The Ecology and Management of Atlantic White Cedar (Chamaecyparis thyoides) 2012 SYMPOSIUM June 12, 13 and 14, 2012 Hilton Garden Inn on the waterfront in Suffolk, VA

Soil Properties in Burned and Unburned Atlantic White Cedar Stands as a Means to Quantify Impacts from Recent Fires in the Great Dismal Swamp

Kristina M. Kowalski, Jackie Roquemore and Robert B. Atkinson, Christopher Newport University, Center for Wetland Conservation

Kristina M. Kowalski, Jackie Roquemore and Robert B. Atkinson, Christopher Newport University, Center for Wetland Conservation

Peatlands including the Great Dismal Swamp National Wildlife Refuge (GDSNWR) are valuable ecosystems that filter water, sequester carbon, and support biodiversity within unique habitats such as Atlantic white cedar (AWC) swamps. Peat lands exhibit a positive water budget which reduces oxygen concentrations such that the rate of primary production exceeds decomposition resulting in peat accumulation and carbon sequestration. Accumulations as deep as 10 m have developed in GDSNWR since the swamp began to form approximately 10,000 years ago. However ditching during the last 200 years has caused water to drain which introduced oxygen into the soil and facilitated gradual (biological oxidation) and rapid (chemical oxidation) peat loss. This study was conducted to determine the bulk density, nitrogen and carbon content in soils before and after the 2008 South One Fire. In Summer 1999 soil samples were collected from a young AWC stand in GDSNWR that had not burned in at least several decades including nine plots in three stands located south-southwest of Lake Drummond. In Summer 2011 samples were collected from 21 plots in four AWC stands that burned in the 2008 South One Fire and from unburned stands 3.5 km further south (two stands with a total of seven plots). Soil samples for all years and plots were collected at 10-cm depth and were processed and analyzed to find bulk density, total nitrogen and carbon content (percent dry mass). Grand mean bulk density was 0.16 g cc?¹ in 1999 and in 2011 was 0.21 g cc?¹ in burned, and 0.17 g cc?¹ in unburned stands. Grand mean carbon was 47.9% in 1999 and in 2011 were 47.5% in burned and 47.9% in unburned stands. Grand mean total nitrogen was 1.64% in 1999 and in 2011 was 2.10% in burned and 2.37% in unburned stands. These results can be combined with data reported elsewhere regarding depth of soil combustion and volume of unburned logs to determine total carbon emitted. Minimization of peat loss due to fire may be achieved through mechanisms such as water control structures that reverse drainage caused by ditches.

Atlantic white cedar, peat, fire, soil properties, carbon, Great Dismal Swamp

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