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Title: Temperature and moisture effects on greenhouse gas emissions from deep active-layer boreal soils

Abstract

Rapid climatic changes, rising air temperatures, and increased fires are expected to drive permafrost degradation and alter soil carbon (C) cycling in many high-latitude ecosystems. How these soils will respond to changes in their temperature, moisture, and overlying vegetation is uncertain but critical to understand given the large soil C stocks in these regions. We used a laboratory experiment to examine how temperature and moisture control CO2 and CH4 emissions from mineral soils sampled from the bottom of the annual active layer, i.e., directly above permafrost, in an Alaskan boreal forest. Gas emissions from 30 cores, subjected to two temperatures and either field moisture conditions or experimental drought, were tracked over a 100-day incubation; we also measured a variety of physical and chemical characteristics of the cores. Gravimetric water content was 0.31 ± 0.12 (unitless) at the beginning of the incubation; cores at field moisture were unchanged at the end, but drought cores had declined to 0.06 ± 0.04. Daily CO2 fluxes were positively correlated with incubation chamber temperature, core water content, and percent soil nitrogen. They also had a temperature sensitivity (Q10) of 1.3 and 1.9 for the field moisture and drought treatments, respectively. Daily CH4 emissions were mostmore » strongly correlated with percent nitrogen, but neither temperature nor water content was a significant first-order predictor of CH4 fluxes. The cumulative production of C from CO2 was over 6 orders of magnitude higher than that from CH4; cumulative CO2 was correlated with incubation temperature and moisture treatment, with drought cores producing 52–73 % lower C. Cumulative CH4 production was unaffected by any treatment. These results suggest that deep active-layer soils may be sensitive to changes in soil moisture under aerobic conditions, a critical factor as discontinuous permafrost thaws in interior Alaska. Furthermore, deep but unfrozen high-latitude soils have been shown to be strongly affected by long-term experimental warming, and these results provide insight into their future dynamics and feedback potential with future climate change.« less

Authors:
ORCiD logo; ;
Publication Date:
Research Org.:
Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL), Richland, WA (United States)
Sponsoring Org.:
USDOE Office of Science (SC), Biological and Environmental Research (BER)
OSTI Identifier:
1336979
Alternate Identifier(s):
OSTI ID: 1339816
Report Number(s):
PNNL-SA-118337
Journal ID: ISSN 1726-4189
Grant/Contract Number:  
Terrestrial Ecosystem Sciences; AC05-76RL01830
Resource Type:
Published Article
Journal Name:
Biogeosciences (Online)
Additional Journal Information:
Journal Name: Biogeosciences (Online) Journal Volume: 13 Journal Issue: 24; Journal ID: ISSN 1726-4189
Publisher:
Copernicus Publications, EGU
Country of Publication:
Germany
Language:
English
Subject:
54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES; soil carbon; boreal forest; incubation; permafrost; drought; respiration

Citation Formats

Bond-Lamberty, Ben, Smith, A. Peyton, and Bailey, Vanessa. Temperature and moisture effects on greenhouse gas emissions from deep active-layer boreal soils. Germany: N. p., 2016. Web. doi:10.5194/bg-13-6669-2016.
Bond-Lamberty, Ben, Smith, A. Peyton, & Bailey, Vanessa. Temperature and moisture effects on greenhouse gas emissions from deep active-layer boreal soils. Germany. https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-13-6669-2016
Bond-Lamberty, Ben, Smith, A. Peyton, and Bailey, Vanessa. Wed . "Temperature and moisture effects on greenhouse gas emissions from deep active-layer boreal soils". Germany. https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-13-6669-2016.
@article{osti_1336979,
title = {Temperature and moisture effects on greenhouse gas emissions from deep active-layer boreal soils},
author = {Bond-Lamberty, Ben and Smith, A. Peyton and Bailey, Vanessa},
abstractNote = {Rapid climatic changes, rising air temperatures, and increased fires are expected to drive permafrost degradation and alter soil carbon (C) cycling in many high-latitude ecosystems. How these soils will respond to changes in their temperature, moisture, and overlying vegetation is uncertain but critical to understand given the large soil C stocks in these regions. We used a laboratory experiment to examine how temperature and moisture control CO2 and CH4 emissions from mineral soils sampled from the bottom of the annual active layer, i.e., directly above permafrost, in an Alaskan boreal forest. Gas emissions from 30 cores, subjected to two temperatures and either field moisture conditions or experimental drought, were tracked over a 100-day incubation; we also measured a variety of physical and chemical characteristics of the cores. Gravimetric water content was 0.31 ± 0.12 (unitless) at the beginning of the incubation; cores at field moisture were unchanged at the end, but drought cores had declined to 0.06 ± 0.04. Daily CO2 fluxes were positively correlated with incubation chamber temperature, core water content, and percent soil nitrogen. They also had a temperature sensitivity (Q10) of 1.3 and 1.9 for the field moisture and drought treatments, respectively. Daily CH4 emissions were most strongly correlated with percent nitrogen, but neither temperature nor water content was a significant first-order predictor of CH4 fluxes. The cumulative production of C from CO2 was over 6 orders of magnitude higher than that from CH4; cumulative CO2 was correlated with incubation temperature and moisture treatment, with drought cores producing 52–73 % lower C. Cumulative CH4 production was unaffected by any treatment. These results suggest that deep active-layer soils may be sensitive to changes in soil moisture under aerobic conditions, a critical factor as discontinuous permafrost thaws in interior Alaska. Furthermore, deep but unfrozen high-latitude soils have been shown to be strongly affected by long-term experimental warming, and these results provide insight into their future dynamics and feedback potential with future climate change.},
doi = {10.5194/bg-13-6669-2016},
journal = {Biogeosciences (Online)},
number = 24,
volume = 13,
place = {Germany},
year = {Wed Dec 21 00:00:00 EST 2016},
month = {Wed Dec 21 00:00:00 EST 2016}
}

Journal Article:
Free Publicly Available Full Text
Publisher's Version of Record
https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-13-6669-2016

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