Ecological restoration of wildfire-affected areas: a review on the impacts of natural combustion residues (charcoal/ash) versus engineered biochar application

The ongoing global climate crisis is increasing the number and severity of wildfires. This means that there will be more significant physical, chemical and biological changes to the forest soil ecosystem. Because of this, we need to come up with new, effective ecological restoration techniques. This paper analyzes the functional differences of ash and charcoal versus engineered biochar (E-BC) as soil amendments. Natural ash and charcoal can help a soil nutrient system, however, they can only give a temporary boost to whatever nutrients are already present. In addition, significant differences in the stability of pyrogenic carbon (PyC) are noted with the use of solid-state ¹³C NMR spectrometry. Wildfire charcoal is

produced in rapid heating with fluctuating oxygen levels for short durations. This means that the resultant chemical heterogeneity of such charcoal will include low levels of aromatic compounds, and the presence of alkyl and O-alkyl compounds, even at high formation temperatures. The result is altered pyrogenic carbon formation, which means less chemical recalcitrance and carbon sequestration. In combination with the physicochemical properties PyC, including increased acidity and reduced thermal maturity of surface functional groups, distinctive leaching behaviors are produced, which may impede soil restoration for a prolonged period of time.

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