Soil Incubation / Microbial Respiration data for boreal Alaska regions where burn frequency has increased (2019)

The experiment is designed to evaluate whether an increase in burn frequency causes changes in microbial respiration and affects rates of soil C (carbon) loss in boreal forest upland soils. Soils were collected from two burn complexes in north central Alaska, just south of the Yukon River. One was off the Dalton (DA) Highway and the other the Steese (ST) Highway. The areas have burned, in the 65 year prior to 2019, either 0 times (x), 1x, 2x, or 3x. Stands were previously upland black spruce. The data is from a ~127-day incubation of organic and mineral soils conducted in the laboratory under controlled temperature and moisture conditions. The samples were held at 15 °C (celsius) for 34 days, a temperature manipulation performed (2,5,10,15,20 °C) over ~23 days, and then the samples brought back to 15 °C for the remainder of the experiment. Samples from the incubated soils were analyzed for Carbon (C), Nitrogen (N) and Organic Matter (OM) concentrations.

本实验旨在探究火烧频率升高是否会引发北方森林旱地土壤的微生物呼吸变化，并影响土壤碳（Carbon）流失速率。实验所用土壤采自阿拉斯加中北部、育空河以南的两处火烧复合体：一处毗邻道尔顿（DA）公路，另一处毗邻斯蒂西（ST）公路。这些区域在2019年之前的65年间，先后经历0次、1次、2次或3次火烧。样地原生植被为旱地黑云杉。本实验数据来源于实验室控制温湿度条件下开展的约127天有机土壤与矿质土壤培养实验：样品先在15℃下培养34天，随后在约23天内进行温度梯度调控，设置2、5、10、15、20℃五个梯度，之后将样品温度恢复至15℃直至实验结束。对培养后的土壤样品开展了碳、氮（Nitrogen）及有机质（Organic Matter）浓度测定。