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Environmental and Vegetation Drivers of Seasonal CO2 Fluxes in a Sub-arctic Forest–Mire Ecotone

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Abstract

Unravelling the role of structural and environmental drivers of gross primary productivity (GPP) and ecosystem respiration (R eco) in highly heterogeneous tundra is a major challenge for the upscaling of chamber-based CO2 fluxes in Arctic landscapes. In a mountain birch woodland-mire ecotone, we investigated the role of LAI (and NDVI), environmental factors (microclimate, soil moisture), and microsite type across tundra shrub plots (wet hummocks, dry hummocks, dry hollows) and lichen hummocks, in controlling net ecosystem CO2 exchange (NEE). During a growing season, we measured NEE fluxes continuously, with closed dynamic chambers, and performed multiple fits (one for each 3-day period) of a simple light and temperature response model to hourly NEE data. Tundra shrub plots were largely CO2 sinks, as opposed to lichen plots, although fluxes were highly variable within microsite type. For tundra shrub plots, microsite type did not influence photosynthetic parameters but it affected basal (that is, temperature-normalized) ecosystem respiration (R 0). PAR-normalized photosynthesis (P 600) increased with air temperature and declined with increasing vapor pressure deficit. R 0 declined with soil moisture and showed an apparent increase with temperature, which may underlie a tight link between GPP and R eco. NDVI was a good proxy for LAI, maximum P 600 and maximum R 0 of shrub plots. Cumulative CO2 fluxes were strongly correlated with LAI (NDVI) but we observed a comparatively low GPP/LAI in dry hummocks. Our results broadly agree with the reported functional convergence across tundra vegetation, but here we show that the role of decreased productivity in transition zones and the influence of temperature and water balance on seasonal CO2 fluxes in sub-Arctic forest–mire ecotones cannot be overlooked.

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Acknowledgments

Thanks to all the staff at the Kevo Subarctic Research Institute and to all the colleagues who collaborated in lab and fieldwork tasks, especially D. Sayer, T. August, K. Leslie and A. Robertson. Thanks to B. Fletcher, V. Sloan and G. Phoenix for their plant survey data and to T. Hill for the land classification map. We are grateful to P. Stoy and M. Williams for helpful comments on earlier versions of the manuscript and also to E. Rastetter for his feedback. This study was funded by NERC (UK) through the ABACUS consortium (Arctic Biosphere–Atmosphere Coupling at Multiple Scales, www.geos.ed.ac.uk/abacus; Grant No. NE/D005760/1), within the framework of the International Polar Year (2007–2008). RP also benefited from a contract within the MONTES project (CSD 2008-00040) and a ‘Juan de la Cierva’ fellowship, both funded by the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. CREAF, Cerdanyola del Vallès, 08193, Spain

    Rafael Poyatos

  2. School of Biological and Biomedical Sciences, Durham University, Durham, DH1 3LE, UK

    Rafael Poyatos, Brian Huntley & Robert Baxter

  3. Environment Department, Stockholm Environment Institute, University of York, York, YO10 5DD, UK

    Andreas Heinemeyer & Phil Ineson

  4. Centre for Ecology and Hydrology, Oxfordshire, Wallingford, UK

    Jonathan G. Evans & Helen C. Ward

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  1. Rafael Poyatos
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  2. Andreas Heinemeyer
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  3. Phil Ineson
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Correspondence to Rafael Poyatos.

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Author Contributions

R.P. conceived and designed the study, performed research, analyzed data and wrote the paper; A.H. conceived and designed the study and revised the paper; P. I. conceived and designed the study and revised the paper; J.G.E. performed research, analyzed data and revised the paper; H.C.W. performed research, analyzed data and revised the paper; B.H. conceived and designed the study and revised the paper; R.B. conceived and designed the study and revised the paper.

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Appendix 1

Land classification map of the Petsikko field site, showing plot locations within the forest-mire ecotone (cf. Table 1 for the meaning of plot codes). The map is based on aerial photography taken in summer 2008 (T. Hill, unpublished). Coordinates are in UTM projection, zone 35N, datum WGS84. Supplementary material 1 (TIFF 863 kb)

Supplementary material 2 (CSV 17 kb)

Appendix 2

Statistics of the NEE model (DOY is day of year 2008). R 0 is basal respiration, β is respiration sensitivity to temperature, P max is asymptotic maximum photosynthesis, α is quantum efficiency and P 600 is gross photosynthesis at PAR = 600 µmol m-2 s-1. Adjusted R 2 and root mean square error (RMSE) are also shown. Supplementary material 3 (XLSX 32 kb)

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Poyatos, R., Heinemeyer, A., Ineson, P. et al. Environmental and Vegetation Drivers of Seasonal CO2 Fluxes in a Sub-arctic Forest–Mire Ecotone. Ecosystems 17, 377–393 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10021-013-9728-2

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