Charcoal: a keystone substrate at the interface of soil-plant relations

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Fire is the dominant natural disturbance agent in most ecosystems of western Canada and it drives evolutionary adaptation in the organisms that live in these ecosystems. As such, there is much to learn about plant and microbial community recovery following fire, which are mediated by the soil environment, and may have roles in land management after human disturbance. Charcoal, the main residue of fire, has been shown to stimulate microbial processes and nitrogen cycling, thus having an effect on plant growth. It also represents the potential for soil carbon (C) sequestration, because charcoal is highly resistant to decomposition and can be stored in soil for thousands of years. The effect of charcoal on soil processes and C storage make it a "keystone substrate," at the interface of soil-plant relations. However, until recently charcoal has been overlooked by soil science and terrestrial ecology, and subsequently the above and below ground processes affected by charcoal are not well understood. This research program seeks to change that and has many benefits to Canada given that fire frequency and intensity are estimated to increase in the future due to climate change. Monitoring ecosystem recovery from wildfire and predicting future fire affects in the boreal falls within the objectives of the newly created Canadian Wildland Fire Strategy (CWFS-NRCAN). Quantifying the amount of charcoal left after fire and deposited in soil will allow for better C accounting as related to climate change, which will benefit Canada's National Forest C Monitoring, Accounting, and Reporting System (NFCMARS-CFS). Rapid economic growth in the oil sands of Alberta will eventually lead to large land reclamation requirements. Current land reclamation research projects do not include fire sites for reference as a baseline condition, but this research program will fill this knowledge gap. Understanding the key above and below-ground processes in ecosystems recovering from fire will enable industrial partners to build better land reclamation prescriptions. The proposed research program will examine soil stabilized charcoal, a unique substrate found in pyrogenic ecosystems with the potential to affect soil-plant relations.