Ecosystems Center
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The Ecosystems Center carries out research in ecosystems that range from the Arctic to the Antarctic, from Brazil to Martha’s Vineyard. In the Alaskan Arctic, scientists study the effect of warmer temperatures on tundra, stream and lake ecosystems. On the Arctic rivers of Eurasia, they measure how freshwater discharge is changing as the climate warms. On the western Antarctic peninsula, research focuses on the responses of the marine coastal ecosystem to rapid climate warming. In the western Amazon in Brazil, researchers assess how much the clearing of tropical forests will change the amount of greenhouse gas released into the atmosphere, while on the island of Martha’s Vineyard, scientists used controlled burns to restore coastal ecosystems. In central Massachusetts and in Abisko, Sweden, soil warming experiments are conducted to assess the forest’s response to climate warming. In northeastern Massachusetts, scientists study how changes in rural land use and urban development affect the flow of nutrients and organic matter into New England estuaries. In Boston Harbor, they measure the transfer of nitrogen from sediments to the water column as the harbor recovers from decades of sewage addition.
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Browsing Ecosystems Center by Subject "Carbon flux"
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PreprintThe contribution of mosses to the carbon and water exchange of arctic ecosystems : quantification and relationships with system properties( 2007-05-15) Douma, J. C. ; van Wijk, Mark T. ; Lang, S. I. ; Shaver, Gaius R.Water vapour and CO2 exchange were measured in moss dominated vegetation using a gas analyzer and a 1 m by 1 m chamber at 17 sites near Abisko, Northern Sweden and 21 sites near Longyearbyen, Svalbard, to quantify the contribution of mosses to ecosystem level fluxes. With the help of a simple light-response model we showed that the moss contribution to ecosystem carbon uptake varied between 14 and 96%, with an average contribution of around 60%. This moss contribution could be related to the NDVI (normalized difference vegetation index) of the vegetation and the leaf area index (LAI) of the vascular plants. NDVI was a good predictor of gross primary production (GPP) of mosses and of the whole ecosystem, across different moss species, vegetation types and two different latitudes. NDVI was also correlated with thickness of the active green moss layer. Mosses played an important role in water exchange. They are expected to be most important to gas exchange during spring when leaves are not fully developed.
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ArticleN-15 in symbiotic fungi and plants estimates nitrogen and carbon flux rates in Arctic tundra(Ecological Society of America, 2006-04) Hobbie, John E. ; Hobbie, Erik A.When soil nitrogen is in short supply, most terrestrial plants form symbioses with fungi (mycorrhizae): hyphae take up soil nitrogen, transport it into plant roots, and receive plant sugars in return. In ecosystems, the transfers within the pathway fractionate nitrogen isotopes so that the natural abundance of N-15 in fungi differs from that in their host plants by as much as 12‰. Here we present a new method to quantify carbon and nitrogen fluxes in the symbiosis based on the fractionation against N-15 during transfer of nitrogen from fungi to plant roots. We tested this method, which is based on the mass balance of N-15, with data from arctic Alaska where the nitrogen cycle is well studied. Mycorrhizal fungi provided 61–86% of the nitrogen in plants; plants provided 8–17% of their photosynthetic carbon to the fungi for growth and respiration. This method of analysis avoids the disturbance of the soil–microbe–root relationship caused by collecting samples, mixing the soil, or changing substrate concentrations. This analytical technique also can be applied to other nitrogen-limited ecosystems, such as many temperate and boreal forests, to quantify the importance for terrestrial carbon and nitrogen cycling of nutrient transfers mediated by mycorrhizae at the plant–soil interface.
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PreprintSteeper declines in forest photosynthesis than respiration explain age-driven decreases in forest growth( 2014-04) Tang, Jianwu ; Luyssaert, Sebastiaan ; Richardson, Andrew D. ; Kutsch, Werner ; Janssens, Ivan A.The traditional view of forest dynamics originated by Kira, Shidei, and Odum suggests a decline in net primary productivity (NPP) in ageing forests due to stabilized gross primary productivity (GPP) and continuously increased autotrophic respiration (Ra). The validity of these trends in GPP and Ra is, however, very difficult to test because of the lack of long-term ecosystem-scale field observations of both GPP and Ra. Ryan and colleagues have proposed an alternative hypothesis drawn from site-specific results that aboveground respiration and belowground allocation decreased in ageing forests. Here we analyzed data from a recently assembled global database of carbon fluxes and show that the classical view of the mechanisms underlying the age-driven decline in forest NPP is incorrect and thus support Ryan’s alternative hypothesis. Our results substantiate the age-driven decline in NPP, but in contrast to the traditional view, both GPP and Ra decline in ageing boreal and temperate forests. We find that the decline in NPP in ageing forests is primarily driven by GPP, which decreases more rapidly with increasing age than Ra does, but the ratio of NPP/GPP remains approximately constant within a biome. Our analytical models describing forest succession suggest that dynamic forest ecosystem models that follow the traditional paradigm need to be revisited.
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ArticleTowards a better understanding of microbial carbon flux in the sea(Inter-Research, 2008-09-18) Gasol, Josep M. ; Pinhassi, Jarone ; Alonso-Saez, Laura ; Ducklow, Hugh W. ; Herndl, Gerhard J. ; Koblizek, Michal ; Labrenz, Matthias ; Luo, Ya-Wei ; Moran, Xose Anxelu G. ; Reinthaler, Thomas ; Simon, MeinhardWe now have a relatively good idea of how bulk microbial processes shape the cycling of organic matter and nutrients in the sea. The advent of the molecular biology era in microbial ecology has resulted in advanced knowledge about the diversity of marine microorganisms, suggesting that we might have reached a high level of understanding of carbon fluxes in the oceans. However, it is becoming increasingly clear that there are large gaps in the understanding of the role of bacteria in regulating carbon fluxes. These gaps may result from methodological as well as conceptual limitations. For example, should bacterial production be measured in the light? Can bacterial production conversion factors be predicted, and how are they affected by loss of tracers through respiration? Is it true that respiration is relatively constant compared to production? How can accurate measures of bacterial growth efficiency be obtained? In this paper, we discuss whether such questions could (or should) be addressed. Ongoing genome analyses are rapidly widening our understanding of possible metabolic pathways and cellular adaptations used by marine bacteria in their quest for resources and struggle for survival (e.g. utilization of light, acquisition of nutrients, predator avoidance, etc.). Further, analyses of the identity of bacteria using molecular markers (e.g. subgroups of Bacteria and Archaea) combined with activity tracers might bring knowledge to a higher level. Since bacterial growth (and thereby consumption of DOC and inorganic nutrients) is likely regulated differently in different bacteria, it will be critical to learn about the life strategies of the key bacterial species to achieve a comprehensive understanding of bacterial regulation of C fluxes. Finally, some processes known to occur in the microbial food web are hardly ever characterized and are not represented in current food web models. We discuss these issues and offer specific comments and advice for future research agendas.