ALBERT

Notes: Based on review and original data, this synthesis investigates carbon pools and fluxes of Siberian and European forests (600 and 300 million ha, respectively). We examine the productivity of ecosystems, expressed as positive rate when the amount of carbon in the ecosystem increases, while (following micrometeorological convention) downward fluxes from the atmosphere to the vegetation (NEE = Net Ecosystem Exchange) are expressed as negative numbers. Productivity parameters are Net Primary Productivity (NPP=whole plant growth), Net Ecosystem Productivity (NEP = CO2 assimilation minus ecosystem respiration), and Net Biome Productivity (NBP = NEP minus carbon losses through disturbances bypassing respiration, e.g. by fire and logging). Based on chronosequence studies and national forestry statistics we estimate a low average NPP for boreal forests in Siberia: 123 gC m–2 y–1. This contrasts with a similar calculation for Europe which suggests a much higher average NPP of 460 gC m–2 y–1 for the forests there. Despite a smaller area, European forests have a higher total NPP than Siberia (1.2–1.6 vs. 0.6–0.9 × 1015 gC region–1 y–1). This arises as a consequence of differences in growing season length, climate and nutrition. For a chronosequence of Pinus sylvestris stands studied in central Siberia during summer, NEE was most negative in a 67-y old stand regenerating after fire (– 192 mmol m–2 d–1) which is close to NEE in a cultivated forest of Germany (– 210 mmol m–2 d–1). Considerable net ecosystem CO2-uptake was also measured in Siberia in 200- and 215-y old stands (NEE:174 and – 63 mmol m–2 d–1) while NEP of 7- and 13-y old logging areas were close to the ecosystem compensation point. Two Siberian bogs and a bog in European Russia were also significant carbon sinks (– 102 to – 104 mmol m–2 d–1). Integrated over a growing season (June to September) we measured a total growing season NEE of – 14 mol m–2 summer–1 (– 168 gC m–2 summer–1) in a 200-y Siberian pine stand and – 5 mol m–2 summer–1 (– 60 gC m–2 summer–1) in Siberian and European Russian bogs. By contrast, over the same period, a spruce forest in European Russia was a carbon source to the atmosphere of (NEE: + 7 mol m–2 summer–1 = + 84 gC m–2 summer–1). Two years after a windthrow in European Russia, with all trees being uplifted and few successional species, lost 16 mol C m–2 to the atmosphere over a 3-month in summer, compared to the cumulative NEE over a growing season in a German forest of – 15.5 mol m–2 summer–1 (– 186 gC m–2 summer–1; European flux network annual averaged – 205 gC m–2 y–1). Differences in CO2-exchange rates coincided with differences in the Bowen ratio, with logging areas partitioning most incoming radiation into sensible heat whereas bogs partitioned most into evaporation (latent heat). Effects of these different surface energy exchanges on local climate (convective storms and fires) and comparisons with the Canadian BOREAS experiment are discussed. Following a classification of disturbances and their effects on ecosystem carbon balances, fire and logging are discussed as the main processes causing carbon losses that bypass heterotrophic respiration in Siberia. Following two approaches, NBP was estimated to be only about 13–16 mmol m–2 y–1 for Siberia. It may reach 67 mmol m–2 y–1 in North America, and about 140–400 mmol m–2 y–1 in Scandinavia. We conclude that fire speeds up the carbon cycle, but that it results also in long-term carbon sequestration by charcoal formation. For at least 14 years after logging, regrowth forests remain net sources of CO2 to the atmosphere. This has important implications regarding the effects of Siberian forest management on atmospheric concentrations. For many years after logging has taken place, regrowth forests remain weaker sinks for atmospheric CO2 than are nearby old-growth forests.

