Carbon and nitrogen isotope studies in an arctic ecosystem. Final report

• Main Author: Schell, D.M.
• Language: unknown
• Published: 2008
• Subjects: 54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES; ARCTIC REGIONS; CARBON CYCLE; PROGRESS REPORT; TERRESTRIAL ECOSYSTEMS; CARBON DIOXIDE FIXATION; CARBON SINKS; CARBON 14 COMPOUNDS; TRACER TECHNIQUES; CESIUM 137; NITROGEN 15; Arctic; permafrost; Tundra; Alaska
• Online Access: http://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/10151943; https://www.osti.gov/biblio/10151943; https://doi.org/10.2172/10151943

The dynamics of carbon fixation and storage in tundra soils has received considerable attention with respect to global carbon cycling. Recent findings by investigators using chamber measurements of fixation/respiration rates in arctic tundra have led to the conclusion that tundra is no longer storing carbon but is instead a source of carbon dioxide to the atmosphere. The author has sought to test these conclusions and to determine methods by which the long-term accumulation or loss of carbon in tundra can be determined. Little is known, however, of the processes that control storage and the current rates of carbon fixation and peat formation in arctic Alaska. This project focused on several aspects of carbon dynamics and the roles of decomposition and herbivory at the DOE research site at Imnavait Creek, Alaska. Through the use of natural abundance stable and radioisotope techniques, several conclusions emerged. Peat carbon continues to accumulate in wetter areas of foothill valleys and on the coastal plain of arctic Alaska. Radiocarbon profiles of bomb {sup 14}C were used to date layers of vegetation and litter to obtain decomposition rates and to extrapolate these values to intersection with the permafrost horizon where further decomposition is assumed to cease. Carbon storage in riparian moss at Imnavait Creek was estimated at 3 g C/m{sup 2}-yr. Profiles of {sup 137}Cs closely matched those of {sup 14}C and may provide a more expeditious means of assessing recent carbon accumulation rates in tundra. Carbon and nitrogen stable isotope ratios in tundra vegetation vary markedly over hydrologic gradients in apparent response to changing growth rates and sources of nitrogenous nutrients. Within a taxon, {delta}{sup 15}N values varied by several {per_thousand} over a tens of meters distance.