Global change is shifting the seasonality of vegetation in ecosystems around the globe. High-frequency digital camera imagery, and vegetation indices derived from that imagery, is facilitating better tracking of phenological responses to environmental variation. This method, commonly referred to as the “phenocam” approach, is well-suited to several specific applications, including: […]
Inferences about subsurface CO2 fluxes often rely on surface soil respiration (Rsoil) estimates because directly measuring subsurface microbial and root respiration (collectively, CO2 production, STotal) is difficult. To evaluate how well Rsoil serves as a proxy for STotal, we applied the nonsteady state DEconvolution of Temporally varying Ecosystem Carbon componenTs […]
In the last few decades, temperatures in the Arctic have increased twice as much as the rest of the globe. As permafrost thaws in response to this warming, large amounts of soil organic matter may become vulnerable to decomposition. Microbial decomposition will release carbon (C) from permafrost soils, however, warmer […]
Climate change is shifting the phenological cycles of plants1, thereby altering the functioning of ecosystems, which in turn induces feedbacks to the climate system2. In northern (north of 30° N) ecosystems, warmer springs lead generally to an earlier onset of the growing season3,4 and increased ecosystem productivity early in the season5. […]
Differences in the biogeochemistry of nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P) lead to differential losses and inputs during and over time after fire such that fire may affect nutrient limitation of primary productivity. We conducted a nutrient addition experiment in scrubby flatwoods, a Florida scrub community type, to test the hypothesis […]
The release of permafrost-derived nitrogen (N) has the potential to fertilize tundra vegetation, which in turn may stimulate productivity and thus offset carbon (C) losses from thawing permafrost. Below-ground plant traits may mediate ecosystem response to permafrost thaw and associated feedbacks to the atmosphere by differentially conferring access to deep, […]
Grazing exclusion (GE) is an effective method for protecting degraded grasslands, and it can profoundly affect ecosystem carbon (C) cycles. Ecosystem respiration (ER), which includes both autotrophic and heterotrophic respiration (HR), accounts for the largest land-to-atmosphere C fluxes. How ER responds to GE is still unclear, however, and to investigate […]
New findings published in the journal Nature by Ecoss researcher Andrew Richardson offer some of the first experiment-based evidence that a warmer world will significantly shift ecosystem-wide growing seasons, putting plants at higher risk during extreme temperature swings. Richardson and a team of collaborators conducted a unique experiment in boreal […]
Future climate change is expected to alter the terrestrial carbon cycle through its impact on soil respiration. In this study, we determined the responses of soil respiration and its components to experimental warming with or without water addition. A replicated in situ heating (∼2 °C above ambient soil temperatures) and water addition (170 mm […]
Land-use conversions and elevated temperature can impact on carbon dioxide (CO2) and nitrous oxide (N2O) emissions, both of which are important greenhouse gasses (GHGs). Afforestation activity has increased significantly over the last century with a significant focus in recent years directed at offsetting GHG emissions, as forests have a large […]