Post-fire changes in forest carbon storage over a 300-year chronosequence of Pinus contorta-dominated forests

A warming climate may increase the frequency and severity of stand-replacing wildfires, reducing carbon (C) storage in forest ecosystems. Understanding the variability of post-fire C cycling on heterogeneous landscapes is critical for predicting changes in C storage with more frequent disturbance. We measured C pools and fluxes for 77 lodgepole pine (Pinus contorta Dougl. ex Loud var. latifolia Engelm.) stands in and around Yellowstone National Park (YNP) along a 300-year chronosequence to examine how quickly forest C pools recover after a stand-replacing fire, their variability through time across a complex landscape, and the role of stand structure in this variability. Carbon accumulation after fire was rapid relative to the historical mean fire interval of 150-300 years, recovering nearly 80% of pre-fire C in 50 years and 90% within 100 years. Net ecosystem carbon balance (NECB) declined monotonically from 160 g C m-2 yr-1 at age 12 to 5 g C m 2 yr-1 at age 250, but was never negativ...