BurnSOM: Determining the potential for soil carbon storage under different fire regimes in drylands

Managing ecosystems to promote carbon sequestration, either by avoiding further loss or stimulating new sequestration, is considered a major means to combat climate change. In drylands, however, there is a lack of clarity on the possible detrimental effects of such management on ecology and doubt over the sustainability of some of the options adopted.

The project aims to provide valuable insights into how fire management practices impact carbon storage and plant communities in dryland ecosystems by quantifying the mechanisms driving changes in soil carbon. This will be achieved through a global network of fire manipulation experiments across drylands. The models developed will address critical questions surrounding the rates of carbon sequestration, maximum storage capacity, and the optimal environmental conditions that support carbon sequestration while maintaining essential ecosystem functions like biodiversity. The research will develop and test tools and models to enhance decision-making across up to 24 million square kilometers of savanna-grassland drylands worldwide.