Hybrid
The carbon balance of fiery ecosystems: unpacking the role of soils, disturbances and climate solutions
Shifting fire regimes are reshaping ecosystems and driving significant changes in global carbon cycling. However, predicting these trajectories remains challenging due to divergent fire trends—increasing in some regions while declining in others—and the varying vulnerability of different landscapes. In this talk, I analyze the response of soil organic carbon (SOC), the primary carbon reservoir in fire-prone ecosystems, which often exhibits complex and contradictory responses to burning. First, I evaluate the mechanisms driving fire-induced changes in mineral soil carbon; using a network of multi-decadal fire manipulation experiments in savanna-grasslands, I contrast the influence of vegetation dynamics against the physicochemical properties of the soil. Second, I examine how evolving fire regimes are currently altering ecosystem carbon balances via their effects on soils, with a specific focus on the vulnerability of global peatlands. Finally, I discuss the management complexities of utilizing soils as nature-based climate solutions within these fiery landscapes.
Speaker Bio
Adam Pellegrini is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Earth System Science at Stanford University. Prior to joining Stanford, Adam was a faculty at the University of Cambridge. He received his PhD from Princeton University in 2016, and then was a postdoctoral researcher at Stanford, receiving a NOAA Climate and Global Change fellowship and a USDA NIFA fellowship. His research spans an array of topics but is centered around understanding ecosystem functioning, namely how biogeochemical cycles respond to disturbances, and what this might mean for the trajectory of climate change.