Only small changes in soil organic carbon and charcoal concentrations found one year after experimental slash-and-burn

Only small changes in soil organic carbon and charcoal concentrations found one year after experimental slash-and-burn in a temperate deciduous forest
E. Eckmeier, R. Gerlach, J. O. Skjemstad, O. Ehrmann, M. W. I. Schmidt, Biogeosciences Discussions, 4, 595-614, 2007

Anthropogenic fires affected the temperate deciduous forests of Central Europe over millennia. Biomass burning releases carbon to the atmosphere and produces charcoal, which potentially contributes to the stable soil carbon pools and is an important archive of environmental history. The fate of charcoal in soils of temperate deciduous forests, i.e. the processes of charcoal incorporation and transportation, and the effects on soil organic matter are still not clear. In a long-term experimental burning site, we investigated the effects of slash-and-burn and determined soil organic carbon, charcoal carbon and nitrogen concentrations and the soil lightness of colour (L*) in the topmost soil material (0