Temperature sensitivity of mineral soil carbon decomposition in shrub and graminoid tundra, west Greenland
Abstract Background Shrub expansion is transforming Arctic tundra landscapes, but the impact on the large pool of carbon stored in high-latitude soils is poorly understood. Soil carbon decomposition is a potentially important source of greenhouse gases, which could create a positive feedback to atmo...
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ftdatacite:10.6084/m9.figshare.c.3639542 2023-05-15T15:19:19+02:00 Temperature sensitivity of mineral soil carbon decomposition in shrub and graminoid tundra, west Greenland Bradley-Cook, Julia Petrenko, Chelsea Friedland, Andrew Virginia, Ross 2016 https://dx.doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.c.3639542 https://figshare.com/collections/Temperature_sensitivity_of_mineral_soil_carbon_decomposition_in_shrub_and_graminoid_tundra_west_Greenland/3639542 unknown Figshare https://dx.doi.org/10.1186/s40665-016-0016-1 CC BY 4.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0 CC-BY Medicine 59999 Environmental Sciences not elsewhere classified FOS Earth and related environmental sciences 39999 Chemical Sciences not elsewhere classified FOS Chemical sciences Ecology FOS Biological sciences 69999 Biological Sciences not elsewhere classified Plant Biology Collection article 2016 ftdatacite https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.c.3639542 https://doi.org/10.1186/s40665-016-0016-1 2021-11-05T12:55:41Z Abstract Background Shrub expansion is transforming Arctic tundra landscapes, but the impact on the large pool of carbon stored in high-latitude soils is poorly understood. Soil carbon decomposition is a potentially important source of greenhouse gases, which could create a positive feedback to atmospheric temperature. Decomposition is temperature sensitive, but the response to temperature can be altered by environmental variables. We focus on mineral soils, which can comprise a substantial part of the near-surface carbon stock at the landscape scale and have physiochemical characteristics that influence temperature sensitivity. We conducted a soil incubation experiment to measure carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions from tundra soils collected from west Greenland at two depths of mineral soils (0-20 cm and 20-40 cm below the surface organic horizon) incubated at five temperatures (4, 8, 12, 16, 24 °C) and two moisture levels (40 % and 60 % water holding capacity). We used an information theoretic model comparison approach to evaluate temperature, moisture and depth effects, and associated interactions, on carbon losses through respiration and to determine the temperature sensitivity of decomposition in shrub- and graminoid-dominated soils. Results We measured ecologically important differences in heterotrophic respiration and temperature sensitivity of decomposition between vegetation types. Graminoid soils had 1.8 times higher cumulative respiration and higher temperature sensitivity (expressed as Q-10) in the shallow depths (Q-10graminoid = 2.3, Q-10shrub = 1.8) compared to shrub soils. Higher Q-10 in graminoid soils was also observed for the initial incubation measurements (Q-10graminoid = 2.4, Q-10shrub = 1.9). Cumulative respiration was also higher for shallow soils, increased with moisture level, and had a temperature-depth interaction. Increasing soil moisture had a positive effect on temperature sensitivity in graminoid soils, but not in shrub soils. Conclusion Mineral soil associated with graminoid-dominated vegetation had greater carbon losses from decomposition and a higher temperature sensitivity than shrub-dominated soils. An extrapolation of our incubation study suggests that organic carbon decomposition in western Greenland soils will likely increase with warming and with an increase in soil moisture content. Our results indicate that landscape level changes in vegetation and soil heterogeneity are important for understanding climate feedbacks between tundra and the atmosphere. Article in Journal/Newspaper Arctic Greenland Tundra DataCite Metadata Store (German National Library of Science and Technology) Arctic Greenland |
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DataCite Metadata Store (German National Library of Science and Technology) |
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unknown |
topic |
Medicine 59999 Environmental Sciences not elsewhere classified FOS Earth and related environmental sciences 39999 Chemical Sciences not elsewhere classified FOS Chemical sciences Ecology FOS Biological sciences 69999 Biological Sciences not elsewhere classified Plant Biology |
