Understanding the impact of severe wildfires on moorland carbon dynamics

2011年春天，英国各地爆发了史无前例的大火。这些火灾与长期异常温暖和干燥的天气有关，导致易燃植被、干燥的泥炭土壤和可能造成严重的生态影响。野火可能对生态系统功能造成重大破坏，特别是在地面苔藓和泥炭沉积被广泛加热或点燃的高度严重的地区。在层层泥炭中阴燃燃烧会释放大量的化石碳，并可能对英国的总排放量产生深远影响。燃烧和广泛的土壤加热还破坏地下植物结构和土壤种子库，导致植物和野生动物生物多样性的格局发生根本变化，失去沼地栖息地，焚烧植被损失的碳与可以通过再生固定的碳之间可能存在不平衡。严重的火灾还与一系列其他环境影响有关，如加剧土壤侵蚀。尽管这种影响造成了严重的环境后果，但关于沼地野火影响的几乎所有科学知识都来自大约35年前的一次事件。人们越来越关注气候、火灾频率、火灾严重程度和泥炭地碳通量之间的潜在反馈。因此，迫切需要确保我们制定有关沼地生物多样性和碳储存的可持续管理做法。这项研究将在开始填补关于野火对英国荒地影响的这一基本知识空白方面发挥重要作用。我们将访问和评估最近在英国各地发生的严重野火的直接影响，并收集数据，以便初步比较不同燃烧严重程度对地面和地下碳平衡和沼地生态系统功能的影响。我们将绘制最近发生的野火的周界和火灾严重程度的大致等级分布。在不同严重程度的地区，我们将估计燃烧导致的系统碳损失总量，并评估烧焦和未烧焦地块中植被再生和泥炭碳通量的差异。通过建立一个永久地块网络，该项目还将创造一个宝贵的科学资源，使我们能够跟踪生态系统随时间的变化，并为未来的研究提供重点。

The spring of 2011 saw an unprecedented number of large wildfires break out across the length and breadth of the UK. These fires were associated with a prolonged period of unusually warm and dry weather that led to flammable vegetation, dry peat soils and the potential for severe ecological impacts. Wildfires can cause significant damage to ecosystem function, particularly in areas of high severity where ground-level layers of moss and peat deposits are extensively heated or ignited. Smouldering combustion in layers of peat releases significant amounts of fossil carbon and can have a profound effect on total UK emmissions. Smoulering and extensive soil heating also destroys belowground plant structures and soil seedbanks leading to fundamental changes in patterns of plant and wildlife biodiversity, the loss of moorland habitats and a potential imbalance between the carbon lost from burnt vegetation and that which can be sequesterd by regeneration. Severe fires are also associated with a range of other environmental impacts such as increased soil erosion. Despite the serious environmental consequences of such impacts, almost all of the scientific knowledge of the impacts of moorland wildfires comes from a single event some 35 years ago. There is increasing concern about potential feedbacks between climate, fire frequency, fire severity and carbon fluxes from peatlands. For this reason there is an urgent need to ensure we develop sustainable management practices with regards to moorland biodiversity and carbon stores. This research will play an important role in beginning to fill this fundamental knowledge gap on the impacts of wildfires on UK moorlands. We will visit and assess the immediate impact of recent severe wildfires across the UK, and collect data to allow an initial comparison to be made of the effects of varying burn severities on the above and below ground carbon balance and ecosystem functioning of moorlands. We will map the perimeter of recent wildfires and the distribution of broad classes of fire severity. In areas of differing severity we will make estimates of the total amount of carbon lost from the system due to combustion and assess differences in vegetation regeneration and carbon fluxes from peat in burnt and unburnt plots. By establishing a network of permanent plots, the project will also create a valuable scientific resource that will allow us to track ecosystem change over time and provide a focus for future research.