Methane emissions from boreal and arctic wetlands, lakes, and rivers are
expected to increase in response to warming and associated permafrost thaw.
However, the lack of appropriate land cover ...datasets for scaling
field-measured methane emissions to circumpolar scales has contributed to a
large uncertainty for our understanding of present-day and future methane
emissions. Here we present the Boreal–Arctic Wetland and Lake Dataset
(BAWLD), a land cover dataset based on an expert assessment, extrapolated
using random forest modelling from available spatial datasets of climate,
topography, soils, permafrost conditions, vegetation, wetlands, and surface
water extents and dynamics. In BAWLD, we estimate the fractional coverage of
five wetland, seven lake, and three river classes within 0.5 × 0.5∘ grid cells that cover the northern boreal and tundra biomes
(17 % of the global land surface). Land cover classes were defined using
criteria that ensured distinct methane emissions among classes, as indicated
by a co-developed comprehensive dataset of methane flux observations. In
BAWLD, wetlands occupied 3.2 × 106 km2 (14 % of domain)
with a 95 % confidence interval between 2.8 and 3.8 × 106 km2. Bog, fen, and permafrost bog were the most abundant wetland
classes, covering ∼ 28 % each of the total wetland area,
while the highest-methane-emitting marsh and tundra wetland classes occupied
5 % and 12 %, respectively. Lakes, defined to include all lentic open-water
ecosystems regardless of size, covered 1.4 × 106 km2
(6 % of domain). Low-methane-emitting large lakes (>10 km2) and glacial lakes jointly represented 78 % of the total lake
area, while high-emitting peatland and yedoma lakes covered 18 % and 4 %,
respectively. Small (<0.1 km2) glacial, peatland, and yedoma
lakes combined covered 17 % of the total lake area but contributed
disproportionally to the overall spatial uncertainty in lake area with a
95 % confidence interval between 0.15 and 0.38 × 106 km2. Rivers and streams were estimated to cover 0.12 × 106 km2 (0.5 % of domain), of which 8 % was associated with
high-methane-emitting headwaters that drain organic-rich landscapes.
Distinct combinations of spatially co-occurring wetland and lake classes
were identified across the BAWLD domain, allowing for the mapping of
“wetscapes” that have characteristic methane emission magnitudes and
sensitivities to climate change at regional scales. With BAWLD, we provide a
dataset which avoids double-accounting of wetland, lake, and river extents
and which includes confidence intervals for each land cover class. As such,
BAWLD will be suitable for many hydrological and biogeochemical modelling
and upscaling efforts for the northern boreal and arctic region, in
particular those aimed at improving assessments of current and future
methane emissions. Data are freely available at
https://doi.org/10.18739/A2C824F9X (Olefeldt et al., 2021).
Abstract
Foundation species have disproportionately large impacts on ecosystem structure and function. As a result, future changes to their distribution may be important determinants of ecosystem ...carbon (C) cycling in a warmer world. We assessed the role of a foundation tussock sedge (
Eriophorum vaginatum
) as a climatically vulnerable C stock using field data, a machine learning ecological niche model, and an ensemble of terrestrial biosphere models (TBMs). Field data indicated that tussock density has decreased by ∼0.97 tussocks per m
2
over the past ∼38 years on Alaska’s North Slope from ∼1981 to 2019. This declining trend is concerning because tussocks are a large Arctic C stock, which enhances soil organic layer C stocks by 6.9% on average and represents 745 Tg C across our study area. By 2100, we project that changes in tussock density may decrease the tussock C stock by 41% in regions where tussocks are currently abundant (e.g. −0.8 tussocks per m
2
and −85 Tg C on the North Slope) and may increase the tussock C stock by 46% in regions where tussocks are currently scarce (e.g. +0.9 tussocks per m
2
and +81 Tg C on Victoria Island). These climate-induced changes to the tussock C stock were comparable to, but sometimes opposite in sign, to vegetation C stock changes predicted by an ensemble of TBMs. Our results illustrate the important role of tussocks as a foundation species in determining future Arctic C stocks and highlight the need for better representation of this species in TBMs.
