Sentences with phrase «carbon tundra ecosystems»

The study has important implications for predicting which arctic plant species will dominate as the climate warms, as well as how much carbon tundra ecosystems can store.

Not exact matches

When the large herbivores disappeared, the ecosystem transitioned to today's mossy tundra and taiga that is beginning to melt and release carbon dioxide into the atmosphere.

These ecosystems, primarily the Arctic tundra (5), peatlands (1), and tropical rain forests (6, 7, 8), harbor ancient, highly - concentrated carbon stocks, which are rapidly released during fire events like the one in Indonesia.

The team documented carbon dioxide exchange during 3 years of growing seasons in an upland tundra ecosystem in the northern foothills of the Alaska Range.

Terrestrial ecosystems, such as the Arctic tundra and Amazon rainforest, contain a huge amount of carbon in organic matter such as decaying plant material.

«Tundra ecosystems are taking up increasingly more carbon during the growing season over the past several decades, but this has been offset by increasing carbon loss during the winter,» the report's executive summary reads.

Thawing permafrost also delivers organic - rich soils to lake bottoms, where decomposition in the absence of oxygen releases additional methane.116 Extensive wildfires also release carbon that contributes to climate warming.107, 117,118 The capacity of the Yukon River Basin in Alaska and adjacent Canada to store carbon has been substantially weakened since the 1960s by the combination of warming and thawing of permafrost and by increased wildfire.119 Expansion of tall shrubs and trees into tundra makes the surface darker and rougher, increasing absorption of the sun's energy and further contributing to warming.120 This warming is likely stronger than the potential cooling effects of increased carbon dioxide uptake associated with tree and shrub expansion.121 The shorter snow - covered seasons in Alaska further increase energy absorption by the land surface, an effect only slightly offset by the reduced energy absorption of highly reflective post-fire snow - covered landscapes.121 This spectrum of changes in Alaskan and other high - latitude terrestrial ecosystems jeopardizes efforts by society to use ecosystem carbon management to offset fossil fuel emissions.94, 95,96

Li J, Luo Y, Natali S, Schuur EAG, Xia J, Kowalczyk E, Wang Y (2014) Modeling permafrost thaw and ecosystem carbon cycle under annual and seasonal warming at an Arctic tundra site in Alaska.

Christiansen CT, Lafreniére MJ, Henry GHR, Grogan P (2018) Long - term deepened snow promotes tundra evergreen shrub growth and summertime ecosystem net CO2 gain, but reduces soil carbon and nutrient pools.

Kim Y, Park S - J, Lee B - Y, Risk D (2016) Continuous measurement of soil carbon efflux with Forced Diffusion (FD) chambers in a tundra ecosystem of Alaska.

Hicks Pries CE, Schuur EAG, Natali SM, Crummer KG (2016) Old soil carbon losses increase with ecosystem respiration in experimentally thawed tundra.

Models also suggest that feedback cycles could afflict both the tundra — where scientists fear a massive carbon release — and the Amazon forest ecosystem, which could rapidly dry up, McCarthy noted.

Now the researchers, who reported their study in Environmental Research Letters (ERL), would like to perform similar analyses for tropical and boreal forests, tundra and other ecosystems that store huge quantities of carbon.