Decade of experimental permafrost thaw reduces turnover of young carbon and increases losses of old carbon, without affecting the net carbon balance
Abstract Thicker snowpacks and their insulation effects cause winter‐warming and invoke thaw of permafrost ecosystems. Temperature‐dependent decomposition of previously frozen carbon (C) is currently considered one of the strongest feedbacks between the Arctic and the climate system, but the directi...
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crwiley:10.1111/gcb.15283 2024-06-02T08:02:41+00:00 Decade of experimental permafrost thaw reduces turnover of young carbon and increases losses of old carbon, without affecting the net carbon balance Olid, Carolina Klaminder, Jonatan Monteux, Sylvain Johansson, Margareta Dorrepaal, Ellen Knut och Alice Wallenbergs Stiftelse Svenska Forskningsrådet Formas Vetenskapsrådet 2020 http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/gcb.15283 https://api.wiley.com/onlinelibrary/tdm/v1/articles/10.1111%2Fgcb.15283 https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1111/gcb.15283 https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full-xml/10.1111/gcb.15283 en eng Wiley http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ Global Change Biology volume 26, issue 10, page 5886-5898 ISSN 1354-1013 1365-2486 journal-article 2020 crwiley https://doi.org/10.1111/gcb.15283 2024-05-03T10:38:05Z Abstract Thicker snowpacks and their insulation effects cause winter‐warming and invoke thaw of permafrost ecosystems. Temperature‐dependent decomposition of previously frozen carbon (C) is currently considered one of the strongest feedbacks between the Arctic and the climate system, but the direction and magnitude of the net C balance remains uncertain. This is because winter effects are rarely integrated with C fluxes during the snow‐free season and because predicting the net C balance from both surface processes and thawing deep layers remains challenging. In this study, we quantified changes in the long‐term net C balance (net ecosystem production) in a subarctic peat plateau subjected to 10 years of experimental winter‐warming. By combining 210 Pb and 14 Cdating of peat cores with peat growth models, we investigated thawing effects on year‐round primary production and C losses through respiration and leaching from both shallow and deep peat layers. Winter‐warming and permafrost thaw had no effect on the net C balance, but strongly affected gross C fluxes. Carbon losses through decomposition from the upper peat were reduced as thawing of permafrost induced surface subsidence and subsequent waterlogging. However, primary production was also reduced likely due to a strong decline in bryophytes cover while losses from the old C pool almost tripled, caused by the deepened active layer. Our findings highlight the need to estimate long‐term responses of whole‐year production and decomposition processes to thawing, both in shallow and deep soil layers, as they may contrast and lead to unexpected net effects on permafrost C storage. Article in Journal/Newspaper Arctic Peat Peat plateau permafrost Subarctic Wiley Online Library Arctic Global Change Biology 26 10 5886 5898 |
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Open Polar |
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Wiley Online Library |
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crwiley |
language |
English |
description |
Abstract Thicker snowpacks and their insulation effects cause winter‐warming and invoke thaw of permafrost ecosystems. Temperature‐dependent decomposition of previously frozen carbon (C) is currently considered one of the strongest feedbacks between the Arctic and the climate system, but the direction and magnitude of the net C balance remains uncertain. This is because winter effects are rarely integrated with C fluxes during the snow‐free season and because predicting the net C balance from both surface processes and thawing deep layers remains challenging. In this study, we quantified changes in the long‐term net C balance (net ecosystem production) in a subarctic peat plateau subjected to 10 years of experimental winter‐warming. By combining 210 Pb and 14 Cdating of peat cores with peat growth models, we investigated thawing effects on year‐round primary production and C losses through respiration and leaching from both shallow and deep peat layers. Winter‐warming and permafrost thaw had no effect on the net C balance, but strongly affected gross C fluxes. Carbon losses through decomposition from the upper peat were reduced as thawing of permafrost induced surface subsidence and subsequent waterlogging. However, primary production was also reduced likely due to a strong decline in bryophytes cover while losses from the old C pool almost tripled, caused by the deepened active layer. Our findings highlight the need to estimate long‐term responses of whole‐year production and decomposition processes to thawing, both in shallow and deep soil layers, as they may contrast and lead to unexpected net effects on permafrost C storage. |
author2 |
Knut och Alice Wallenbergs Stiftelse Svenska Forskningsrådet Formas Vetenskapsrådet |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Olid, Carolina Klaminder, Jonatan Monteux, Sylvain Johansson, Margareta Dorrepaal, Ellen |
spellingShingle |
Olid, Carolina Klaminder, Jonatan Monteux, Sylvain Johansson, Margareta Dorrepaal, Ellen Decade of experimental permafrost thaw reduces turnover of young carbon and increases losses of old carbon, without affecting the net carbon balance |
author_facet |
Olid, Carolina Klaminder, Jonatan Monteux, Sylvain Johansson, Margareta Dorrepaal, Ellen |
author_sort |
Olid, Carolina |
title |
Decade of experimental permafrost thaw reduces turnover of young carbon and increases losses of old carbon, without affecting the net carbon balance |
title_short |
Decade of experimental permafrost thaw reduces turnover of young carbon and increases losses of old carbon, without affecting the net carbon balance |
title_full |
Decade of experimental permafrost thaw reduces turnover of young carbon and increases losses of old carbon, without affecting the net carbon balance |
title_fullStr |
Decade of experimental permafrost thaw reduces turnover of young carbon and increases losses of old carbon, without affecting the net carbon balance |
title_full_unstemmed |
Decade of experimental permafrost thaw reduces turnover of young carbon and increases losses of old carbon, without affecting the net carbon balance |
title_sort |
decade of experimental permafrost thaw reduces turnover of young carbon and increases losses of old carbon, without affecting the net carbon balance |
publisher |
Wiley |
publishDate |
2020 |
url |
http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/gcb.15283 https://api.wiley.com/onlinelibrary/tdm/v1/articles/10.1111%2Fgcb.15283 https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1111/gcb.15283 https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full-xml/10.1111/gcb.15283 |
geographic |
Arctic |
geographic_facet |
Arctic |
genre |
Arctic Peat Peat plateau permafrost Subarctic |
genre_facet |
Arctic Peat Peat plateau permafrost Subarctic |
op_source |
Global Change Biology volume 26, issue 10, page 5886-5898 ISSN 1354-1013 1365-2486 |
op_rights |
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1111/gcb.15283 |
container_title |
Global Change Biology |
container_volume |
26 |
container_issue |
10 |
container_start_page |
5886 |
op_container_end_page |
5898 |
_version_ |
1800747166420959232 |