As climate warms, tree density at the taiga–tundra ecotone (TTE) is expected to increase, which may intensify competition for belowground resources in this nitrogen (N)‐limited environment. To ...determine the impacts of increased tree density on N cycling and productivity, we examined edaphic properties indicative of soil N availability along with aboveground and belowground tree‐level traits and stand characteristics related to carbon (C) and N cycling across a tree density gradient of monodominant larch (Larix cajanderi) at the TTE in far northeastern Siberia. We found no consistent evidence from soil, tree, or stand‐level N cycling characteristics of lower N availability or greater intraspecific competition for N with increased density. Active layer thickness declined, but resin‐sorbed N and soil organic layer thickness did not covary with increased tree density. There was, however, greater allocation belowground to stand‐level coarse and fine roots with increased tree density, an allocation pattern suggestive of limited soil resources. Foliar traits related to C (%C, δ13C, and resorption) were responsive to density indicating the importance of non‐nutrient resources, like light, to foliar stoichiometry. As tree density increased and individual trees had lower productivity, tree‐level N and biomass pools aboveground and belowground declined tracking decreases in N uptake, N resorption, N use efficiency, and allocation to slow cycling tissues like wood. At the stand level, our findings show high N turnover with increased N acquisition, allocation to short‐lived tissues with relatively high N content and reduced N residence time, and greater stand productivity as tree density increased. Yet, these positive relationships were curtailed at the highest tree densities. Our observations of shifts in biomass, C and N allocation, and loss aboveground, along with greater root density with increased tree density, could have strong impacts on C and N cycling and should be represented in models of TTE dynamics and feedbacks to climate.
Cajander larch (Larix cajanderi Mayr.) forests of the Siberian Arctic are experiencing increased wildfire activity in conjunction with climate warming. These shifts could affect postfire variation in ...the density and arrangement of trees and understory plant communities. To better understand how understory plant composition, abundance, and diversity vary with tree density, we surveyed understory plant communities and stand characteristics (e.g., canopy cover, active layer depth, and soil organic layer depth) within 25 stands representing a density gradient of similarly-aged larch trees that established following a 1940 fire near Cherskiy, Russia. Understory plant diversity and mean total plant abundance decreased with increased canopy cover. Canopy cover was also the most important variable affecting individual species’ abundances. In general, tall shrubs (e.g., Betula nana subsp. exilis) were more abundant in low-density stands with high light availability, and mosses (e.g., Sanionia spp.) were more abundant in high-density stands with low light availability. These results provide evidence that postfire variation in tree recruitment affects understory plant community composition and diversity as stands mature. Therefore, projected increases in wildfire activity in the Siberian Arctic could have cascading impacts on forest structure and composition in both overstory and understory plant communities.
Celotno besedilo
Dostopno za:
BF, DOBA, IZUM, KILJ, NUK, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, SIK, UILJ, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK
Warming temperatures are likely to accelerate permafrost thaw in the Arctic, potentially leading to the release of old carbon previously stored in deep frozen soil layers. Deeper thaw depths in ...combination with geomorphological changes due to the loss of ice structures in permafrost, may modify soil water distribution, creating wetter or drier soil conditions. Previous studies revealed higher ecosystem respiration rates under drier conditions, and this study investigated the cause of the increased ecosystem respiration rates using radiocarbon signatures of respired CO2 from two drying manipulation experiments: one in moist and the other in wet tundra. We demonstrate that higher contributions of CO2 from shallow soil layers (0–15 cm; modern soil carbon) drive the increased ecosystem respiration rates, while contributions from deeper soil (below 15 cm from surface and down to the permafrost table; old soil carbon) decreased. These changes can be attributed to more aerobic conditions in shallow soil layers, but also the soil temperature increases in shallow layers but decreases in deep layers, due to the altered thermal properties of organic soils. Decreased abundance of aerenchymatous plant species following drainage in wet tundra reduced old carbon release but increased aboveground plant biomass elevated contributions of autotrophic respiration to ecosystem respiration. The results of this study suggest that drier soils following drainage may accelerate decomposition of modern soil carbon in shallow layers but slow down decomposition of old soil carbon in deep layers, which may offset some of the old soil carbon loss from thawing permafrost.
Warming thaws permafrost and the subsequent geomorphological changes re‐distribute surface water in the Arctic. Drying of tundra ecosystems increased autotrophic respiration and decomposition of modern soil carbon in shallow layers but decreased that of old soil carbon in deeper layers. These changes can be attributed to more aerobic soil conditions, but also soil temperature increases in shallow layers but decreases in deep layers, as well as shifts in plant communities.
