Data for: Reburning before recovery: Effects of short-interval fire on subalpine forest nitrogen stocks and fluxes

In forests adapted to infrequent (>100-yr) stand-replacing fires, novel short-interval (<30-yr) fires have started to burn young forests before they recover from previous burns. Postfire tree regeneration is reduced, plant communities shift, soils are hotter and drier, but effects on biogeochemical cycling are unresolved. This study focused on how postfire nitrogen (N) stocks, N availability and N fixation varied in lodgepole pine (Pinus contorta var. latifolia) forests burned at long and short intervals in Grand Teton National Park (Wyoming, USA). This data package includes our field data from 2021 and 2022, along with laboratory analyses of foliar and litter chemistry, resin-sorbed N, and field measurements of N fixation. The data included here were also used to compute aboveground N stocks. Our study found that short-interval fires reduced and repartitioned aboveground N stocks, but soil N stocks were unaffected. Results indicate that these shifts in N pools and fluxes suggest reburns can markedly alter N cycling in subalpine forests. The citation for the publication associated with these data is: Turner, M. G., R. E. Heumann, N. G. Kiel, J. A. Warren, and C. C. Cleveland. Reburning before recovery: Effects of short-interval fire on subalpine forest nitrogen stocks and fluxes. Ecosystems (In press)