scholarly journals Low-cost chamber design for simultaneous CO2 and O2 flux measurements between tree stems and the atmosphere

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Juliane Helm ◽  
Henrik Hartmann ◽  
Martin Göbel ◽  
Boaz Hilman ◽  
David Herrera ◽  
...  

Abstract Tree stem CO2 efflux is an important component of ecosystem carbon fluxes and has been the focus of many studies. While CO2 efflux can easily be measured, a growing number of studies have shown that it is not identical with actual in situ respiration. Complementing measurements of CO2 flux with simultaneous measurements of O2 flux provides an additional proxy for respiration, and the combination of both fluxes can potentially help getting closer to actual measures of respiratory fluxes. To date, however, the technical challenge to measure relatively small changes in O2 concentration against its high atmospheric background has prevented routine O2 measurements in field applications. Here we present a new and low-cost field-tested device for autonomous real-time and quasi-continuous long-term measurements of stem respiration by combining CO2 (NDIR based) and O2 (quenching based) sensors in a tree stem chamber. Our device operates as a cyclic closed system and measures changes in both CO2 and O2 concentration within the chamber over time. The device is battery-powered with a > 1 week power independence and data acquisition is conveniently achieved by an internal logger. Results from both field and laboratory tests document that our sensors provide reproducible measurements of CO2 and O2 exchange fluxes under varying environmental conditions.

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Johannes Brändle ◽  
Norbert Kunert

Abstract Tree autotrophic respiratory processes, especially stem respiration or stem CO2 efflux (Estem), are important components of the forest carbon budget. Despite the efforts to investigate the controlling processes of Estem in the last years a considerable lack in our knowledge remains on the abiotic and biotic drivers affecting Estem dynamics. It has been strongly advocated that long-term measurements would shed light into those processes. The expensive scientific instruments needed to measure gas exchange has prevented from applying Estem measurements on a larger temporal and spatial scale. Here, we present an automated closed dynamic chamber system based on inexpensive and industrially broadly applied CO2 sensors reducing the costs for the sensing system to a minimum. The CO2 sensor was cross-calibrated with a commonly used gas exchange system in the laboratory and in the field, and we found very good accordance of these sensors. We tested the system under harsh tropical climatic conditions, characterized by heavy tropical rainfall events, extreme humidity, and temperatures, in a moist lowland forest in Malaysia. We recorded Estem of three Dyera costulata trees with our prototype over various days. The variation of Estem was large among the three tree individuals and varied by 7.5-fold. However, clear diurnal changes in Estem were present in all three tree individuals. One tree showed high diurnal variation in Estem and the relationship between Estem and temperature was characterized by a strong hysteresis. The large variations found within one single tree species highlights the importance of continuous measurement to quantify ecosystem carbon fluxes.


2012 ◽  
Vol 9 (12) ◽  
pp. 4979-4991 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. Angert ◽  
J. Muhr ◽  
R. Negron Juarez ◽  
W. Alegria Muñoz ◽  
G. Kraemer ◽  
...  

Abstract. Respiration in tree stems is an important component of forest carbon balance. The rate of CO2 efflux from the stem has often been assumed to be a measure of stem respiration. However, recent work in temperate forests has demonstrated that stem CO2 efflux can either overestimate or underestimate respiration rate because of emission or removal of CO2 by transport in xylem water. Here, we studied gas exchange from stems of tropical forest trees using a new approach to better understand respiration in an ecosystem that plays a key role in the global carbon cycle. Our main questions were (1) is internal CO2 transport important in tropical trees, and, if so, (2) does this transport result in net release of CO2 respired in the roots at the stem, or does it cause the opposite effect of net removal of stem-respired CO2? To answer these questions, we measured the ratio of stem CO2 efflux to O2 influx. This ratio, defined here as apparent respiratory quotient (ARQ), is expected to equal 1.0 if carbohydrates are the substrate for respiration, and the net transport of CO2 in the xylem water is negligible. Using a stem chamber approach to quantifying ARQ, we found values of 0.66 ± 0.18. These low ARQ values indicate that a large portion of respired CO2 (~ 35%) is not emitted locally, and is probably transported upward in the stem. ARQ values of 0.21 ± 0.10 were found for the steady-state gas concentration within the stem, sampled by in-stem equilibration probes. These lower values may result from the proximity to the xylem water stream. In contrast, we found ARQ values of 1.00 ± 0.13 for soil respiration. Our results indicate the existence of a considerable internal flux of CO2 in the stems of tropical trees. If the transported CO2 is used in the canopy as a substrate for photosynthesis, it could account for up to 10% of the C fixed by the tree, and perhaps serve as a mechanism that buffers the response of the tree to changing CO2 levels. Our results also indicate, in agreement with previous work, that the widely used CO2 efflux approach for determining stem respiration is unreliable. We demonstrate here a field applicable approach for measuring the O2 uptake rate, which we suggest to be a more appropriate method to estimate stem respiration rates.


2010 ◽  
Vol 15 (2) ◽  
pp. 115-122 ◽  
Author(s):  
Masatake G. Araki ◽  
Hajime Utsugi ◽  
Takuya Kajimoto ◽  
Qingmin Han ◽  
Tatsuro Kawasaki ◽  
...  

