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Ecosystem fluxes of hydrogen in a mid-latitude forest driven by soil microorganisms and plants

Journal Article · · Global Change Biology
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1111/gcb.13463· OSTI ID:1379709
 [1];  [2];  [3];  [4];  [2];  [5];  [6];  [2];  [7]
  1. Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Arizona, Tucson AZ USA; Department of Earth, Atmospheric and Planetary Science, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge MA USA
  2. Department of Earth and Planetary Science, School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, Harvard University, Cambridge MA USA
  3. Earth Sciences Division, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley CA USA
  4. Department of Organismic and Evolutionary Biology, Harvard University, Cambridge MA USA
  5. Department of Biology, Boston University, Boston MA USA
  6. Ecosystems Center, Marine Biological Laboratory, Woods Hole MA USA
  7. Department of Earth, Atmospheric and Planetary Science, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge MA USA
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Molecular hydrogen (H 2 ) is an atmospheric trace gas with a large microbe-mediated soil sink, yet cycling of this compound throughout ecosystems is poorly understood. Measurements of the sources and sinks of H 2 in various ecosystems are sparse, resulting in large uncertainties in the global H 2 budget. Constraining the H 2 cycle is critical to understanding its role in atmospheric chemistry and climate. We measured H 2 fluxes at high frequency in a temperate mixed deciduous forest for 15 months using a tower-based flux-gradient approach to determine both the soil-atmosphere and the net ecosystem flux of H 2 . We also found that Harvard Forest is a net H 2 sink (-1.4 ± 1.1 kg H 2  ha -1 ) with soils as the dominant H 2 sink (-2.0 ± 1.0 kg H 2  ha -1 ) and aboveground canopy emissions as the dominant H 2 source (+0.6 ± 0.8 kg H 2  ha -1 ). Aboveground emissions of H 2 were an unexpected and substantial component of the ecosystem H 2 flux, reducing net ecosystem uptake by 30% of that calculated from soil uptake alone. Soil uptake was highly seasonal (July maximum, February minimum), positively correlated with soil temperature and negatively correlated with environmental variables relevant to diffusion into soils (i.e., soil moisture, snow depth, snow density). Soil microbial H 2 uptake was correlated with rhizosphere respiration rates (r = 0.8, P  <  0.001), and H 2 metabolism yielded up to 2% of the energy gleaned by microbes from carbon substrate respiration. Here, we elucidate key processes controlling the biosphere–atmosphere exchange of H 2 and raise new questions regarding the role of aboveground biomass as a source of atmospheric H 2 and mechanisms linking soil H 2 and carbon cycling. Our results should be incorporated into modeling efforts to predict the response of the H 2 soil sink to changes in anthropogenic H 2 emissions and shifting soil conditions with climate and land-use change.
Research Organization:
Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
National Science Foundation (NSF); USDOE; USDOE Office of Science (SC), Biological and Environmental Research (BER) (SC-23)
Grant/Contract Number:
AC02-05CH11231; SC0004985; SC0006951
OSTI ID:
1379709
Alternate ID(s):
OSTI ID: 1400787
Journal Information:
Global Change Biology, Journal Name: Global Change Biology Journal Issue: 2 Vol. 23; ISSN 1354-1013
Publisher:
WileyCopyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English

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Cited By (2)

Methodology for soil respirometric assays: Step by step and guidelines to measure fluxes of trace gases using microcosms journal January 2018
Molecular Hydrogen, a Neglected Key Driver of Soil Biogeochemical Processes journal January 2019

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Related Subjects

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES
59 BASIC BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES
atmosphere
carbon cycle
flux
hydrogen
microbe
phenology
snow
soil