Litter quality and quantity effects on biogeochemical processes in a subarctic wetland. Yukon Delta National Wildlife Refuge, Alaska, 2021 ...

• Main Authors: Atwood, Trisha, Beard, Karen, Waring, Bonnie, Adkins, Jaron, Saunders, Taylor
• Format: Dataset
• Language: English
• Published: NSF Arctic Data Center 2023
• Subjects: greenhouse gas; herbivores; biogeochemistry; microbial communities; microcosm; wetland; The ''Y''; Yukon; Kuskokwim; Subarctic; Alaska
• Online Access: https://dx.doi.org/10.18739/a2cc0tv7w; https://arcticdata.io/catalog/view/doi:10.18739/A2CC0TV7W

Global change drivers that modify the quality and quantity of litter inputs to soil affect greenhouse gas fluxes, and thereby constitute a feedback to climate change. Carbon cycling in the Yukon-Kuskokwim (Y-K) River Delta, a subarctic wetland system, is influenced by landscape variations in litter quality and quantity generated by herbivores (migratory birds) that create ‘grazing lawns’ of short stature, nitrogen-rich vegetation. To identify the mechanisms by which these changes in litter inputs affect soil carbon balance, we independently manipulated qualities and quantities of litter representative of levels found in the Y-K Delta in a fully factorial microcosm experiment. We measured carbon dioxide (CO2) fluxes from these microcosms weekly. To help us identify how litter inputs influenced greenhouse gas fluxes, we sequenced soil fungal and bacterial communities, and measured soil microbial biomass carbon, dissolved carbon, inorganic nitrogen, and enzyme activity. We found that positive correlations ...