Landscape variation in soil carbon stocks and respiration in an Arctic tundra ecosystem, west Greenland
The magnitude and acceleration of carbon dioxide emissions from warming Arctic tundra soil is an important part of the Region’s influence on the Earth’s climate system. We investigated the links between soil carbon stocks, soil organic matter decomposition, vegetation heterogeneity, temperature, and...
Published in: | Arctic, Antarctic, and Alpine Research |
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Taylor & Francis Group
2018
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Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1080/15230430.2017.1420283 https://doaj.org/article/a969ca7abeb04ae383f4b4a4f7c52efc |
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fttriple:oai:gotriple.eu:oai:doaj.org/article:a969ca7abeb04ae383f4b4a4f7c52efc 2023-05-15T14:14:18+02:00 Landscape variation in soil carbon stocks and respiration in an Arctic tundra ecosystem, west Greenland Julia I. Bradley-Cook Ross A. Virginia 2018-01-01 https://doi.org/10.1080/15230430.2017.1420283 https://doaj.org/article/a969ca7abeb04ae383f4b4a4f7c52efc en eng Taylor & Francis Group 1523-0430 1938-4246 doi:10.1080/15230430.2017.1420283 https://doaj.org/article/a969ca7abeb04ae383f4b4a4f7c52efc undefined Arctic, Antarctic, and Alpine Research, Vol 50, Iss 1 (2018) soil organic carbon landscape heterogeneity tundra soil respiration soil temperature envir geo Journal Article https://vocabularies.coar-repositories.org/resource_types/c_6501/ 2018 fttriple https://doi.org/10.1080/15230430.2017.1420283 2023-01-22T19:25:15Z The magnitude and acceleration of carbon dioxide emissions from warming Arctic tundra soil is an important part of the Region’s influence on the Earth’s climate system. We investigated the links between soil carbon stocks, soil organic matter decomposition, vegetation heterogeneity, temperature, and environmental sensitivities in dwarf shrub tundra near Kangerlussuaq, Greenland. We quantified carbon stocks of forty-two soil profiles using bulk density estimates based on previous studies in the region. The soil profiles were located within six vegetation types at nine study sites, distributed across an environmental gradient. We also monitored air and soil temperature and measured in situ soil respiration to quantify variation in carbon flux between vegetation types. For spatial extrapolation, we created a high-resolution land cover classification map of the study area. Aside from a single soil profile taken from a fen soil (54.55 kg C m−2; 2.13 kg N m−2), the highest carbon stocks were found in wet grassland soils (mean, 95% CI: 34.87 kg C m−2, [27.30, 44.55]). These same grassland soils also had the highest mid-growing-season soil respiration rates. Our estimation of soil carbon stocks and mid-growing-season soil respiration measurements indicate that grassland soils are a “hot spot” for soil carbon storage and soil carbon dioxide efflux. Even though shrub, steppe, and mixed vegetation had lower average soil carbon stocks (14.66 – 20.17 kg C m−2), these vegetation types played an important role in carbon cycling at the landscape scale because they cover approximately 50 percent of the terrestrial landscape and store approximately 68 percent of the landscape soil organic carbon. The heterogeneous soil carbon stocks in this landscape may be sensitive to key environmental changes, such as shrub expansion and climate change. These environmental drivers could possibly result in a trend toward decreased soil carbon storage and increased release of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere. Article in Journal/Newspaper Antarctic and Alpine Research Arctic Arctic Climate change Greenland Kangerlussuaq Tundra Unknown Arctic Greenland Kangerlussuaq ENVELOPE(-55.633,-55.633,72.633,72.633) Arctic, Antarctic, and Alpine Research 50 1 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
Unknown |
op_collection_id |
fttriple |
language |
English |
topic |
soil organic carbon landscape heterogeneity tundra soil respiration soil temperature envir geo |
spellingShingle |
