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Abstract
Wildland fire is an essential process for maintaining the structure and function of longleaf pine ecosystems. A byproduct of wildland fire is black carbon, produced through incomplete combustion of plant material and some forms of which decompose very slowly. Black carbon in the soil is understudied especially in forest soils where it could present some of the greatest carbon sequestration impacts on the terrestrial carbon budgets. There are some scientific disputes in the literature on the time frame in which black carbon stays in the soil, but it is known that some fraction can persist for millennials. Furthermore, accurate estimates of BC production from biomass are needed and fuel characteristics such as moisture and type are understudied. I propose to investigate black carbon production, explore the impact of fuel characteristics such as moisture and loading, fire characteristics such as frequency and type on black carbon production, as well as study carbon mineralization rates of soils with different size black carbon fractions. Fuel moisture should play a large role in black carbon production spanning many different ecosystem types. Fire type has been suggested to effect black carbon production, with more black carbon being produced from back fires. Fire characteristics should effect black carbon production through its effect on fire behavior (oxygen availability, pre-heating). Accurate accounting of black carbon production and residence time in the soil should help more accurately predict terrestrial carbon budgets in the future.