scholarly journals Identifying multiscale zonation and assessing the relative importance of polygon geomorphology on carbon fluxes in an Arctic tundra ecosystem

2015 ◽  
Vol 120 (4) ◽  
pp. 788-808 ◽  
Author(s):  
Haruko M. Wainwright ◽  
Baptiste Dafflon ◽  
Lydia J. Smith ◽  
Melanie S. Hahn ◽  
John B. Curtis ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Carbon Fluxes ◽  
Arctic Tundra ◽  
Relative Importance ◽  
Tundra Ecosystem

scholarly journals Response of vegetation and carbon fluxes to brown lemming herbivory in Northern Alaska

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jessica Plein ◽  
Rulon W. Clark ◽  
Kyle A. Arndt ◽  
Walter C. Oechel ◽  
Douglas Stow ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Carbon Fluxes ◽  
Arctic Tundra ◽  
The Arctic ◽  
Co2 Uptake ◽  
Co2 Fluxes ◽  
Environmental Controls ◽  
Global Rate ◽  
Tundra Ecosystem ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Tundra Ecosystems

Abstract. The Arctic is warming at double the average global rate, affecting the carbon cycle of tundra ecosystems. Most research on carbon fluxes from Arctic tundra ecosystems has focused on abiotic environmental controls (e.g. temperature, rainfall, or radiation). However, Arctic tundra vegetation, and therefore the carbon balance of these ecosystems, can be substantially impacted by herbivory. In this study we tested how vegetation consumption by brown lemmings (Lemmus trimucronatus) can impact carbon exchange of a wet-sedge tundra ecosystem near Utqiaġvik, Alaska during the summer, and the recovery of vegetation during a following summer. We placed brown lemmings in individual enclosure plots and tested the impact of lemmings’ herbivory on carbon dioxide (CO2) and methane (CH4) fluxes and the normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) immediately after lemming removal and during the following growing season. During the first summer of the experiment, lemmings’ herbivory reduced plant biomass (as shown by the decrease in the NDVI) and decreased CO2 uptake, while not significantly impacting CH4 emissions. Methane emissions were likely not significantly affected due to CH4 being produced deeper in the soil and escaping from the stem bases of the vascular plants. The summer following the lemming treatments, NDVI and CO2 fluxes returned to magnitudes similar to those observed before the start of the experiment, suggesting recovery of the vegetation, and a transitory nature of the impact of lemming herbivory. Overall, lemming herbivory has short-term but substantial effects on carbon sequestration by vegetation and might contribute to the considerable interannual variability in CO2 fluxes from tundra ecosystems.

Long-term experimentally deepened snow decreases growing-season respiration in a low- and high-arctic tundra ecosystem

2016 ◽  
Vol 121 (5) ◽  
pp. 1236-1248 ◽  
Author(s):  
Philipp R. Semenchuk ◽  
Casper T. Christiansen ◽  
Paul Grogan ◽  
Bo Elberling ◽  
Elisabeth J. Cooper
Keyword(s):  
Growing Season ◽  
Arctic Tundra ◽  
High Arctic ◽  
Tundra Ecosystem

scholarly journals Partitioning net ecosystem exchange of CO<sub>2</sub> on the pedon scale in the Lena River Delta, Siberia

2019 ◽  
Vol 16 (7) ◽  
pp. 1543-1562 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tim Eckhardt ◽  
Christian Knoblauch ◽  
Lars Kutzbach ◽  
David Holl ◽  
Gillian Simpson ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Growing Season ◽  
Arctic Tundra ◽  
River Delta ◽  
Environmental Drivers ◽  
Co2 Fluxes ◽  
Lena River ◽  
Hydrological Conditions ◽  
Tundra Ecosystem ◽  
Water Saturated ◽  
Lena River Delta

