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Title: Longitudinal Gradients in Tree Stem Greenhouse Gas Concentrations Across Six Pacific Northwest Coastal Forests

Abstract

The aim of this study was to examine the magnitude of greenhouse gas (GHG) concentrations in tree stems of Pacific Northwest, USA coastal forests and evaluate various tree and site characteristics along river-to-sea gradients as possible drivers of tree stem GHG variation. Here, we measured the concentration of CH4, CO2, and N2O during summer and winter in live and dead tree stems of five species from six coastal watersheds and related this to soil porewater GHG concentrations, porewater salinity, and tree characteristics. Overall, average pCO2 and pCH4 were elevated above atmospheric concentration, and average pN2O was slightly below atmospheric concentration. Stem pCO2 was higher in the summer than the winter and was higher in angiosperm trees compared to gymnosperm trees, whereas pCH4 was significantly higher in fresh upstream compared to salt-influenced reaches. Stem pCH4 was also positively correlated with porewater pCH4 in contrast to other GHGs. The above results suggest that tree stem pCH4 in these coastal settings was primarily controlled by soil linkages, pCO2 was primarily regulated by tree physiology, and factors controlling pN2O remain unclear.

Authors:
ORCiD logo [1]; ORCiD logo [2];  [2]; ORCiD logo [3]; ORCiD logo [4];  [3]
  1. Marine Sciences LaboratoryPacific Northwest National Laboratory Sequim WA USA, School of OceanographyUniversity of Washington Seattle WA USA
  2. Marine Sciences LaboratoryPacific Northwest National Laboratory Sequim WA USA
  3. Atmospheric Sciences and Global ChangePacific Northwest National Laboratory Richland WA USA
  4. Biological Sciences DivisionPacific Northwest National Laboratory Richland WA USA
Publication Date:
Research Org.:
Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL), Richland, WA (United States)
Sponsoring Org.:
USDOE
OSTI Identifier:
1560182
Alternate Identifier(s):
OSTI ID: 1560183; OSTI ID: 1571515
Report Number(s):
PNNL-SA-138892
Journal ID: ISSN 2169-8953
Grant/Contract Number:  
AC05‐76RL01830; AC05-76RL01830
Resource Type:
Published Article
Journal Name:
Journal of Geophysical Research. Biogeosciences
Additional Journal Information:
Journal Name: Journal of Geophysical Research. Biogeosciences Journal Volume: 124 Journal Issue: 6; Journal ID: ISSN 2169-8953
Publisher:
American Geophysical Union
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Subject:
54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES; biogeochemistry; carbon dioxide; climate change; coastal; continuum; ecosystem; emission; estuarine; estuary; exchange; flux; global change; gradients; interface; methane; outgassing; nitrous oxide; river; terrestial aquatic interface; sea level rise; stress; tidal; wetland; vegetation; tree stem; tree; transition; tree mortality

Citation Formats

Ward, N. D., Indivero, J., Gunn, C., Wang, W., Bailey, V., and McDowell, N. G. Longitudinal Gradients in Tree Stem Greenhouse Gas Concentrations Across Six Pacific Northwest Coastal Forests. United States: N. p., 2019. Web. doi:10.1029/2019JG005064.
Ward, N. D., Indivero, J., Gunn, C., Wang, W., Bailey, V., & McDowell, N. G. Longitudinal Gradients in Tree Stem Greenhouse Gas Concentrations Across Six Pacific Northwest Coastal Forests. United States. https://doi.org/10.1029/2019JG005064
Ward, N. D., Indivero, J., Gunn, C., Wang, W., Bailey, V., and McDowell, N. G. Thu . "Longitudinal Gradients in Tree Stem Greenhouse Gas Concentrations Across Six Pacific Northwest Coastal Forests". United States. https://doi.org/10.1029/2019JG005064.
@article{osti_1560182,
title = {Longitudinal Gradients in Tree Stem Greenhouse Gas Concentrations Across Six Pacific Northwest Coastal Forests},
author = {Ward, N. D. and Indivero, J. and Gunn, C. and Wang, W. and Bailey, V. and McDowell, N. G.},
abstractNote = {The aim of this study was to examine the magnitude of greenhouse gas (GHG) concentrations in tree stems of Pacific Northwest, USA coastal forests and evaluate various tree and site characteristics along river-to-sea gradients as possible drivers of tree stem GHG variation. Here, we measured the concentration of CH4, CO2, and N2O during summer and winter in live and dead tree stems of five species from six coastal watersheds and related this to soil porewater GHG concentrations, porewater salinity, and tree characteristics. Overall, average pCO2 and pCH4 were elevated above atmospheric concentration, and average pN2O was slightly below atmospheric concentration. Stem pCO2 was higher in the summer than the winter and was higher in angiosperm trees compared to gymnosperm trees, whereas pCH4 was significantly higher in fresh upstream compared to salt-influenced reaches. Stem pCH4 was also positively correlated with porewater pCH4 in contrast to other GHGs. The above results suggest that tree stem pCH4 in these coastal settings was primarily controlled by soil linkages, pCO2 was primarily regulated by tree physiology, and factors controlling pN2O remain unclear.},
doi = {10.1029/2019JG005064},
journal = {Journal of Geophysical Research. Biogeosciences},
number = 6,
volume = 124,
place = {United States},
year = {Thu Jun 06 00:00:00 EDT 2019},
month = {Thu Jun 06 00:00:00 EDT 2019}
}

Journal Article:
Free Publicly Available Full Text
Publisher's Version of Record
https://doi.org/10.1029/2019JG005064

Citation Metrics:
Cited by: 14 works
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