soil organic carbon landscape heterogeneity tundra soil respiration soil temperature envir geo Julia I. Bradley-Cook Ross A. Virginia Landscape variation in soil carbon stocks and respiration in an Arctic tundra ecosystem, west Greenland |
topic_facet |
soil organic carbon landscape heterogeneity tundra soil respiration soil temperature envir geo |
description |
The magnitude and acceleration of carbon dioxide emissions from warming Arctic tundra soil is an important part of the Region’s influence on the Earth’s climate system. We investigated the links between soil carbon stocks, soil organic matter decomposition, vegetation heterogeneity, temperature, and environmental sensitivities in dwarf shrub tundra near Kangerlussuaq, Greenland. We quantified carbon stocks of forty-two soil profiles using bulk density estimates based on previous studies in the region. The soil profiles were located within six vegetation types at nine study sites, distributed across an environmental gradient. We also monitored air and soil temperature and measured in situ soil respiration to quantify variation in carbon flux between vegetation types. For spatial extrapolation, we created a high-resolution land cover classification map of the study area. Aside from a single soil profile taken from a fen soil (54.55 kg C m−2; 2.13 kg N m−2), the highest carbon stocks were found in wet grassland soils (mean, 95% CI: 34.87 kg C m−2, [27.30, 44.55]). These same grassland soils also had the highest mid-growing-season soil respiration rates. Our estimation of soil carbon stocks and mid-growing-season soil respiration measurements indicate that grassland soils are a “hot spot” for soil carbon storage and soil carbon dioxide efflux. Even though shrub, steppe, and mixed vegetation had lower average soil carbon stocks (14.66 – 20.17 kg C m−2), these vegetation types played an important role in carbon cycling at the landscape scale because they cover approximately 50 percent of the terrestrial landscape and store approximately 68 percent of the landscape soil organic carbon. The heterogeneous soil carbon stocks in this landscape may be sensitive to key environmental changes, such as shrub expansion and climate change. These environmental drivers could possibly result in a trend toward decreased soil carbon storage and increased release of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Julia I. Bradley-Cook Ross A. Virginia |
author_facet |
Julia I. Bradley-Cook Ross A. Virginia |
author_sort |
Julia I. Bradley-Cook |
title |
Landscape variation in soil carbon stocks and respiration in an Arctic tundra ecosystem, west Greenland |
title_short |
Landscape variation in soil carbon stocks and respiration in an Arctic tundra ecosystem, west Greenland |
title_full |
Landscape variation in soil carbon stocks and respiration in an Arctic tundra ecosystem, west Greenland |
title_fullStr |
Landscape variation in soil carbon stocks and respiration in an Arctic tundra ecosystem, west Greenland |
title_full_unstemmed |
Landscape variation in soil carbon stocks and respiration in an Arctic tundra ecosystem, west Greenland |
title_sort |
landscape variation in soil carbon stocks and respiration in an arctic tundra ecosystem, west greenland |
publisher |
Taylor & Francis Group |
publishDate |
2018 |
url |
https://doi.org/10.1080/15230430.2017.1420283 https://doaj.org/article/a969ca7abeb04ae383f4b4a4f7c52efc |
long_lat |
ENVELOPE(-55.633,-55.633,72.633,72.633) |
geographic |
Arctic Greenland Kangerlussuaq |
geographic_facet |
Arctic Greenland Kangerlussuaq |
genre |
Antarctic and Alpine Research Arctic Arctic Climate change Greenland Kangerlussuaq Tundra |
genre_facet |
Antarctic and Alpine Research Arctic Arctic Climate change Greenland Kangerlussuaq Tundra |
op_source |
Arctic, Antarctic, and Alpine Research, Vol 50, Iss 1 (2018) |
op_relation |
1523-0430 1938-4246 doi:10.1080/15230430.2017.1420283 https://doaj.org/article/a969ca7abeb04ae383f4b4a4f7c52efc |
op_rights |
undefined |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1080/15230430.2017.1420283 |
container_title |
Arctic, Antarctic, and Alpine Research |
container_volume |
50 |
container_issue |
1 |
_version_ |
1766286839790960640 |