Modeling carbon–nutrient interactions during the early recovery of tundra after fire

Jiang, Yueyang; Rastetter, Edward B.; Rocha, A. V.; Pearce, Andrea R.; Kwiatkowski, Bonnie L.; Shaver, Gaius R.

doi:10.1890/14-1921.1

Cited by 34 publications

(54 citation statements)

References 39 publications

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“…8) indicate that this biomass increase is largely the result of increased growth by deciduous shrubs (e.g., dwarf birch, willows, and alder) in response to multi-year warming, but this response is shared with graminoids and forbs. Several researchers attribute the slow increase in biomass to a slow increase in the availability of N to plants (Shaver et al 1992, 2014; Pearce et al 2015; Jiang et al 2015). It is well known through warming and fertilization experiments that the N supply strongly limits plant growth in northern Alaska and that warming increases the microbial mineralization of organic nitrogen in the soil, the major source of N to plants in the tundra.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Ecosystem responses to climate change at a Low Arctic and a High Arctic long-term research site

Hobbie

Shaver

Rastetter

et al. 2017

Ambio

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Long-term measurements of ecological effects of warming are often not statistically significant because of annual variability or signal noise. These are reduced in indicators that filter or reduce the noise around the signal and allow effects of climate warming to emerge. In this way, certain indicators act as medium pass filters integrating the signal over years-to-decades. In the Alaskan Arctic, the 25-year record of warming of air temperature revealed no significant trend, yet environmental and ecological changes prove that warming is affecting the ecosystem. The useful indicators are deep permafrost temperatures, vegetation and shrub biomass, satellite measures of canopy reflectance (NDVI), and chemical measures of soil weathering. In contrast, the 18-year record in the Greenland Arctic revealed an extremely high summer air-warming of 1.3 °C/decade; the cover of some plant species increased while the cover of others decreased. Useful indicators of change are NDVI and the active layer thickness.

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Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Ecosystem responses to climate change at a Low Arctic and a High Arctic long-term research site

Hobbie

Shaver

Rastetter

et al. 2017

Ambio

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“…Following fire, the surface greenness in the burned area recovered within 3 yr and was higher than the nearby unburned area thereafter ( Fig. 6 The higher greenness implies higher leaf biomass, probably associated with higher N and P availability at least for a few years after the fire (Jiang et al 2015a). 6 The higher greenness implies higher leaf biomass, probably associated with higher N and P availability at least for a few years after the fire (Jiang et al 2015a).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 98%

“…Besides climate warming, wildfire is another important disturbance in arctic tundra that greatly reduces C and nutrient stocks (Jiang et al 2015a). Although combustion of litter and soil organic matter dramatically increase the nutrient availabilities (e.g., NH 4 + , PO 4 3− ) in surface soil, the total pools (organic and inorganic) of nutrients substantially decrease because of the great nutrient loss (especially N) through volatilization (Mack et al 2011, Bret-Harte et al 2013.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…1; Rocha et al 2012, Hu et al 2015; data available online). Although plant growth and net CO 2 exchange have quickly recovered after fire (Rocha and Shaver 2011a, Bret-Harte et al 2013, Jiang et al 2015a, the long-term recovery of total ecosystem C stocks might be limited by nutrient availability in burned areas. Although plant growth and net CO 2 exchange have quickly recovered after fire (Rocha and Shaver 2011a, Bret-Harte et al 2013, Jiang et al 2015a, the long-term recovery of total ecosystem C stocks might be limited by nutrient availability in burned areas.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…So far, short-term responses of tundra ecosystems to warming and fire have been well-documented (Schuur et al 2008, Mack et al 2011, Sistla et al 2013) and modeled (Jiang et al 2015a), while the long-term recovery of tundra C and nutrient stocks from these disturbances is still largely unknown. Uncertainty also remains regarding the effect of future changes in external nutrient inputs (e.g., N deposition and fixation, and P weathering; Galloway et al 2004, Dentener et al 2006, Hobara et al 2006).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Modeling long‐term changes in tundra carbon balance following wildfire, climate change, and potential nutrient addition

