Disturbances alter ecosystem carbon dynamics, often by reducing carbon uptake and stocks. We compared the impact of two types of disturbances that represent the most likely future conditions of currently dense ponderosa pine forests of the southwestern United States: (1) high\uffe2\uff80\uff90intensity fire and (2) thinning, designed to reduce fire intensity. High\uffe2\uff80\uff90severity fire had a larger impact on ecosystem carbon uptake and storage than thinning. Total ecosystem carbon was 42% lower at the intensely burned site, 10 years after burning, than at the undisturbed site. Eddy covariance measurements over two years showed that the burned site was a net annual source of carbon to the atmosphere whereas the undisturbed site was a sink. Net primary production (NPP), evapotranspiration (ET), and water use efficiency were lower at the burned site than at the undisturbed site. In contrast, thinning decreased total ecosystem carbon by 18%, and changed the site from a carbon sink to a source in the first post\uffe2\uff80\uff90treatment year. Thinning also decreased ET, reduced the limitation of drought on carbon uptake during summer, and did not change water use efficiency. Both disturbances reduced ecosystem carbon uptake by decreasing gross primary production (55% by burning, 30% by thinning) more than total ecosystem respiration (TER; 33\uffe2\uff80\uff9347% by burning, 18% by thinning), and increased the contribution of soil carbon dioxide efflux to TER. The relationship between TER and temperature was not affected by either disturbance. Efforts to accurately estimate regional carbon budgets should consider impacts on carbon dynamics of both large disturbances, such as high\uffe2\uff80\uff90intensity fire, and the partial disturbance of thinning that is often used to prevent intense burning. Our results show that thinned forests of ponderosa pine in the southwestern United States are a desirable alternative to intensively burned forests to maintain carbon stocks and primary production.
", "keywords": ["Biometry", "QH301 Biology", "Cell Respiration", "Arizona", "Water", "Forestry", "Plant Transpiration", "Carbon Dioxide", "15. Life on land", "01 natural sciences", "Carbon", "Fires", "6. Clean water", "Pinus ponderosa", "Soil", "13. Climate action", "Biomass", "0105 earth and related environmental sciences"]}, "links": [{"href": "https://doi.org/10.1890/09-0934.1"}, {"rel": "related", "href": "https://repository.soilwise-he.eu/cat/collections/metadata:main/items/Ecological%20Applications", "name": "related record", "description": "related record", "type": "application/json"}, {"rel": "self", "type": "application/geo+json", "title": "10.1890/09-0934.1", "name": "item", "description": "10.1890/09-0934.1", "href": "https://repository.soilwise-he.eu/cat/collections/metadata:main/items/10.1890/09-0934.1"}, {"rel": "collection", "type": "application/json", "title": "Collection", "name": "collection", "description": "Collection", "href": "https://repository.soilwise-he.eu/cat/collections/metadata:main"}], "time": {"date": "2010-04-01T00:00:00Z"}}, {"id": "10.1890/15-0337", "type": "Feature", "geometry": null, "properties": {"license": "Closed Access", "updated": "2026-07-25T16:20:02Z", "type": "Journal Article", "created": "2015-07-01", "title": "Restoring Forest Structure And Process Stabilizes Forest Carbon In Wildfire-Prone Southwestern Ponderosa Pine Forests", "description": "AbstractChanging climate and a legacy of fire\uffe2\uff80\uff90exclusion have increased the probability of high\uffe2\uff80\uff90severity wildfire, leading to an increased risk of forest carbon loss in ponderosa pine forests in the southwesternUSA. Efforts to reduce high\uffe2\uff80\uff90severity fire risk through forest thinning and prescribed burning require both the removal and emission of carbon from these forests, and any potential carbon benefits from treatment may depend on the occurrence of wildfire. We sought to determine how forest treatments alter the effects of stochastic wildfire events on the forest carbon balance. We modeled three treatments (control, thin\uffe2\uff80\uff90only, and thin and burn) with and without the occurrence of wildfire. We evaluated how two different probabilities of wildfire occurrence, 1% and 2% per year, might alter the carbon balance of treatments. In the absence of wildfire, we found that thinning and burning treatments initially reduced total ecosystem carbon (TEC) and increased net ecosystem carbon balance (NECB). In the presence of wildfire, the thin and burn treatmentTECsurpassed that of the control in year 40 at 2%/yr wildfire probability, and in year 51 at 1%/yr wildfire probability.NECBin the presence of wildfire showed a similar response to the no\uffe2\uff80\uff90wildfire scenarios: both thin\uffe2\uff80\uff90only and thin and burn treatments increased the C sink. Treatments increasedTECby reducing both mean wildfire severity and its variability. While the carbon balance of treatments may differ in more productive forest types, the carbon balance benefits from restoring forest structure and fire in southwestern ponderosa pine forests are clear.
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