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Articles by Mihails Čugunovs

Category : Research article

article id 10084, category Research article
Mihails Čugunovs, Eeva-Stiina Tuittila, Jari Kouki. (2020). Proximity to charred logs in burned forests likely affects decomposition processes in the soil. Silva Fennica vol. 54 no. 1 article id 10084. https://doi.org/10.14214/sf.10084
Keywords: coarse woody debris; forest fire; prescribed burning; cellulose decomposition; tea-bag method
Highlights: Standardised organic substrate decomposition was tentatively observed to be faster adjacent to non-charred downed logs than away from the logs or adjacent to charred logs; A spatial linkage was observed between non-charred logs and decomposition in the soil in burned boreal forests; Proximity to a charred log may provide a micro-environment where decomposition rates differ from the surrounding forest soil.
Abstract | Full text in HTML | Full text in PDF | Author Info

We studied the spatial decomposition rates of standardised organic substrates in soils (burned boreal pine-dominated sub-xeric forests in eastern Finland), with respect to charred and non-charred coarse woody debris (CWD). Decomposition rates of rooibos plant litter inside teabags (C:N = 42.870 ± 1.841) and pressed-sheet Nordic hardwood pulp (consisting of mainly alpha-cellulose) were measured at 0.2 m distance from 20 charred (LC0.2) and 40 non-charred logs (LNC0.2). We also measured decomposition at 60 plots located 3–10 m away from downed logs (L3,10). The rooibos decomposition rate constant ‘k’ was 8.4% greater at the LNC0.2 logs than at the L3,10 or LC0.2 logs. Cellulose decomposed more completely in 1 micron mesh bags at LNC0.2 (44% of buried bags had leftover material) than at LC0.2 (76%) or L3,10 (70%). Decomposition of cellulose material was rapid but varied greatly between sampling plots. Our results indicate that decomposition of the standardised organic matter was more rapid close to CWD pieces than further away. However, only the plots located near non-charred logs (LNC0.2) exhibited high decomposition rates, with no corresponding increase observed at the charred logs (LC0.2). This suggests a possible noteworthy indirect effect of forest burning on soil organic matter (SOM) decomposition rates close to charred CWD after forest fires. We urge for more studies on this tentative observation as it may affect the estimates on how fires affect carbon cycling in forests.

  • Čugunovs, University of Eastern Finland, School of Forest Sciences, Yliopistokatu 7, P.O. Box 111, FI-80101 Joensuu, Finland E-mail: mihails.cugunovs@gmail.com (email)
  • Tuittila, University of Eastern Finland, School of Forest Sciences, Yliopistokatu 7, P.O. Box 111, FI-80101 Joensuu, Finland ORCID https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8861-3167 E-mail: eeva-stiina.tuittila@uef.fi
  • Kouki, University of Eastern Finland, School of Forest Sciences, Yliopistokatu 7, P.O. Box 111, FI-80101 Joensuu, Finland ORCID https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2624-8592 E-mail: jari.kouki@uef.fi
article id 7723, category Research article
Mihails Čugunovs, Eeva-Stiina Tuittila, Ida Sara-Aho, Laura Pekkola, Jari Kouki. (2017). Recovery of boreal forest soil and tree stand characteristics a century after intensive slash-and-burn cultivation. Silva Fennica vol. 51 no. 5 article id 7723. https://doi.org/10.14214/sf.7723
Keywords: restoration; fire disturbance; historical land-use; rewildening
Highlights: Soil organic matter stocks have still not fully recovered after a century of stand succession and passive recovery after slash-and-burn period; Historical slash-and-burn stands feature higher live birch and standing dead wood volume than controls; If passive rewildening is used, Fennoscandian boreal forests need more than a century to regain naturalness.
Abstract | Full text in HTML | Full text in PDF | Author Info

Passive rewildening of forest ecosystems is commonly used for rehabilitating degraded habitats closer to their natural origin in addition to costly active restoration measures. However, it is not clear if passive processes are effective and how long the recovery of main ecosystem properties takes. We investigate the recovery of forest soil and tree stand characteristics a century after cessation of slash-and-burn cultivation, a major historical intensive disturbance regime that was applied widely in boreal zone of Finland until late 1800s. We systematically sampled soil and tree stand parameters within former slash-and-burn and nearby control areas. Humus layer thickness and soil organic matter (SOM) stocks were still lower in the historical slash-and-burn than in control areas. Slash-and-burn areas also had a larger volume of live birch trees and a higher standing dead wood volume than control areas. Accordingly, organic matter (humus layer thickness and SOM stocks) correlated negatively with birch standing live tree volume. Combined OM stock in humus and uppermost 10 cm mineral soil layer was positively correlated with lying dead wood volume. Overall, we observed clear recovery of several natural properties but we also found that a century after cessation of frequent anthropogenic burnings, clear legacies of disturbance in the above- and below-ground parts of boreal ecosystem were evident. Our results indicate that if only passive rewildening is applied as a restoration measure, the full recovery of boreal forest is slow and the effects of historical land-use may persist for over hundred years in soil and tree properties.

