Pyrogenic carbon contribution to tropical savanna soil carbon storage.
Where this comes from
- Record sourced from PubMed, PMID 41188212.
- Also identified by DOI 10.1038/s41467-025-64699-y and PMC identifier 12586565.
- Licence recorded as CC BY.
- The licence permits redistribution, so the abstract is shown in full and the full text is available from the publisher.
Abstract
Savannas are fire-prone ecosystems that contribute substantially to global fire emissions, but these emissions may be partly offset by deposition of fire-derived, persistent pyrogenic carbon (PyC) in soils. Although estimates of PyC contributions to soil organic carbon (SOC) storage in savanna exist, factors driving its accumulation remain unclear due to limited measurements with consistent methods. To address this, we sampled 253 sites across tropical savannas in Kruger National Park, South Africa, spanning broad gradients in fire regimes, grass biomass, rainfall, and soil texture. Here we show, PyC measured with H<sub>2</sub>O<sub>2</sub>/HNO<sub>3</sub> digestion contributed, on average, 14.08% (se = 0.36%, n = 253) of SOC in surface soils, with values up to 40%. While fire frequency and grass biomass influenced soil PyC stocks, savannas with higher clay content and lower rainfall - conditions favoring PyC preservation - tended to accumulate more. These results demonstrate PyC's significant contribution to SOC storage and highlight environmental factors driving its accumulation in tropical savannas, providing an empirical basis for understanding fire's role in the savanna carbon cycle.