Aboveground carbon sequestration in dry temperate forests varies with climate not fire regime.

The storage of carbon in plant tissues and debris has been proposed as a method to offset anthropogenic increases in atmospheric [CO ]. Temperate forests represent significant above-ground carbon (AGC) "sinks" because their relatively fast growth and slow decay rates optimise carbon assimilation. Fire is a common disturbance event in temperate forests globally that should strongly influence AGC because: discrete fires consume above-ground biomass releasing carbon to the atmosphere, and the long-term application of different fire-regimes select for specific plant communities that sequester carbon at different rates.