Notes: Carbon dioxide, energy flux measurements and methane chamber measurements were carried out in an arctic wet tussock grassland located on a flood plane of the Kolyma river in NE Siberia over a summer period of 155 days in 2002 and early 2003. Respiration was also measured in April 2004. The study region is characterized by late thaw of the top soil (mid of June) and periodic spring floods. A stagnant water table below the grass canopy is fed by thawing of the active layer of permafrost and by flood water. The climate is continental with average daily temperature in the warmest months of 13°C (maximum temperature at midday: 28°C by the end of July), dry air (maximum vapour pressure deficit at midday: 28 hPa) and low rainfall of 50 mm during summer (July–September). Summer evaporation (July–September: 103 mm) exceeded rainfall by a factor of 2. The daily average Bowen ratio (H/LE) was 0.62 during the growing season. Net ecosystem CO2 uptake reached 10 μmol m−2 s−1 and was related to photon flux density (PFD) and vapour pressure deficit (VPD). The cumulative annual net carbon flux from the atmosphere to the terrestrial surface was estimated to be about −38 g C m−2 yr−1 (negative flux depicts net carbon sink). Winter respiration was extrapolated using the Lloyd and Taylor function. The net carbon balance is composed of a high rate of assimilation in a short summer and a fairly large but uncertain respiration mainly during autumn and spring. Methane flux (about 12 g C m−2 measured over 60 days) was 25% of C uptake during the same period of time (end of July to end of September). Assuming that CH4 was emitted only in summer, and taking the greenhouse gas warming potential of CH4 vs. CO2 into account (factor 23), the study site was a greenhouse gas source (at least 200 g Cequivalent m−2 yr−1). Comparing different studies in wetlands and tundra ecosystems as related to latitude, we expect that global warming would rather increase than decrease the CO2-C sink.

Notes: Fires in boreal forests frequently convert organic matter in the organic layer to black carbon, but we know little of how changing fire frequency alters the amount, composition and distribution of black carbon and organic matter within soils, or affects podzolization. We compared black carbon and organic matter (organic carbon and nitrogen) in soils of three Siberian Scots pine forests with frequent, moderately frequent and infrequent fires.Black carbon did not significantly contribute to the storage of organic matter, most likely because it is consumed by intense fires. We found 99% of black carbon in the organic layer; maximum stocks were 72 g m−2. Less intense fires consumed only parts of the organic layer and converted some organic matter to black carbon (〉 5 g m−2), whereas more intense fires consumed almost the entire organic layer. In the upper 0.25 m of the mineral soil, black carbon stocks were 0.1 g m−2 in the infrequent fire regime.After fire, organic carbon and nitrogen in the organic layer accumulated with an estimated rate of 14.4 g C m−2 year−1 or 0.241 g N m−2 year−1. Maximum stocks 140 years after fire were 2190 g organic C m−2 and 40 g N m−2, with no differences among fire regimes. With increasing fire frequency, stocks of organic carbon increased from 600 to 1100 g m−2 (0–0.25 m). Stocks of nitrogen in the mineral soil were similar among the regimes (0.04 g m−2). We found that greater intensities of fire reduce amounts of organic matter in the organic layer but that the greater frequencies may slightly increase amounts in the mineral soil.

Notes: Root exudates were sampled from detopped root systems of castor bean (Ricinus communis). Different volume flux rates were imposed by changing the pneumatic pressure around the root system using a Passioura-type pressure chamber. The concentrations of cations, anions, amino acids, organic acids and abscisic acid decreased hyperbolically when flux rates increased from pure root exudation up to values typical for transpiring plants. Concentrations at low and high fluxes differed by up to 40 times (phosphate) and the ratio of substances changed by factors of up to 10. During the subsequent reduction of flux produced by lowering the pneumatic pressure in the root pressure chamber, the concentrations and ratios of substances deviated (at a given flux rate) from those found when flux was increased. The flux dependence of exudate composition cannot therefore be explained by a simple dilution mechanism. Xylem sap samples from intact, transpiring plants were collected using a Passioura-type root pressure chamber. The concentrations of the xylem sap changed diurnally. Substances could be separated into three groups: (1) calcium, magnesium and amino acid concentrations correlated well with the values expected from their concentration-flux relationships, whereas (2) the concentrations of sulphate and phosphate deviated from the expected relationships during the light phase, and (3) nitrate and potassium concentrations in intact plants varied in completely the opposite manner from those in isolated root systems. Abscisic acid concentrations in the root exudate were dependent on the extent of water use and showed strong diurnal variations in the xylem sap of intact plants even in droughtstressed plants. Calculations using root exudates overestimated export from the root system in intact plants, with the largest deviation found for proton flux (a factor of 10). We conclude that root exudate studies cannot be used as the sole basis for estimating fluxes of substances in the xylem of intact plants. Consequences for studying and modelling xylem transport in whole plants are discussed.