Abstract. Arctic tundra ecosystems are currently facing amplified rates of climate warming. Since these ecosystems store significant amounts of soil organic carbon, which can be mineralized to carbon dioxide (CO2) and methane (CH4), rising temperatures may cause increasing greenhouse gas fluxes to the atmosphere. To understand how net the ecosystem exchange (NEE) of CO2 will respond to changing climatic and environmental conditions, it is necessary to understand the individual responses of the processes contributing to NEE. Therefore, this study aimed to partition NEE at the soil–plant–atmosphere interface in an arctic tundra ecosystem and to identify the main environmental drivers of these fluxes. NEE was partitioned into gross primary productivity (GPP) and ecosystem respiration (Reco) and further into autotrophic (RA) and heterotrophic respiration (RH). The study examined CO2 flux data collected during the growing season in 2015 using closed-chamber measurements in a polygonal tundra landscape in the Lena River Delta, northeastern Siberia. To capture the influence of soil hydrology on CO2 fluxes, measurements were conducted at a water-saturated polygon center and a well-drained polygon rim. These chamber-measured fluxes were used to model NEE, GPP, Reco, RH, RA, and net primary production (NPP) at the pedon scale (1–10 m) and to determine cumulative growing season fluxes. Here, the response of in situ measured RA and RH fluxes from permafrost-affected soils of the polygonal tundra to hydrological conditions have been examined. Although changes in the water table depth at the polygon center sites did not affect CO2 fluxes from RH, rising water tables were linked to reduced CO2 fluxes from RA. Furthermore, this work found the polygonal tundra in the Lena River Delta to be a net sink for atmospheric CO2 during the growing season. The NEE at the wet, depressed polygon center was more than twice that at the drier polygon rim. These differences between the two sites were caused by higher GPP fluxes due to a higher vascular plant density and lower Reco fluxes due to oxygen limitation under water-saturated conditions at the polygon center in comparison to the rim. Hence, soil hydrological conditions were one of the key drivers for the different CO2 fluxes across this highly heterogeneous tundra landscape.

scholarly journals Insights from mercury stable isotopes on terrestrial–atmosphere exchange of Hg(0) in the Arctic tundra

2019 ◽  
Vol 16 (20) ◽  
pp. 4051-4064 ◽  
Author(s):  
Martin Jiskra ◽  
Jeroen E. Sonke ◽  
Yannick Agnan ◽  
Detlev Helmig ◽  
Daniel Obrist
Keyword(s):  
Stable Isotope ◽  
Dominant Role ◽  
Arctic Tundra ◽  
Atmospheric Mercury ◽  
The Arctic ◽  
Night Time ◽  
Field Station ◽  
Terrestrial Atmosphere ◽  
Tundra Ecosystem ◽  
Flux Measurements

Abstract. The tundra plays a pivotal role in the Arctic mercury (Hg) cycle by storing atmospheric Hg deposition and shuttling it to the Arctic Ocean. A recent study revealed that 70 % of the atmospheric Hg deposition to the tundra occurs through gaseous elemental mercury (GEM or Hg(0)) uptake by vegetation and soils. Processes controlling land–atmosphere exchange of Hg(0) in the Arctic tundra are central, but remain understudied. Here, we combine Hg stable isotope analysis of Hg(0) in the atmosphere, interstitial snow air, and soil pore air, with Hg(0) flux measurements in a tundra ecosystem at Toolik Field Station in northern Alaska (USA). In the dark winter months, planetary boundary layer (PBL) conditions and Hg(0) concentrations were generally stable throughout the day and small Hg(0) net deposition occurred. In spring, halogen-induced atmospheric mercury depletion events (AMDEs) occurred, with the fast re-emission of Hg(0) after AMDEs resulting in net emission fluxes of Hg(0). During the short snow-free growing season in summer, vegetation uptake of atmospheric Hg(0) enhanced atmospheric Hg(0) net deposition to the Arctic tundra. At night, when PBL conditions were stable, ecosystem uptake of atmospheric Hg(0) led to a depletion of atmospheric Hg(0). The night-time decline of atmospheric Hg(0) was concomitant with a depletion of lighter Hg(0) isotopes in the atmospheric Hg pool. The enrichment factor, ε202Hgvegetationuptake=-4.2 ‰ (±1.0 ‰) was consistent with the preferential uptake of light Hg(0) isotopes by vegetation. Hg(0) flux measurements indicated a partial re-emission of Hg(0) during daytime, when solar radiation was strongest. Hg(0) concentrations in soil pore air were depleted relative to atmospheric Hg(0) concentrations, concomitant with an enrichment of lighter Hg(0) isotopes in the soil pore air, ε202Hgsoilair-atmosphere=-1.00 ‰ (±0.25 ‰) and E199Hgsoilair-atmosphere=0.07 ‰ (±0.04 ‰). These first Hg stable isotope measurements of Hg(0) in soil pore air are consistent with the fractionation previously observed during Hg(0) oxidation by natural humic acids, suggesting abiotic oxidation as a cause for observed soil Hg(0) uptake. The combination of Hg stable isotope fingerprints with Hg(0) flux measurements and PBL stability assessment confirmed a dominant role of Hg(0) uptake by vegetation in the terrestrial–atmosphere exchange of Hg(0) in the Arctic tundra.