Carbon cycle perturbations in high-latitude ecosystems associated with rapid warming can have implications for the global climate. Belowground biomass is an important component of the carbon cycle in ...these ecosystems, with, on average, significantly more vegetation biomass belowground than aboveground. Large quantities of dead root biomass are also in these ecosystems owing to slow decomposition rates. Current understanding of how live and dead root biomass carbon pools vary across high-latitude ecosystems and the environmental conditions associated with this variation is limited due to the labor- and time-intensive nature of data collection. To that end, we examined patterns and factors (abiotic and biotic) associated with the variation in live and dead fine root biomass (FRB) and FRB carbon (C), nitrogen (N) and phosphorus concentrations for 23 sites across a latitudinal gradient in Alaska, spanning both boreal forest and tundra biomes. We found no difference in the live or dead FRB variables between these biomes, despite large differences in predominant vegetation types, except for significantly higher live FRB C:N ratios in boreal sites. Soil C:N ratio, moisture, and temperature, along with moss cover, explained a substantial portion of the dead:live FRB ratio variability across sites. We find all these factors have negative relationships with dead FRB, while having positive or no relationship with live FRB. This work demonstrates that FRB does not necessarily correlate with aboveground vegetation characteristics, and it highlights the need for finer-scale measurements of abiotic and biotic factors to understand FRB landscape variability now and into the future.
Abstract
Permafrost thaw causes the seasonally thawed active layer to deepen, causing the Arctic to shift toward carbon release as soil organic matter becomes susceptible to decomposition. Ground ...subsidence initiated by ice loss can cause these soils to collapse abruptly, rapidly shifting soil moisture as microtopography changes and also accelerating carbon and nutrient mobilization. The uncertainty of soil moisture trajectories during thaw makes it difficult to predict the role of abrupt thaw in suppressing or exacerbating carbon losses. In this study, we investigated the role of shifting soil moisture conditions on carbon dioxide fluxes during a 13‐year permafrost warming experiment that exhibited abrupt thaw. Warming deepened the active layer differentially across treatments, leading to variable rates of subsidence and formation of thermokarst depressions. In turn, differential subsidence caused a gradient of moisture conditions, with some plots becoming consistently inundated with water within thermokarst depressions and others exhibiting generally dry, but more variable soil moisture conditions outside of thermokarst depressions. Experimentally induced permafrost thaw initially drove increasing rates of growing season gross primary productivity (GPP), ecosystem respiration (
R
eco
), and net ecosystem exchange (NEE) (higher carbon uptake), but the formation of thermokarst depressions began to reverse this trend with a high level of spatial heterogeneity. Plots that subsided at the slowest rate stayed relatively dry and supported higher CO
2
fluxes throughout the 13‐year experiment, while plots that subsided very rapidly into the center of a thermokarst feature became consistently wet and experienced a rapid decline in growing season GPP,
R
eco
, and NEE (lower carbon uptake or carbon release). These findings indicate that Earth system models, which do not simulate subsidence and often predict drier active layer conditions, likely overestimate net growing season carbon uptake in abruptly thawing landscapes.
The northern permafrost region has been projected to shift from a net sink to a net source of carbon under global warming. However, estimates of the contemporary net greenhouse gas (GHG) balance and ...budgets of the permafrost region remain highly uncertain. Here, we construct the first comprehensive bottom‐up budgets of CO2, CH4, and N2O across the terrestrial permafrost region using databases of more than 1000 in situ flux measurements and a land cover‐based ecosystem flux upscaling approach for the period 2000–2020. Estimates indicate that the permafrost region emitted a mean annual flux of 12 (−606, 661) Tg CO2–C yr−1, 38 (22, 53) Tg CH4–C yr−1, and 0.67 (0.07, 1.3) Tg N2O–N yr−1 to the atmosphere throughout the period. Thus, the region was a net source of CH4 and N2O, while the CO2 balance was near neutral within its large uncertainties. Undisturbed terrestrial ecosystems had a CO2 sink of −340 (−836, 156) Tg CO2–C yr−1. Vertical emissions from fire disturbances and inland waters largely offset the sink in vegetated ecosystems. When including lateral fluxes for a complete GHG budget, the permafrost region was a net source of C and N, releasing 144 (−506, 826) Tg C yr−1 and 3 (2, 5) Tg N yr−1. Large uncertainty ranges in these estimates point to a need for further expansion of monitoring networks, continued data synthesis efforts, and better integration of field observations, remote sensing data, and ecosystem models to constrain the contemporary net GHG budgets of the permafrost region and track their future trajectory.
Plain Language Summary
A quarter of the northern hemisphere is underlain by a permanently frozen ground called permafrost. This ground contains large amounts of carbon and nitrogen, making the permafrost region the largest terrestrial carbon and nitrogen pool on Earth. Due to unprecedented warming, permafrost thaws and reshapes landscapes, impacting their hydrology and biogeochemical cycling. This has the potential to increase the release of greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide (CO2), methane (CH4), and nitrous oxide (N2O) to the atmosphere, impacting the global climate. Although presumably crucial for the global carbon cycle, the role of the permafrost region in the global carbon budget is unknown. We present comprehensive budgets of CO2, CH4, and N2O by key permafrost land cover types over the period 2000–2020 across the northern permafrost region. Estimates indicate that the permafrost region was emitting GHGs throughout the period. While the region was a source of methane and nitrous oxide, the carbon dioxide budget was near neutral with large uncertainties. Carbon dioxide emissions from wildfires and inland waters largely offset the sink in vegetated ecosystems. Uncertainties in estimates would be narrowed by increasing the number of in situ flux measurements in various ecosystems, sharpening ecosystem classifications, and integrating fluxes from disturbances.
