Carbon isotope discrimination of arctic and boreal biomes inferred from remote atmospheric measurements and a biosphere-atmosphere model

• Published in: Global Biogeochemical Cycles
• Main Authors: Randerson, J. T., Still, C. J., Ballé, J. J., Fung, I. Y., Doney, S. C., Tans, P. P., Conway, T. J., White, J. W. C., Vaughn, B., Suits, N., Denning, A. S.
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: unknown
• Published: American Geophysical Union 2002
• Subjects: net primary production; light use efficiency; carbon isotope discrimination; temperature sensitivity of respiration; seasonal cycle of CO2; Q10 respiration factor; Arctic; Institute of Arctic and Alpine Research
• Online Access: https://doi.org/10.1029/2001GB001435

Estimating discrimination against ^(13)C during photosynthesis at landscape, regional, and biome scales is difficult because of large-scale variability in plant stress, vegetation composition, and photosynthetic pathway. Here we present estimates of ^(13)C discrimination for northern biomes based on a biosphere-atmosphere model and on National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Climate Monitoring and Diagnostics Laboratory and Institute of Arctic and Alpine Research remote flask measurements. With our inversion approach, we solved for three ecophysiological parameters of the northern biosphere (^(13)C discrimination, a net primary production light use efficiency, and a temperature sensitivity of heterotrophic respiration (a Q10 factor)) that provided a best fit between modeled and observed δ^(13)C and CO_2. In our analysis we attempted to explicitly correct for fossil fuel emissions, remote C4 ecosystem fluxes, ocean exchange, and isotopic disequilibria of terrestrial heterotrophic respiration caused by the Suess effect. We obtained a photosynthetic discrimination for arctic and boreal biomes between 19.0 and 19.6‰. Our inversion analysis suggests that Q10 and light use efficiency values that minimize the cost function covary. The optimal light use efficiency was 0.47 gC MJ^(−1) photosynthetically active radiation, and the optimal Q10 value was 1.52. Fossil fuel and ocean exchange contributed proportionally more to month-to-month changes in the atmospheric growth rate of δ^(13)C and CO_2 during winter months, suggesting that remote atmospheric observations during the summer may yield more precise estimates of the isotopic composition of the biosphere. Copyright 2002 by the American Geophysical Union. Issue published online: 2 JUL 2002. Article first published online: 2 JUL 2002. Manuscript Accepted: 3 DEC 2001. Manuscript Revised: 2 DEC 2001. Manuscript Received: 10 MAY 2001. J. T. R. gratefully acknowledges support from a NASA IDS grant NASA/MDAR NAG5-9462 and a DOE Alexander Hollaender ...