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

火是加拿大西部大多数生态系统中主要的自然干扰因子，它推动了生活在这些生态系统中的生物的进化适应。因此，火灾后植物和微生物群落的恢复是由土壤环境介导的，并可能在人为干扰后的土地管理中发挥作用。木炭是火的主要残留物，已被证明可以刺激微生物过程和氮循环，从而对植物生长产生影响。它还代表了土壤碳(C)固存的潜力，因为木炭具有很强的抗分解能力，可以在土壤中储存数千年。木炭对土壤过程和碳储存的影响使其成为土壤-植物关系界面上的“关键基质”。然而，直到最近，木炭一直被土壤科学和陆地生态学所忽视，随后受木炭影响的地上和地下过程也没有得到很好的理解。该研究项目旨在改变这一现状，并为加拿大带来许多好处，因为据估计，由于气候变化，火灾的频率和强度在未来会增加。监测生态系统从野火中恢复并预测北方地区未来火灾的影响属于新创建的加拿大野火战略（CWFS-NRCAN）的目标。量化火灾后留下并沉积在土壤中的木炭的数量将有助于更好地核算与气候变化有关的碳，这将有利于加拿大国家森林碳监测、会计和报告系统（NFCMARS-CFS）。阿尔伯塔省油砂的快速经济增长最终将导致大规模的土地复垦需求。目前的土地复垦研究项目不包括火点作为参考基准条件，但本研究项目将填补这一知识空白。了解从火灾中恢复的生态系统中关键的地上和地下过程将使工业合作伙伴能够制定更好的土地复垦方案。拟议的研究计划将研究土壤稳定木炭，这是一种在热原生态系统中发现的独特基质，具有影响土壤-植物关系的潜力。

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.