Jiang

Rastetter

Shaver

et al. 2016

Ecological Applications

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To investigate the underlying mechanisms that control long-term recovery of tundra carbon (C) and nutrients after fire, we employed the Multiple Element Limitation (MEL) model to simulate 200-yr post-fire changes in the biogeochemistry of three sites along a burn severity gradient in response to increases in air temperature, CO concentration, nitrogen (N) deposition, and phosphorus (P) weathering rates. The simulations were conducted for severely burned, moderately burned, and unburned arctic tundra. Our simulations indicated that recovery of C balance after fire was mainly determined by the internal redistribution of nutrients among ecosystem components (controlled by air temperature), rather than the supply of nutrients from external sources (e.g., nitrogen deposition and fixation, phosphorus weathering). Increases in air temperature and atmospheric CO concentration resulted in (1) a net transfer of nutrient from soil organic matter to vegetation and (2) higher C : nutrient ratios in vegetation and soil organic matter. These changes led to gains in vegetation biomass C but net losses in soil organic C stocks. Under a warming climate, nutrients lost in wildfire were difficult to recover because the warming-induced acceleration in nutrient cycles caused further net nutrient loss from the system through leaching. In both burned and unburned tundra, the warming-caused acceleration in nutrient cycles and increases in ecosystem C stocks were eventually constrained by increases in soil C : nutrient ratios, which increased microbial retention of plant-available nutrients in the soil. Accelerated nutrient turnover, loss of C, and increasing soil temperatures will likely result in vegetation changes, which further regulate the long-term biogeochemical succession. Our analysis should help in the assessment of tundra C budgets and of the recovery of biogeochemical function following fire, which is in turn necessary for the maintenance of wildlife habitat and tundra vegetation.

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Contributions of wildland fire to terrestrial ecosystem carbon dynamics in North America from 1990 to 2012

Chen

Hayes

McGuire

2017

Global Biogeochemical Cycles

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Burn area and the frequency of extreme fire events have been increasing during recent decades in North America, and this trend is expected to continue over the 21st century. While many aspects of the North American carbon budget have been intensively studied, the net contribution of fire disturbance to the overall net carbon flux at the continental scale remains uncertain. Based on national scale, spatially explicit and long‐term fire data, along with the improved model parameterization in a process‐based ecosystem model, we simulated the impact of fire disturbance on both direct carbon emissions and net terrestrial ecosystem carbon balance in North America. Fire‐caused direct carbon emissions were 106.55 ± 15.98 Tg C/yr during 1990–2012; however, the net ecosystem carbon balance associated with fire was −26.09 ± 5.22 Tg C/yr, indicating that most of the emitted carbon was resequestered by the terrestrial ecosystem. Direct carbon emissions showed an increase in Alaska and Canada during 1990–2012 as compared to prior periods due to more extreme fire events, resulting in a large carbon source from these two regions. Among biomes, the largest carbon source was found to be from the boreal forest, primarily due to large reductions in soil organic matter during, and with slower recovery after, fire events. The interactions between fire and environmental factors reduced the fire‐caused ecosystem carbon source. Fire disturbance only caused a weak carbon source as compared to the best estimate terrestrial carbon sink in North America owing to the long‐term legacy effects of historical burn area coupled with fast ecosystem recovery during 1990–2012.

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Modeling carbon–nutrient interactions during the early recovery of tundra after fire

Cited by 34 publications

References 39 publications

Ecosystem responses to climate change at a Low Arctic and a High Arctic long-term research site

Ecosystem responses to climate change at a Low Arctic and a High Arctic long-term research site

Modeling long‐term changes in tundra carbon balance following wildfire, climate change, and potential nutrient addition

Contributions of wildland fire to terrestrial ecosystem carbon dynamics in North America from 1990 to 2012

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