Browsing by Author "Jyrinki, Vilja Johanna"

Climate change and the degradation of soils are global and increasingly prevalent issue. Pyrolyzed organic materials, biochars, are progressively studied as a promising tool to sequester carbon in soils, whilst also improving soil properties. It is important to understand how different biochars affect other integral features of the soil ecosystem, such as soil biota, before they are utilized. Biochars are currently mostly utilized in agricultural settings; in order to extend their use for carbon sequestration in forest soils, more research regarding different biochars in forest settings is necessary. This Master’s thesis was conducted as literature review and meta-analysis of existing forest field studies in which the effect of biochars on soil biota was measured. Two sources (the University of Helsinki digital library collection (Helka), and internet search engine Google Scholar were used. From the studies gathered, soil respiration and microbial biomass carbon (MBC) were used as variables to estimate the effect of biochars on soil biota. Due to the scarcity of existing research, experimental conditions included in this thesis are diverse, including plantations, three climatic regions (boreal, temperate and subtropic) and different biochar types. Subgroups were formed from received data according to different treatments and standard mean differences (SMD) were compared. Contrary to the hypothesis, within this meta-analysis, soils amended with biochars demonstrated either no change or decreased soil respiration and MBC. On average, soil respiration did not show any significant change to biochar amendment, whilst MBC decreased significantly in some subgroups: short-term studies (<= 12 months), small difference in pH between soil and biochar (< 4), low pyrolysis temperature of biochar (<= 450 ˚C) and small quantity of biochar applied (< 10 t/ha). The decreasing in MBC was not consistent and diminished with increasing quantity of biochar and in study periods over 12 months. Given that biochars do not seem to have clear effects on microbial forest soil biota or microbial respiration, the application of biochars to forest soils has its potentials. However, larger scale use should be considered with caution, and further research is necessary.