Key Points
The region emitted 12 (−606, 661) Tg CO2–C yr−1, 38 (22, 53) Tg CH4–C yr−1, and 0.67 (0.07, 1.3) Tg N2O–N yr−1 to the atmosphere between 2000 and 2020
Based on the above, terrestrial ecosystems remained a CO2 sink, but emissions from fires and inland waters largely offset the sink in vegetated ecosystems
When also including lateral fluxes, the complete C and N budgets of the permafrost region result in net sources of 144 (−506, 826; including CO2 and CH4) Tg C yr−1 and 3 (2, 5) Tg N yr−1
Permafrost soils currently store approximately 1672 Pg of carbon (C), but as high latitudes warm, this temperature‐protected C reservoir will become vulnerable to higher rates of decomposition. In ...recent decades, air temperatures in the high latitudes have warmed more than any other region globally, particularly during the winter. Over the coming century, the arctic winter is also expected to experience the most warming of any region or season, yet it is notably understudied. Here we present nonsummer season (NSS) CO2 flux data from the Carbon in Permafrost Experimental Heating Research project, an ecosystem warming experiment of moist acidic tussock tundra in interior Alaska. Our goals were to quantify the relationship between environmental variables and winter CO2 production, account for subnivean photosynthesis and late fall plant C uptake in our estimate of NSS CO2 exchange, constrain NSS CO2 loss estimates using multiple methods of measuring winter CO2 flux, and quantify the effect of winter soil warming on total NSS CO2 balance. We measured CO2 flux using four methods: two chamber techniques (the snow pit method and one where a chamber is left under the snow for the entire season), eddy covariance, and soda lime adsorption, and found that NSS CO2 loss varied up to fourfold, depending on the method used. CO2 production was dependent on soil temperature and day of season but atmospheric pressure and air temperature were also important in explaining CO2 diffusion out of the soil. Warming stimulated both ecosystem respiration and productivity during the NSS and increased overall CO2 loss during this period by 14% (this effect varied by year, ranging from 7 to 24%). When combined with the summertime CO2 fluxes from the same site, our results suggest that this subarctic tundra ecosystem is shifting away from its historical function as a C sink to a C source.
Key Points
Tundra winter CO2 production is controlled by soil temperature and day of season
Warming increased nonsummer season CO2 loss by 9–36% depending on the method
Cumulative winter CO2 loss varied up to fourfold depending on the method used
The magnitude of future emissions of greenhouse gases from the northern permafrost region depends crucially on the mineralization of soil organic carbon (SOC) that has accumulated over millennia in ...these perennially frozen soils. Many recent studies have used radiocarbon (14C) to quantify the release of this “old” SOC as CO2 or CH4 to the atmosphere or as dissolved and particulate organic carbon (DOC and POC) to surface waters. We compiled ~1,900 14C measurements from 51 sites in the northern permafrost region to assess the vulnerability of thawing SOC in tundra, forest, peatland, lake, and river ecosystems. We found that growing season soil 14C‐CO2 emissions generally had a modern (post‐1950s) signature, but that well‐drained, oxic soils had increased CO2 emissions derived from older sources following recent thaw. The age of CO2 and CH4 emitted from lakes depended primarily on the age and quantity of SOC in sediments and on the mode of emission, and indicated substantial losses of previously frozen SOC from actively expanding thermokarst lakes. Increased fluvial export of aged DOC and POC occurred from sites where permafrost thaw caused soil thermal erosion. There was limited evidence supporting release of previously frozen SOC as CO2, CH4, and DOC from thawing peatlands with anoxic soils. This synthesis thus suggests widespread but not universal release of permafrost SOC following thaw. We show that different definitions of “old” sources among studies hamper the comparison of vulnerability of permafrost SOC across ecosystems and disturbances. We also highlight opportunities for future 14C studies in the permafrost region.
Key Points
We compiled ~1,900 14C measurements of CO2, CH4, DOC, and POC from the northern permafrost region
Old carbon release increases in thawed oxic soils (CO2), thermokarst lakes (CH4 and CO2), and headwaters with thermal erosion (DOC and POC)
Simultaneous and year‐long 14C analyses of CO2, CH4, DOC, and POC are needed to assess the vulnerability of permafrost carbon across ecosystems
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