2020 ◽  
Vol 13 (4) ◽  
pp. 2057-2074 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stefan Osterwalder ◽  
Werner Eugster ◽  
Iris Feigenwinter ◽  
Martin Jiskra

Abstract. Direct measurements of the net ecosystem exchange (NEE) of gaseous elemental mercury (Hg0) are important to improve our understanding of global Hg cycling and, ultimately, human and wildlife Hg exposure. The lack of long-term, ecosystem-scale measurements causes large uncertainties in Hg0 flux estimates. It currently remains unclear whether terrestrial ecosystems are net sinks or sources of atmospheric Hg0. Here, we show a detailed validation of direct Hg0 flux measurements based on the eddy covariance technique (Eddy Mercury) using a Lumex RA-915 AM mercury monitor. The flux detection limit derived from a zero-flux experiment in the laboratory was 0.22 ng m−2 h−1 (maximum) with a 50 % cutoff at 0.074 ng m−2 h−1. We present eddy covariance NEE measurements of Hg0 over a low-Hg soil (41–75 ng Hg g−1 in the topsoil, referring to a depth of 0–10 cm), conducted in summer 2018 at a managed grassland at the Swiss FluxNet site in Chamau, Switzerland (CH-Cha). The statistical estimate of the Hg0 flux detection limit under outdoor conditions at the site was 5.9 ng m−2 h−1 (50 % cutoff). We measured a net summertime emission over a period of 34 d with a median Hg0 flux of 2.5 ng m−2 h−1 (with a −0.6 to 7.4 ng m−2 h−1 range between the 25th and 75th percentiles). We observed a distinct diel cycle with higher median daytime fluxes (8.4 ng m−2 h−1) than nighttime fluxes (1.0 ng m−2 h−1). Drought stress during the measurement campaign in summer 2018 induced partial stomata closure of vegetation. Partial stomata closure led to a midday depression in CO2 uptake, which did not recover during the afternoon. The median CO2 flux was only 24 % of the median CO2 flux measured during the same period in the previous year (2017). We suggest that partial stomata closure also dampened Hg0 uptake by vegetation, resulting in a NEE of Hg0 that was dominated by soil emission. Finally, we provide suggestions to further improve the precision and handling of the “Eddy Mercury” system in order to assure its suitability for long-term NEE measurements of Hg0 over natural background surfaces with low soil Hg concentrations (< 100 ng g−1). With these improvements, Eddy Mercury has the potential to be integrated into global networks of micrometeorological tower sites (FluxNet) and to provide the long-term observations on terrestrial atmosphere Hg0 exchange necessary to validate regional and global mercury models.


2012 ◽  
Vol 9 (8) ◽  
pp. 11443-11477 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. Angert ◽  
J. Muhr ◽  
R. Negron Juarez ◽  
W. Alegria Muñoz ◽  
G. Kraemer ◽  
...  

Abstract. Respiration in tree stems is an important component of forest carbon balance. The rate of CO2 efflux from the stem has often been assumed to be a measure of stem respiration. However, recent work in temperate forests has demonstrated that stem CO2 efflux can either overestimate or underestimate respiration rate, because of emission or removal of CO2 by transport in xylem water. Here we used the ratio between CO2 efflux and O2 influx in stems of tropical forest trees to better understand respiration in an ecosystem that plays a key role in the global carbon cycle. This ratio, which we defined here as apparent respiratory quotient (ARQ), is expected to equal 1.0 if carbohydrates are the substrate for respiration, and the net transport of CO2 in the xylem water is negligible. However, using a stem chamber approach to quantifying ARQ we found values of 0.66 ± 0.18. These low ARQ values indicate that a large portion of respired CO2 (~35%) is not emitted locally, and is probably transported upward in the stem. ARQ values of 0.21 ± 0.10 were found for the steady-state gas concentration within the tree, sampled by in-stem equilibration probes. These lower values may result from the proximity to the xylem water stream. In contrast, we found ARQ values of 1.00 ± 0.13 for soil respiration. Our results indicate, for the first time, the existence of a~considerable internal flux of CO2in the stem of tropical trees. If the transported CO2 is used in the canopy as a substrate for photosynthesis, it could account for several percent of the C fixed by the tree, and perhaps serve as a mechanism that buffers the response of the tree to changing CO2 levels. Our results also indicate, in agreement with previous work, that the widely used CO2 efflux approach for determining stem respiration is unreliable. We demonstrate here a field applicable approach for measuring the O2 uptake rate, which we suggest to be a more appropriate method to estimate stem respiration rates.


2007 ◽  
Vol 66 (1-4) ◽  
pp. 130-139 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alexandra Weiss ◽  
Joachim Kuss ◽  
Gerhard Peters ◽  
Bernd Schneider

Forests ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (10) ◽  
pp. 1340
Author(s):  
Francisco Antonio García Morote ◽  
Manuela Andrés Abellán ◽  
Eva Rubio ◽  
Iván Pérez Anta ◽  
Francisco García Saucedo ◽  
...  

There are considerable uncertainties about the C cycle in semi-arid ecosystems. Hence, studies that have focused on Juniperus in Mediterranean woodlands are non-existent. This study provides a survey of the effect of the juniper woodland type (young and mature woodlands; joint effect of maturity and forest productivity) on stem respiration. We checked the seasonal variation of stem respiration, evaluating the effects of stem temperature on stem CO2 efflux. For this, we measured the stem CO2 efflux (µmol CO2 m−2 s−1) over the four seasons on 16 junipers using LI-6400 equipment. The results showed that in the more productive site (young woodland), the stem CO2 efflux was higher. This variable followed a clear seasonal trend, being higher during the spring and progressively decreasing in cold periods. In both juniper woodlands, and especially in the older forests, the Q10 coefficients were low (<2), typical of cold forests and slow-growing species. The exponential model also confirmed that the Q10 was significantly higher in young juniper trees. Thus, stem CO2 efflux was an indicator of the growth in this juniper woodland that is well adapted to a semi-arid climate.


Author(s):  
Carl Malings ◽  
Rebecca Tanzer ◽  
Aliaksei Hauryliuk ◽  
Provat K. Saha ◽  
Allen L. Robinson ◽  
...  

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