Notes: A model is presented which solves simultaneously for leaf-scale stomatal conductance, CO2 assimilation and the energy balance as a function of leaf position within canopies of well-watered vegetation. Fluxes and conductances were calculated separately for sunlit and shaded leaves. A linear dependence of photosynthetic capacity on leaf nitrogen content was assumed, while leaf nitrogen content and light intensity were assumed to decrease exponentially within canopies. Separate extinction coefficients were used for diffuse and direct beam radiation. An efficient Gaussian integration technique was used to compute fluxes and mean conductances for the canopy. The multilayer model synthesizes current knowledge of radiation penetration, leaf physiology and the physics of evaporation and provides insights into the response of whole canopies to multiple, interacting factors. The model was also used to explore sources of variation in the slopes of two simple parametric models (nitrogen- and light-use efficiency), and to set bounds on the magnitudes of the parameters.For canopies low in total N, daily assimilation rates are ∼10% lower when leaf N is distributed uniformly than when the same total N is distributed according to the exponentially decreasing profile of absorbed radiation. However, gains are negligible for plants with high N concentrations. Canopy conductance, Gc should be calculated as Gc=Aσ(fslgsl+fshgsh), where Δ is leaf area index, fsi and fsh are the fractions of sunlit and shaded leaves at each level, and gsi and gsh are the corresponding stomatal conductances. Simple addition of conductances without this weighting causes errors in transpiration calculated using the ‘big-leaf’ version of the Penman-Monteith equation. Partitioning of available energy between sensible and latent heat is very responsive to the parameter describing the sensitivity of stomata to the atmospheric humidity deficit. This parameter also affects canopy conductance, but has a relatively small impact on canopy assimilation.Simple parametric models are useful for extrapolating understanding from small to large scales, but the complexity of real ecosystems is thus subsumed in unexplained variations in parameter values. Simulations with the multilayer model show that both nitrogen- and radiation-use efficiencies depend on plant nutritional status and the diffuse component of incident radiation, causing a 2- to 3-fold variation in these efficiencies.

Notes: Sunflower plants (Helianthus annuus L.) were subjected to soil drying with their shoots either kept fully turgid using a Passioura-type pressure chamber or allowed to decrease in water potential. Whether the shoots were kept turgid or not, leaf conductance decreased below a certain soil water content. During the soil drying, xylem sap samples were taken from individual intact and transpiring plants. Xylem sap concentrations of nitrate and phosphate decreased with soil water content, whereas the concentrations of the other anions (SO42 and Cl−) remained unaltered. Calcium concentrations also decreased. Potassium, magnesium, manganese and sodium concentrations stayed constant during soil drying. In contrast, the pH, the buffering capacity at a pH below 5 and the cation/anion ratio increased after soil water content was lowered below a certain threshold. Amino acid concentration of the xylem sap increased with decreasing soil water content. The effect of changes in ion concentrations in the xylem sap on leaf conductance is discussed.

Notes: Sunflower plants [Helianthus annuus L.) were subjected to soil drought. Leaf conductance declined with soil water content even when the shoot was kept turgid throughout the drying period. The concentration of abscisic acid in the xylem sap increased with decreasing soil water content. No general relation could be established between abscisic acid concentration in the xylem sap and leaf conductance due to marked differences in the sensitivity of leaf conductance of individual plants to abscisic acid from the xylem sap. The combination of these results with data from Gollan, Schurr & Schulze (1992, see pp. 551–559, this issue) reveals close connection of the effectiveness of abscisic acid as a root to shoot signal to the nutritional status of the plant.