Wildfire‐induced increases in photosynthesis in boreal forest ecosystems of North America
Abstract Observations of the annual cycle of atmospheric CO 2 in high northern latitudes provide evidence for an increase in terrestrial metabolism in Arctic tundra and boreal forest ecosystems. However, the mechanisms driving these changes are not yet fully understood. One proposed hypothesis is th...
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Online Access: | http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/gcb.17151 https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1111/gcb.17151 |
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crwiley:10.1111/gcb.17151 2024-06-02T08:02:47+00:00 Wildfire‐induced increases in photosynthesis in boreal forest ecosystems of North America Kim, Jinhyuk E. Wang, Jonathan A. Li, Yue Czimczik, Claudia I. Randerson, James T. 2024 http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/gcb.17151 https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1111/gcb.17151 en eng Wiley http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ Global Change Biology volume 30, issue 1 ISSN 1354-1013 1365-2486 journal-article 2024 crwiley https://doi.org/10.1111/gcb.17151 2024-05-03T11:19:43Z Abstract Observations of the annual cycle of atmospheric CO 2 in high northern latitudes provide evidence for an increase in terrestrial metabolism in Arctic tundra and boreal forest ecosystems. However, the mechanisms driving these changes are not yet fully understood. One proposed hypothesis is that ecological change from disturbance, such as wildfire, could increase the magnitude and change the phase of net ecosystem exchange through shifts in plant community composition. Yet, little quantitative work has evaluated this potential mechanism at a regional scale. Here we investigate how fire disturbance influences landscape‐level patterns of photosynthesis across western boreal North America. We use Alaska and Canadian large fire databases to identify the perimeters of wildfires, a Landsat‐derived land cover time series to characterize plant functional types (PFTs), and solar‐induced fluorescence (SIF) from the Orbiting Carbon Observatory‐2 (OCO‐2) as a proxy for photosynthesis. We analyze these datasets to characterize post‐fire changes in plant succession and photosynthetic activity using a space‐for‐time approach. We find that increases in herbaceous and sparse vegetation, shrub, and deciduous broadleaf forest PFTs during mid‐succession yield enhancements in SIF by 8–40% during June and July for 2‐ to 59‐year stands relative to pre‐fire controls. From the analysis of post‐fire land cover changes within individual ecoregions and modeling, we identify two mechanisms by which fires contribute to long‐term trends in SIF. First, increases in annual burning are shifting the stand age distribution, leading to increases in the abundance of shrubs and deciduous broadleaf forests that have considerably higher SIF during early‐ and mid‐summer. Second, fire appears to facilitate a long‐term shift from evergreen conifer to broadleaf deciduous forest in the Boreal Plain ecoregion. These findings suggest that increasing fire can contribute substantially to positive trends in seasonal CO 2 exchange without a close coupling ... Article in Journal/Newspaper Arctic Tundra Alaska Wiley Online Library Arctic Global Change Biology 30 1 |
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Open Polar |
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Wiley Online Library |
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crwiley |
language |
English |
description |
Abstract Observations of the annual cycle of atmospheric CO 2 in high northern latitudes provide evidence for an increase in terrestrial metabolism in Arctic tundra and boreal forest ecosystems. However, the mechanisms driving these changes are not yet fully understood. One proposed hypothesis is that ecological change from disturbance, such as wildfire, could increase the magnitude and change the phase of net ecosystem exchange through shifts in plant community composition. Yet, little quantitative work has evaluated this potential mechanism at a regional scale. Here we investigate how fire disturbance influences landscape‐level patterns of photosynthesis across western boreal North America. We use Alaska and Canadian large fire databases to identify the perimeters of wildfires, a Landsat‐derived land cover time series to characterize plant functional types (PFTs), and solar‐induced fluorescence (SIF) from the Orbiting Carbon Observatory‐2 (OCO‐2) as a proxy for photosynthesis. We analyze these datasets to characterize post‐fire changes in plant succession and photosynthetic activity using a space‐for‐time approach. We find that increases in herbaceous and sparse vegetation, shrub, and deciduous broadleaf forest PFTs during mid‐succession yield enhancements in SIF by 8–40% during June and July for 2‐ to 59‐year stands relative to pre‐fire controls. From the analysis of post‐fire land cover changes within individual ecoregions and modeling, we identify two mechanisms by which fires contribute to long‐term trends in SIF. First, increases in annual burning are shifting the stand age distribution, leading to increases in the abundance of shrubs and deciduous broadleaf forests that have considerably higher SIF during early‐ and mid‐summer. Second, fire appears to facilitate a long‐term shift from evergreen conifer to broadleaf deciduous forest in the Boreal Plain ecoregion. These findings suggest that increasing fire can contribute substantially to positive trends in seasonal CO 2 exchange without a close coupling ... |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Kim, Jinhyuk E. Wang, Jonathan A. Li, Yue Czimczik, Claudia I. Randerson, James T. |
spellingShingle |
Kim, Jinhyuk E. Wang, Jonathan A. Li, Yue Czimczik, Claudia I. Randerson, James T. Wildfire‐induced increases in photosynthesis in boreal forest ecosystems of North America |
author_facet |
Kim, Jinhyuk E. Wang, Jonathan A. Li, Yue Czimczik, Claudia I. Randerson, James T. |
author_sort |
Kim, Jinhyuk E. |
title |
Wildfire‐induced increases in photosynthesis in boreal forest ecosystems of North America |
title_short |
Wildfire‐induced increases in photosynthesis in boreal forest ecosystems of North America |
title_full |
Wildfire‐induced increases in photosynthesis in boreal forest ecosystems of North America |
title_fullStr |
Wildfire‐induced increases in photosynthesis in boreal forest ecosystems of North America |
title_full_unstemmed |
Wildfire‐induced increases in photosynthesis in boreal forest ecosystems of North America |
title_sort |
wildfire‐induced increases in photosynthesis in boreal forest ecosystems of north america |
publisher |
Wiley |
publishDate |
2024 |
url |
http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/gcb.17151 https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1111/gcb.17151 |
geographic |
Arctic |
geographic_facet |
Arctic |
genre |
Arctic Tundra Alaska |
genre_facet |
Arctic Tundra Alaska |
op_source |
Global Change Biology volume 30, issue 1 ISSN 1354-1013 1365-2486 |
op_rights |
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1111/gcb.17151 |
container_title |
Global Change Biology |
container_volume |
30 |
container_issue |
1 |
_version_ |
1800747265105592320 |