  • Čugunovs, University of Eastern Finland, School of Forest Sciences, Yliopistokatu 7, P.O. Box 111, FI-80101 Joensuu, Finland E-mail: mihails.cugunovs@uef.fi (email)
  • Tuittila, University of Eastern Finland, School of Forest Sciences, Yliopistokatu 7, P.O. Box 111, FI-80101 Joensuu, Finland ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0001-8861-3167 E-mail: eeva-stiina.tuittila@uef.fi
  • Sara-Aho, University of Eastern Finland, School of Forest Sciences, Yliopistokatu 7, P.O. Box 111, FI-80101 Joensuu, Finland E-mail: ida.sara-aho@mhy.fi
  • Pekkola, University of Eastern Finland, School of Forest Sciences, Yliopistokatu 7, P.O. Box 111, FI-80101 Joensuu, Finland E-mail: laura.pekkola@gmail.com
  • Kouki, University of Eastern Finland, School of Forest Sciences, Yliopistokatu 7, P.O. Box 111, FI-80101 Joensuu, Finland ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0003-2624-8592 E-mail: jari.kouki@uef.fi
article id 1718, category Research article
Mihails Čugunovs, Eeva-Stiina Tuittila, Lauri Mehtätalo, Laura Pekkola, Ida Sara-Aho, Jari Kouki. (2017). Variability and patterns in forest soil and vegetation characteristics after prescribed burning in clear-cuts and restoration burnings. Silva Fennica vol. 51 no. 1 article id 1718. https://doi.org/10.14214/sf.1718
Keywords: disturbance; restoration; sampling; spatial variability; prescribed fire; SOM stocks
Highlights: Soil parameter variability is similar across sites of different disturbance type; Variability of understory vegetation biomass and cover is higher and more different between sites than soil variability; Sites studied here reflect well the assumed disturbance-type gradient based on PCA; Sampling six forest sites per treatment should provide good statistical power to capture the differences in soil organic matter stocks.
Abstract | Full text in HTML | Full text in PDF | Author Info

Forest ecological restoration by burning is widely applied to promote natural, early-successional sites and increase landscape biodiversity. Burning is also used as a forest management practice to facilitate forest regeneration after clearcutting. Besides the desired goals, restoration burnings also affect soil biogeochemistry, particularly soil organic matter (SOM) and related soil carbon stocks but the long-term effects are poorly understood. However, in order to study these effects, a reliable estimate of spatial variability is first needed for effective sampling. Here we investigate spatial variability of SOM and vegetation features 13 years after burnings and in combination with variable harvest levels. We sampled four experimental sites representing distinct management and restoration treatments with an undisturbed control. While variability of vegetation cover and biomass was generally higher in disturbed sites, soil parameter variability was not different between the four sites. The joint ecological patterns of soil and vegetation parameters across the whole sample continuum support well the prior assumptions on the characteristic disturbance conditions within each of the study sites. We designed and employed statistical simulations as a means to plan prospective sampling. Sampling six forest sites for each treatment type with 30 independent soil cores per site would provide enough statistical power to adequately capture the impacts of burning on SOM based on the data we obtained here and statistical simulations. In conclusion, we argue that an informed design-based approach to documenting the ecosystem effects of forest burnings is worth applying both through obtaining new data and meta-analysing the existing.

  • Čugunovs, University of Eastern Finland, School of Forest Sciences, Yliopistokatu 7, P.O. Box 111, FI-80101 Joensuu, Finland E-mail: mihails.cugunovs@uef.fi (email)
  • Tuittila, University of Eastern Finland, School of Forest Sciences, Yliopistokatu 7, P.O. Box 111, FI-80101 Joensuu, Finland ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0001-8861-3167 E-mail: eeva-stiina.tuittila@uef.fi
  • Mehtätalo, University of Eastern Finland, School of Computing, Science Park, Länsikatu 15, P.O. Box 111, 80101 Joensuu, Finland ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0002-8128-0598 E-mail: lauri.mehtatalo@uef.fi
  • Pekkola, University of Eastern Finland, School of Forest Sciences, Yliopistokatu 7, P.O. Box 111, FI-80101 Joensuu, Finland E-mail: laura.pekkola@gmail.com
  • Sara-Aho, University of Eastern Finland, School of Forest Sciences, Yliopistokatu 7, P.O. Box 111, FI-80101 Joensuu, Finland E-mail: ida.sara-aho@mhy.fi
  • Kouki, University of Eastern Finland, School of Forest Sciences, Yliopistokatu 7, P.O. Box 111, FI-80101 Joensuu, Finland ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0003-2624-8592 E-mail: jari.kouki@uef.fi

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