585 122590 Elsevier BV 0378-1127 Bark; Carbon budgets; Charcoal; Eucalypt plantations; Fuels; Prescribed burning; Southern Australia 1 6 2025 2025-06-01 10.1016/j.foreco.2025.122590 COLLEGE NANME Biosciences Geography and Physics School COLLEGE CODE BGPS Swansea University This work was primarily funded by a Leverhulme Trust Research Project Grant (RPG-2014–095) to S. Doerr and C. Santin. S. Doerr also acknowledges funding by Leverhulme Trust (Grant RF-2016-456\2). C. Santín was supported by the Spanish “Ramon y Cajal” programme (RYC2018- 025797-I). C. Santín and M. García-Carmona have also been supported by the Spanish National Research Council (Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas, CSIC) through the project 20208AT007. 2025-06-12T16:36:51.5181099 2025-05-12T17:03:21.7572404 Faculty of Science and Engineering School of Biosciences, Geography and Physics - Geography Minerva García-Carmona 0000-0002-4415-4779 1 Cristina Santin Nuno 2 Jane Cawson 0000-0003-3702-9504 3 Chris J. Chafer 4 Thomas Duff 0000-0003-2116-3901 5 Louisa Knowles 6 W. Lachlan McCaw 7 Stefan Doerr 0000-0002-8700-9002 8 69498__34259__50566c2a81d349a48ae7b8e498a22a6f.pdf 69498.pdf 2025-05-12T17:10:46.4082092 Output 10031816 application/pdf Version of Record true © 2025 The Authors. This is an open access article under the CC BY license. true eng http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
title	Pyrogenic carbon production in eucalypt forests under low to moderate fire severities
spellingShingle	Pyrogenic carbon production in eucalypt forests under low to moderate fire severities Cristina Santin Nuno Louisa Knowles Stefan Doerr
title_short	Pyrogenic carbon production in eucalypt forests under low to moderate fire severities
title_full	Pyrogenic carbon production in eucalypt forests under low to moderate fire severities
title_fullStr	Pyrogenic carbon production in eucalypt forests under low to moderate fire severities
title_full_unstemmed	Pyrogenic carbon production in eucalypt forests under low to moderate fire severities
title_sort	Pyrogenic carbon production in eucalypt forests under low to moderate fire severities
author_id_str_mv	993c82cbaf875c1268156360e83c4dfd 296d70cb0f2633d2b4684471b6ee352b 575eb5094f2328249328b3e43deb5088
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author	Cristina Santin Nuno Louisa Knowles Stefan Doerr
author2	Minerva García-Carmona Cristina Santin Nuno Jane Cawson Chris J. Chafer Thomas Duff Louisa Knowles W. Lachlan McCaw Stefan Doerr
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container_title	Forest Ecology and Management
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container_start_page	122590
publishDate	2025
institution	Swansea University
issn	0378-1127
doi_str_mv	10.1016/j.foreco.2025.122590
publisher	Elsevier BV
college_str	Faculty of Science and Engineering
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description	Wildfires play an important role in the global carbon cycle, influencing both atmospheric carbon concentrations and terrestrial carbon storage. The production of pyrogenic carbon (PyC; the C-enriched product of incomplete combustion) is a globally significant buffering mechanism for fire-related carbon emissions. PyC production varies widely with vegetation fuel and fire characteristics, and data on the production rates for PyC for specific ecosystems, fuel components and fire severities remain scarce. This limits our understanding of the quantitative importance of PyC production, its role in the carbon budgets of fire-affected ecosystems, and our ability to modify planned fires towards maximizing this long-term carbon store. Eucalypt forests, which incur frequent wildfires and human-prescribed fires, provide an important context for understanding PyC dynamics. Here we quantify PyC production in experimental fires conducted with low- to moderate fire severities in three Eucalyptus forest types across southern Australia. This involved comprehensive pre and post-fire fuel inventories and quantifying all pyrogenic materials generated in eucalypt forest sites near Sydney, Melbourne, and Perth. We also estimate PyC conversion rates in the main fuel components: forest floor, understory, down wood, and overstory (comprising only tree bark as these surface fires did not affect the crowns). Our results show that, of all the carbon affected by the fire, 2.7 t C ha−1 (2.4 – 3.1 t C ha−1) was transformed into PyC and 9.3 t C ha−1 (7.9 – 11.0 t C ha−1) emitted to the atmosphere. This translates into an average pyrogenic carbon conversion rate of 23 % of carbon affected by fire, underscoring the relevance of PyC in carbon budgets from eucalypt forest fires. The conversion rates varied substantially among fuel components, with the bark exhibiting the highest conversion rate, at approximately 40 %, and the down wood component displaying the lowest rate at around 15 %. Intermediate conversion values were found for forest floor and understory components (20 % and 31 %, respectively). Our findings highlight the critical importance of bark in PyC production in low to moderate fires, an aspect frequently overlooked in general inventories. Given the high fire recurrence in eucalypt forests in Australia, both naturally and under human-prescribed conditions, and the expansion of eucalypt plantations in many regions around the world, our findings are relevant for fire-related carbon budget estimations at both regional and global levels and can inform the optimization of prescribed burning for reducing carbon emissions.
published_date	2025-06-01T05:28:21Z
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Pyrogenic carbon production in eucalypt forests under low to moderate fire severities

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