'One physical system': Tansley's ecosystem as Earth's critical zone.
Integrative concepts of the biosphere, ecosystem, biogeocenosis and, recently, Earth's critical zone embrace scientific disciplines that link matter, energy and organisms in a systems-level understanding of our remarkable planet. Here, we assert the congruence of Tansley's (1935) venerable...
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ftdukeunivdsp:oai:localhost:10161/21248 2023-11-12T04:15:47+01:00 'One physical system': Tansley's ecosystem as Earth's critical zone. Richter, Daniel deB Billings, Sharon A 2020-08-01T16:20:26Z application/pdf https://hdl.handle.net/10161/21248 eng eng Wiley The New phytologist 10.1111/nph.13338 0028-646X 1469-8137 https://hdl.handle.net/10161/21248 Carbon Dioxide Soil Ecosystem Earth (Planet) History 20th Century 21st Century Earth Sciences Journal article 2020 ftdukeunivdsp 2023-10-17T09:41:20Z Integrative concepts of the biosphere, ecosystem, biogeocenosis and, recently, Earth's critical zone embrace scientific disciplines that link matter, energy and organisms in a systems-level understanding of our remarkable planet. Here, we assert the congruence of Tansley's (1935) venerable ecosystem concept of 'one physical system' with Earth science's critical zone. Ecosystems and critical zones are congruent across spatial-temporal scales from vegetation-clad weathering profiles and hillslopes, small catchments, landscapes, river basins, continents, to Earth's whole terrestrial surface. What may be less obvious is congruence in the vertical dimension. We use ecosystem metabolism to argue that full accounting of photosynthetically fixed carbon includes respiratory CO₂ and carbonic acid that propagate to the base of the critical zone itself. Although a small fraction of respiration, the downward diffusion of CO₂ helps determine rates of soil formation and, ultimately, ecosystem evolution and resilience. Because life in the upper portions of terrestrial ecosystems significantly affects biogeochemistry throughout weathering profiles, the lower boundaries of most terrestrial ecosystems have been demarcated at depths too shallow to permit a complete understanding of ecosystem structure and function. Opportunities abound to explore connections between upper and lower components of critical-zone ecosystems, between soils and streams in watersheds, and between plant-derived CO₂ and deep microbial communities and mineral weathering. Article in Journal/Newspaper Carbonic acid Duke University Libraries: DukeSpace |
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Open Polar |
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Duke University Libraries: DukeSpace |
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ftdukeunivdsp |
language |
English |
topic |
Carbon Dioxide Soil Ecosystem Earth (Planet) History 20th Century 21st Century Earth Sciences |
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Carbon Dioxide Soil Ecosystem Earth (Planet) History 20th Century 21st Century Earth Sciences Richter, Daniel deB Billings, Sharon A 'One physical system': Tansley's ecosystem as Earth's critical zone. |
topic_facet |
Carbon Dioxide Soil Ecosystem Earth (Planet) History 20th Century 21st Century Earth Sciences |
description |
Integrative concepts of the biosphere, ecosystem, biogeocenosis and, recently, Earth's critical zone embrace scientific disciplines that link matter, energy and organisms in a systems-level understanding of our remarkable planet. Here, we assert the congruence of Tansley's (1935) venerable ecosystem concept of 'one physical system' with Earth science's critical zone. Ecosystems and critical zones are congruent across spatial-temporal scales from vegetation-clad weathering profiles and hillslopes, small catchments, landscapes, river basins, continents, to Earth's whole terrestrial surface. What may be less obvious is congruence in the vertical dimension. We use ecosystem metabolism to argue that full accounting of photosynthetically fixed carbon includes respiratory CO₂ and carbonic acid that propagate to the base of the critical zone itself. Although a small fraction of respiration, the downward diffusion of CO₂ helps determine rates of soil formation and, ultimately, ecosystem evolution and resilience. Because life in the upper portions of terrestrial ecosystems significantly affects biogeochemistry throughout weathering profiles, the lower boundaries of most terrestrial ecosystems have been demarcated at depths too shallow to permit a complete understanding of ecosystem structure and function. Opportunities abound to explore connections between upper and lower components of critical-zone ecosystems, between soils and streams in watersheds, and between plant-derived CO₂ and deep microbial communities and mineral weathering. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Richter, Daniel deB Billings, Sharon A |
author_facet |
Richter, Daniel deB Billings, Sharon A |
author_sort |
Richter, Daniel deB |
title |
'One physical system': Tansley's ecosystem as Earth's critical zone. |
title_short |
'One physical system': Tansley's ecosystem as Earth's critical zone. |
title_full |
'One physical system': Tansley's ecosystem as Earth's critical zone. |
title_fullStr |
'One physical system': Tansley's ecosystem as Earth's critical zone. |
title_full_unstemmed |
'One physical system': Tansley's ecosystem as Earth's critical zone. |
title_sort |
'one physical system': tansley's ecosystem as earth's critical zone. |
publisher |
Wiley |
publishDate |
2020 |
url |
https://hdl.handle.net/10161/21248 |
genre |
Carbonic acid |
genre_facet |
Carbonic acid |
op_relation |
The New phytologist 10.1111/nph.13338 0028-646X 1469-8137 https://hdl.handle.net/10161/21248 |
_version_ |
1782333065425584128 |