Journal article
Century-Scale Responses of Ecosystem Carbon Storage and Flux to Multiple Environmental Changes in the Southern United States
Ecosystems (New York), Vol.15(4), pp.674-694
06/2012
Handle:
https://hdl.handle.net/2376/107818
Abstract
Terrestrial ecosystems in the southern United States (SUS) have experienced a complex set of changes in climate, atmospheric CO2 concentration, tropospheric ozone (O3), nitrogen (N) deposition, and land-use and land-cover change (LULCC) during the past century. Although each of these factors has received attention for its alterations on ecosystem carbon (C) dynamics, their combined effects and relative contributions are still not well understood. By using the Dynamic Land Ecosystem Model (DLEM) in combination with spatially explicit, long-term historical data series on multiple environmental factors, we examined the century-scale responses of ecosystem C storage and flux to multiple environmental changes in the SUS. The results indicated that multiple environmental changes shifted SUS ecosystems from a C source of 1.20 ± 0.56 Pg (1 Pg = 1015 g) during the period 1895 to 1950, to a C sink of 2.00 ± 0.94 Pg during the period 1951 to 2007. Over the entire period spanning 1895–2007, SUS ecosystems were a net C sink of 0.80 ± 0.38 Pg. The C sink was primarily due to an increase in the vegetation C pool, whereas the soil C pool decreased during the study period. The spatiotemporal changes of C storage were caused by changes in multiple environmental factors. Among the five factors examined (climate, LULCC, N deposition, atmospheric CO2, and tropospheric O3), elevated atmospheric CO2 concentration was the largest contributor to C sequestration, followed by N deposition. LULCC, climate, and tropospheric O3 concentration contributed to C losses during the study period. The SUS ecosystem C sink was largely the result of interactive effects among multiple environmental factors, particularly atmospheric N input and atmospheric CO2.
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Details
- Title
- Century-Scale Responses of Ecosystem Carbon Storage and Flux to Multiple Environmental Changes in the Southern United States
- Creators
- Hanqin Tian - International Center for Climate and Global Change Research Auburn University Auburn Alabama 36830 USAGuangsheng Chen - International Center for Climate and Global Change Research Auburn University Auburn Alabama 36830 USAChi Zhang - International Center for Climate and Global Change Research Auburn University Auburn Alabama 36830 USAMingliang Liu - International Center for Climate and Global Change Research Auburn University Auburn Alabama 36830 USAGe Sun - Eastern Forest Environmental Threat Assessment Center USDA Forest Service Raleigh North Carolina 27606 USAArthur Chappelka - International Center for Climate and Global Change Research Auburn University Auburn Alabama 36830 USAWei Ren - International Center for Climate and Global Change Research Auburn University Auburn Alabama 36830 USAXiaofeng Xu - International Center for Climate and Global Change Research Auburn University Auburn Alabama 36830 USAChaoqun Lu - International Center for Climate and Global Change Research Auburn University Auburn Alabama 36830 USAShufen Pan - International Center for Climate and Global Change Research Auburn University Auburn Alabama 36830 USAHua Chen - State Key Laboratory of Desert and Oasis Ecology Xinjiang Institute of Ecology and Geography, Chinese Academy of Sciences Urumqi 830011 Xinjiang ChinaDafeng Hui - Department of Biological Sciences Tennessee State University 3500 John A. Merritt Blvd Nashville Tennessee 37209 USASteven McNulty - Eastern Forest Environmental Threat Assessment Center USDA Forest Service Raleigh North Carolina 27606 USAGraeme Lockaby - International Center for Climate and Global Change Research Auburn University Auburn Alabama 36830 USAEric Vance - National Council for Air and Stream Improvement (NCASI) Research Triangle Park P.O. Box 13318 Raleigh North Carolina 27709 USA
- Publication Details
- Ecosystems (New York), Vol.15(4), pp.674-694
- Academic Unit
- Civil and Environmental Engineering, Department of
- Publisher
- Springer-Verlag; New York
- Identifiers
- 99900547028901842
- Language
- English
- Resource Type
- Journal article