scholarly journals Two years with extreme and little snowfall: effects on energy partitioning and surface energy exchange in a high-Arctic tundra ecosystem

2016 ◽  
Vol 10 (4) ◽  
pp. 1395-1413 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christian Stiegler ◽  
Magnus Lund ◽  
Torben Røjle Christensen ◽  
Mikhail Mastepanov ◽  
Anders Lindroth
Keyword(s):  
Energy Balance ◽  
Surface Energy ◽  
Snow Cover ◽  
Energy Exchange ◽  
Surface Energy Balance ◽  
Arctic Tundra ◽  
High Arctic ◽  
Snow Accumulation ◽  
Heat Fluxes ◽  
Tundra Ecosystem

Abstract. Snow cover is one of the key factors controlling Arctic ecosystem functioning and productivity. In this study we assess the impact of strong variability in snow accumulation during 2 subsequent years (2013–2014) on the land–atmosphere interactions and surface energy exchange in two high-Arctic tundra ecosystems (wet fen and dry heath) in Zackenberg, Northeast Greenland. We observed that record-low snow cover during the winter 2012/2013 resulted in a strong response of the heath ecosystem towards low evaporative capacity and substantial surface heat loss by sensible heat fluxes (H) during the subsequent snowmelt period and growing season. Above-average snow accumulation during the winter 2013/2014 promoted summertime ground heat fluxes (G) and latent heat fluxes (LE) at the cost of H. At the fen ecosystem a more muted response of LE, H and G was observed in response to the variability in snow accumulation. Overall, the differences in flux partitioning and in the length of the snowmelt periods and growing seasons during the 2 years had a strong impact on the total accumulation of the surface energy balance components. We suggest that in a changing climate with higher temperature and more precipitation the surface energy balance of this high-Arctic tundra ecosystem may experience a further increase in the variability of energy accumulation, partitioning and redistribution.

scholarly journals Monitoring pigment-driven vegetation changes in a low-Arctic tundra ecosystem using digital cameras

Ecosphere ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 9 (2) ◽  
pp. e02123 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alison L. Beamish ◽  
Nicholas C. Coops ◽  
Txomin Hermosilla ◽  
Sabine Chabrillat ◽  
Birgit Heim
Keyword(s):  
Arctic Tundra ◽  
Vegetation Changes ◽  
Digital Cameras ◽  
Tundra Ecosystem ◽  
Low Arctic

scholarly journals Quantifying Muskox Plant Biomass Removal and Spatial Relocation of Nitrogen in a High Arctic Tundra Ecosystem

2016 ◽  
Vol 48 (2) ◽  
pp. 229-240 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jesper B. Mosbacher ◽  
Ditte K. Kristensen ◽  
Anders Michelsen ◽  
Mikkel Stelvig ◽  
Niels M. Schmidt
Keyword(s):  
Plant Biomass ◽  
Arctic Tundra ◽  
High Arctic ◽  
Tundra Ecosystem ◽  
Biomass Removal
Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document