Turnover of recently assimilated carbon in arctic bryophytes

Carbon (C) allocation and turnover in arctic bryophytes is largely unknown, but their response to climatic change has potentially significant impacts on arctic ecosystem C budgets. Using a combination of pulse-chase experiments and a newly developed model of C turnover in bryophytes, we show signifi...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Oecologia
Main Authors: Street, Lorna E, Subke, Jens-Arne, Sommerkorn, Martin, Heinemeyer, Andreas, Williams, Mathew
Other Authors: University of Edinburgh, Biological and Environmental Sciences, Macaulay Land Use Research Institute, University of York, orcid:0000-0001-9244-639X
Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
Language:English
Published: Springer Verlag 2011
Subjects:
Mosses
NPP:GPP ratio
13C pulse-labelling
Carbon model
Carbon allocation
Photosynthesis
Autotrophic respiration
Mosses Arctic regions
Bryophytes
Climatic changes Arctic regions
Atmospheric carbon dioxide Environmental aspects
Arctic
Online Access:http://hdl.handle.net/1893/3362
https://doi.org/10.1007/s00442-011-1988-y
http://dspace.stir.ac.uk/bitstream/1893/3362/1/Street%20et%20al%202011_Oecologia.pdf
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Summary:Carbon (C) allocation and turnover in arctic bryophytes is largely unknown, but their response to climatic change has potentially significant impacts on arctic ecosystem C budgets. Using a combination of pulse-chase experiments and a newly developed model of C turnover in bryophytes, we show significant differences in C turnover between two contrasting arctic moss species (Polytrichum piliferum and Sphagnum fuscum). 13C abundance in moss tissues (measured up to 1 year) and respired CO2 (traced over 5 days) were used to parameterise the bryophyte C model with four pools representing labile and structural C in photosynthetic and stem tissue. The model was optimised using an Ensemble Kalman Filter to ensure a focus on estimating the confidence intervals (CI) on model parameters and outputs. The ratio of aboveground NPP:GPP in Polytrichum piliferum was 23% (CI 9–35%), with an average turnover time of 1.7 days (CI 1.1–2.5 days). The aboveground NPP:GPP ratio in Sphagnum fuscum was 43% (CI 19–65%) with an average turnover time of 3.1 days (CI 1.6–6.1 days). These results are the first to show differences in C partitioning between arctic bryophyte species in situ and highlight the importance of modelling C dynamics of this group separately from vascular plants for a realistic representation of vegetation in arctic C models.

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