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Medicine 59999 Environmental Sciences not elsewhere classified FOS Earth and related environmental sciences 39999 Chemical Sciences not elsewhere classified FOS Chemical sciences Ecology FOS Biological sciences 69999 Biological Sciences not elsewhere classified Plant Biology Bradley-Cook, Julia Petrenko, Chelsea Friedland, Andrew Virginia, Ross Temperature sensitivity of mineral soil carbon decomposition in shrub and graminoid tundra, west Greenland |
topic_facet |
Medicine 59999 Environmental Sciences not elsewhere classified FOS Earth and related environmental sciences 39999 Chemical Sciences not elsewhere classified FOS Chemical sciences Ecology FOS Biological sciences 69999 Biological Sciences not elsewhere classified Plant Biology |
description |
Abstract Background Shrub expansion is transforming Arctic tundra landscapes, but the impact on the large pool of carbon stored in high-latitude soils is poorly understood. Soil carbon decomposition is a potentially important source of greenhouse gases, which could create a positive feedback to atmospheric temperature. Decomposition is temperature sensitive, but the response to temperature can be altered by environmental variables. We focus on mineral soils, which can comprise a substantial part of the near-surface carbon stock at the landscape scale and have physiochemical characteristics that influence temperature sensitivity. We conducted a soil incubation experiment to measure carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions from tundra soils collected from west Greenland at two depths of mineral soils (0-20 cm and 20-40 cm below the surface organic horizon) incubated at five temperatures (4, 8, 12, 16, 24 °C) and two moisture levels (40 % and 60 % water holding capacity). We used an information theoretic model comparison approach to evaluate temperature, moisture and depth effects, and associated interactions, on carbon losses through respiration and to determine the temperature sensitivity of decomposition in shrub- and graminoid-dominated soils. Results We measured ecologically important differences in heterotrophic respiration and temperature sensitivity of decomposition between vegetation types. Graminoid soils had 1.8 times higher cumulative respiration and higher temperature sensitivity (expressed as Q-10) in the shallow depths (Q-10graminoid = 2.3, Q-10shrub = 1.8) compared to shrub soils. Higher Q-10 in graminoid soils was also observed for the initial incubation measurements (Q-10graminoid = 2.4, Q-10shrub = 1.9). Cumulative respiration was also higher for shallow soils, increased with moisture level, and had a temperature-depth interaction. Increasing soil moisture had a positive effect on temperature sensitivity in graminoid soils, but not in shrub soils. Conclusion Mineral soil associated with graminoid-dominated vegetation had greater carbon losses from decomposition and a higher temperature sensitivity than shrub-dominated soils. An extrapolation of our incubation study suggests that organic carbon decomposition in western Greenland soils will likely increase with warming and with an increase in soil moisture content. Our results indicate that landscape level changes in vegetation and soil heterogeneity are important for understanding climate feedbacks between tundra and the atmosphere. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Bradley-Cook, Julia Petrenko, Chelsea Friedland, Andrew Virginia, Ross |
author_facet |
Bradley-Cook, Julia Petrenko, Chelsea Friedland, Andrew Virginia, Ross |
author_sort |
Bradley-Cook, Julia |
title |
Temperature sensitivity of mineral soil carbon decomposition in shrub and graminoid tundra, west Greenland |
title_short |
Temperature sensitivity of mineral soil carbon decomposition in shrub and graminoid tundra, west Greenland |
title_full |
Temperature sensitivity of mineral soil carbon decomposition in shrub and graminoid tundra, west Greenland |
title_fullStr |
Temperature sensitivity of mineral soil carbon decomposition in shrub and graminoid tundra, west Greenland |
title_full_unstemmed |
Temperature sensitivity of mineral soil carbon decomposition in shrub and graminoid tundra, west Greenland |
title_sort |
temperature sensitivity of mineral soil carbon decomposition in shrub and graminoid tundra, west greenland |
publisher |
Figshare |
publishDate |
2016 |
url |
https://dx.doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.c.3639542 https://figshare.com/collections/Temperature_sensitivity_of_mineral_soil_carbon_decomposition_in_shrub_and_graminoid_tundra_west_Greenland/3639542 |
geographic |
Arctic Greenland |
geographic_facet |
Arctic Greenland |
genre |
Arctic Greenland Tundra |
genre_facet |
Arctic Greenland Tundra |
op_relation |
https://dx.doi.org/10.1186/s40665-016-0016-1 |
op_rights |
CC BY 4.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0 |
op_rightsnorm |
CC-BY |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.c.3639542 https://doi.org/10.1186/s40665-016-0016-1 |
_version_ |
1766349492901117952 |