SFE Webinar: Low-Severity Fires Protect Carbon Stores in Global Peatlands

Host: Southern Fire Exchange, Duke University, University of Florida.

Presenter: Neal Flanagan, Ph.D., Duke University

Abstract:

Severe wildfires can cause smoldering ground fires that oxidize entire carbon stores and threaten peatlands around the globe. However, low‐severity surface fires can physically protect soil organic matter by thermally altering surface carbon chemistry, thus creating a slower cycling carbon pool that positively affects long‐term carbon balances in peatlands worldwide.