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Title: Plant Uptake of Atmospheric Carbonyl Sulfide in Coast Redwood Forests: Carbonyl Sulfide Sink in Coast Redwoods

Journal Article · · Journal of Geophysical Research. Biogeosciences
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1002/2016JG003703· OSTI ID:1544350
ORCiD logo [1]; ORCiD logo [2];  [3]; ORCiD logo [2]; ORCiD logo [2]; ORCiD logo [4];  [2];  [3];  [5];  [6]; ORCiD logo [7]; ORCiD logo [8];  [9]; ORCiD logo [10]; ORCiD logo [11];  [11]; ORCiD logo [12]; ORCiD logo [1]
  1. Univ. of California, Santa Cruz, CA (United States). Environmental Studies Dept.
  2. Univ. of California, Merced, CA (United States). Sierra Nevada Research Inst.
  3. Carnegie Inst. of Science, Stanford, CA (United States)
  4. Univ. of California, Merced, CA (United States). Sierra Nevada Research Inst.; Lawrence Livermore National Lab. (LLNL), Livermore, CA (United States)
  5. Univ. of California, Los Angeles, CA (United States). Dept. of Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences
  6. Univ. of California, Berkeley, CA (United States). Dept. of Integrative Biology
  7. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), Boulder, CO (United States). Global Monitoring Division
  8. Colorado State Univ., Fort Collins, CO (United States). Dept. of Atmospheric Science
  9. California Air Resources Board, Sacramento, CA (United States)
  10. Univ. of Bremen (Germany)
  11. Aerodyne Research, Inc., Billerica, MA (United States)
  12. Harvard Univ., Cambridge, MA (United States). School of Engineering and Applied Sciences (SEAS)

The future resilience of coast redwoods (Sequoia sempervirens) is now of critical concern due to the detection of a 33% decline in California coastal fog over the 20th century. However, ecosystem-scale measurements of photosynthesis and stomatal conductance are challenging in coast redwood forests, making it difficult to anticipate the impacts of future changes in fog. To address this methodological problem, we explore coastal variations in atmospheric carbonyl sulfide (COS or OCS), which could potentially be used as a tracer of these ecosystem processes. We conducted atmospheric flask campaigns in coast redwood sites, sampling at surface heights and in the canopy (~70 m), at the University of California Landels-Hill Big Creek Reserve and Big Basin State Park. We simulated COS atmosphere-biosphere exchange with a high-resolution 3-D model to interpret these data. Flask measurements indicated a persistent daytime drawdown between the coast and the downwind forest (45 ± 6 ppt COS) that is consistent with the expected relationship between COS plant uptake, stomatal conductance, and gross primary production. Other sources and sinks of COS that could introduce noise to the COS tracer technique (soils, anthropogenic activity, nocturnal plant uptake, and surface hydrolysis on leaves) are likely to be small relative to daytime COS plant uptake. These results suggest that COS measurements may be useful for making ecosystem-scale estimates of carbon, water, and energy exchange in coast redwood forests.

Research Organization:
Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States). National Energy Research Scientific Computing Center (NERSC)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE Office of Science (SC)
Grant/Contract Number:
AC52-07NA27344; AC02-05CH11231
OSTI ID:
1544350
Alternate ID(s):
OSTI ID: 1415235
Journal Information:
Journal of Geophysical Research. Biogeosciences, Vol. 122, Issue 12; ISSN 2169-8953
Publisher:
American Geophysical UnionCopyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Citation Metrics:
Cited by: 9 works
Citation information provided by
Web of Science

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Cited By (3)

Coupling between the terrestrial carbon and water cycles—a review journal July 2019
Reviews and syntheses: Carbonyl sulfide as a multi-scale tracer for carbon and water cycles journal January 2018
Coupling between the terrestrial carbon and water cycles-a review text January 2019