Piecing together the fragments: elucidating edge effects on forest carbon dynamics

Smith, Ian A.; Hutyra, Lucy R.; Reinmann, Andrew B.; Marrs, J.; Thompson, Jonathan R.

doi:10.1002/fee.1793

Cited by 58 publications

(70 citation statements)

References 57 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…Warm, wet conditions could favor soil respiration, which diminishes soil C pools without C inputs and stabilization [7,94]. Our findings from a single-site intensive monitoring study agree with former studies of microclimate along forest edges comparable to yardfield-forest gradients [95] and studies of yards across United States urban areas compared to native covers [93]. This suggests differences we observed could hold across years and land-use clusters, but warrants further study.…”

Section: Climatic Effects On Soil Carbon Dynamics Across Land-use Intsupporting

confidence: 89%

Building houses and managing lawns could limit yard soil carbon for centuries

Peach

Ogden

Mora

et al. 2019

Carbon Balance Manage

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Background: Comparisons of soil carbon (C) pools across land uses can be confounded by site-specific history. To better quantify the response of soil C pools to residential development and use, we compared yard soils (n = 20) to adjacent mown fields and second-growth forests within land-use clusters (LUC; n = 12). Land uses within clusters shared site-specific legacies (land use and other soil forming history) prior to residential development (15-227 years ago). We analyzed soil cores to 60-cm depth for carbon, nitrogen, and bulk density. Within one LUC, we monitored soil dissolved organic carbon, moisture, and thermal regimes to explain soil C dynamics. Results: We accounted for pre-development legacies to test how present uses affect soil properties. We found that yard soil C pools to 60-cm depth (9.07 ± 0.32 kg C m −2 ; mean ± SE) were smaller than fields (10.26 ± 0.44 kg C m −2) and forests (10.62 ± 0.87 kg C m −2). Fields contained more nitrogen to 60-cm depth (0.78 ± 0.043 kg N m −2) than yards (0.68 ± 0.030 kg N m −2) and forests (0.69 ± 0.057 kg N m −2). Time since development predicted decreased yard and field soil C/N, field soil N accumulation, and reduced yard bulk density. In old yards (> 150 years), where residents in recent times mowed monthly to bimonthly and left clippings on the lawn, there was evidence of soil C and N gains relative to old commercially managed yards mown weekly with clippings exported. Conclusions: Our study suggests land conversion to yard can limit soil C pools for centuries, with contemporary management key to that trajectory. Our research points to the importance of accounting for pre-development legacies to reveal the response of soil properties to land conversion and present use. This work can inform policies and land use intended to enhance the soil C sink and minimize development-related soil C losses.

show abstract

Section: Climatic Effects On Soil Carbon Dynamics Across Land-use Intsupporting

confidence: 89%

Building houses and managing lawns could limit yard soil carbon for centuries

Peach

Ogden

Mora

et al. 2019

Carbon Balance Manage

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Forests in these areas are primarily water limited (Nemani et al, 2003), and mortality in these forests is of particular concern. Mortality can increase the amount of forest edge, and productivity tends to decrease along forest edges in water-limited systems due to increased drought stress (Smith, Hutyra, Reinmann, Marrs, & Thompson, 2018). Additionally, we found increasing vulnerability in mixed forests (low percent cover of any given forest type), indicating mortality may be the highest at the margins of forest type distributions and within ecotones (Neilson, 1993).…”

mentioning

confidence: 66%

“…where future vulnerability to both fire and drought is high. Mortality can increase the amount of forest edge, and productivity tends to decrease along forest edges in water-limited systems due to increased drought stress (Smith, Hutyra, Reinmann, Marrs, & Thompson, 2018). Mortality can increase the amount of forest edge, and productivity tends to decrease along forest edges in water-limited systems due to increased drought stress (Smith, Hutyra, Reinmann, Marrs, & Thompson, 2018).…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Near‐future forest vulnerability to drought and fire varies across the western United States

Buotte

Levis²,

Law

et al. 2018

Global Change Biology

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Recent prolonged droughts and catastrophic wildfires in the western United States have raised concerns about the potential for forest mortality to impact forest structure, forest ecosystem services, and the economic vitality of communities in the coming decades. We used the Community Land Model (CLM) to determine forest vulnerability to mortality from drought and fire by the year 2049. We modified CLM to represent 13 major forest types in the western United States and ran simulations at a 4‐km grid resolution, driven with climate projections from two general circulation models under one emissions scenario (RCP 8.5). We developed metrics of vulnerability to short‐term extreme and prolonged drought based on annual allocation to stem growth and net primary productivity. We calculated fire vulnerability based on changes in simulated future area burned relative to historical area burned. Simulated historical drought vulnerability was medium to high in areas with observations of recent drought‐related mortality. Comparisons of observed and simulated historical area burned indicate simulated future fire vulnerability could be underestimated by 3% in the Sierra Nevada and overestimated by 3% in the Rocky Mountains. Projections show that water‐limited forests in the Rocky Mountains, Southwest, and Great Basin regions will be the most vulnerable to future drought‐related mortality, and vulnerability to future fire will be highest in the Sierra Nevada and portions of the Rocky Mountains. High carbon‐density forests in the Pacific coast and western Cascades regions are projected to be the least vulnerable to either drought or fire. Importantly, differences in climate projections lead to only 1% of the domain with conflicting low and high vulnerability to fire and no area with conflicting drought vulnerability. Our drought vulnerability metrics could be incorporated as probabilistic mortality rates in earth system models, enabling more robust estimates of the feedbacks between the land and atmosphere over the 21st century.

show abstract

“…So far, the majority of data on C-storage in forests is derived from intact forests and forest interiors, while forest edges are largely understudied (Smith et al, 2018). However, up to 20% of the global forested area lies within 100 m of a forest edge (Haddad et al, 2015) and is subject to strong edge influences that penetrate far towards the interior (Schmidt et al, 2017).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%