Carbon stocks of trees killed by bark beetles and wildfire in the western United States
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 15545849 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Jeffrey A Hicke (0000-0003-0494-2866, University of Idaho, corresponding author), Arjan J H Meddens (0000-0001-6864-6068, University of Idaho), Craig D Allen (0000-0002-8777-5989, United States Geological Survey), Crystal A Kolden (0000-0001-7093-4552, University of Idaho) |
| Year | 2013 |
| Volume | 8 |
| Issue | 3 |
| Pages | 035032-035032 |
| Publication date | 2013-08-29 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Environmental Research Letters (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 1748-9326 • E-ISSN: 1748-9326 |
| Publisher | IOP Publishing (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1088/1748-9326/8/3/035032 |
| OpenAlex | W2118805858 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 11 |
| References cited | 31 |
Forests are major components of the carbon cycle, and disturbances are important influences of forest carbon. Our objective was to contribute to the understanding of forest carbon cycling by quantifying the amount of carbon in trees killed by two disturbance types, fires and bark beetles, in the western United States in recent decades. We combined existing spatial data sets of forest biomass, burn severity, and beetle-caused tree mortality to estimate the amount of aboveground and belowground carbon in killed trees across the region. We found that during 1984–2010, fires killed trees that contained 5–11 Tg C year ^−1 and during 1997–2010, beetles killed trees that contained 2–24 Tg C year ^−1 , with more trees killed since 2000 than in earlier periods. Over their periods of record, amounts of carbon in trees killed by fires and by beetle outbreaks were similar, and together these disturbances killed trees representing 9% of the total tree carbon in western forests, a similar amount to harvesting. Fires killed more trees in lower-elevation forest types such as Douglas-fir than higher-elevation forest types, whereas bark beetle outbreaks also killed trees in higher-elevation forest types such as lodgepole pine and Engelmann spruce. Over 15% of the carbon in lodgepole pine and spruce/fir forest types was in trees killed by beetle outbreaks; other forest types had 5–10% of the carbon in killed trees. Our results document the importance of these natural disturbances in the carbon budget of the western United States
Agroforestry · Bark (sound · Bark beetle · Biology · Biomass (ecology · Carbon cycle · Carbon fibers · Carbon stock · Climate change · Disturbance (geology · Ecosystem · Geography · Mountain pine beetle · Outbreak · Pinus contorta · Environmental Science · Fire effects on ecosystems · Forest Insect Ecology and Management · Forest Management and Policy · Ecology · Forestry
Climate-driven risks to the climate mitigation potential of forests
Do insect outbreaks reduce the severity of subsequent forest fires
Heat and drought extremes likely to stress ecosystem productivity equally or more in a warmer, CO 2 rich future
Impact of climate change on the vulnerability of drinking water intakes in a northern region
Cumulative disturbance converts regional forests into a substantial carbon source
Focus on extreme events and the carbon cycle
Is proportion burned severely related to daily area burned
Climate change greatly escalates forest disturbance risks to US property values
The impact of land ownership, firefighting, and reserve status on fire probability in California
Variable impacts of forest treatments on carbon and mortality following disturbance
Tree mortality from fires, bark beetles, and timber harvest during a hot and dry decade in the western United States (2003–2012)
Global fire emissions and the contribution of deforestation, savanna, forest, agricultural, and peat fires (1997–2009)
A Project for Monitoring Trends in Burn Severity
Root biomass allocation in the world's upland forests
Terrestrial Ecoregions of the World
A Large and Persistent Carbon Sink in the World’s Forests
Mountain pine beetle and forest carbon feedback to climate change
Contributions to accelerating atmospheric CO 2 growth from economic activity, carbon intensity, and efficiency of natural sinks
The Strategy of Ecosystem Development
| Unique citing works | 11 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 0,92 |
| Citation span | 2014 - 2026 (13) |
| Citation velocity | current |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 11 |