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High Arctic Dry Heath CO2 Exchange During the Early Cold Season

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Abstract

Climate change may alter the terrestrial ecosystem carbon balance in the Arctic, and previous studies have emphasized the importance of cold season gas exchange when considering the annual carbon balance. Here, we examined gross ecosystem production (GEP), ecosystem respiration (R eco) and net ecosystem exchange (NEE) during autumn at a high arctic dry open heath, over a period where air temperatures decreased from +9.8 to −16.5°C. GEP declined by 95–100% during autumn but GEP significantly different from 0 was measured on October 8 despite sub-zero temperatures. R eco declined by 90% and dominated NEE throughout the study as the ecosystem on all measurement days was a source of atmospheric CO2. We estimated net September carbon losses (NEE) to be 17 g CO2 m−2, emphasizing the importance of autumn in relation to annual carbon budgets. The study site has been subjected to 14 summers of water addition, and occasional pulses of nitrogen (N) addition in a fully factorial design. N addition enhanced GEP up to 17-fold during September, although there was no effect in October when GEP was very low. Summer water addition decreased autumn R eco by up to 25%. Both N amendment and water addition decreased carbon loss, that is, increased NEE; N amendment increased NEE on all dates by 13–64% whereas water addition increased NEE by 20–54% late in September and onward, demonstrating the importance of nutrient and water availability on carbon balance in high arctic tundra, also during the autumn freeze-in.

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Acknowledgments

This work was supported by the Danish Council for Independent Research | Natural Sciences, and the Danish National Research Foundation. We thank Charlotte Sigsgaard, Line Kyhn, Sebrina Burchard and Jørgen Skafte for assistance in the field. Aarhus University is thanked for access to and logistics at Zackenberg. We would like to thank Gaius Shaver and two anonymous reviewers for their constructive comments on an earlier version of the manuscript.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Physiological Ecology Group, Terrestrial Ecology Section, Department of Biology, University of Copenhagen, Universitetsparken 15, 2100, Copenhagen Ø, Denmark

    Casper Tai Christiansen & Anders Michelsen

  2. Department of Bioscience, Aarhus University, Frederiksborgvej 399, 4000, Roskilde, Denmark

    Niels Martin Schmidt

  3. Center for Permafrost (CENPERM), University of Copenhagen, Øster Voldgade 10, 1350, Copenhagen K, Denmark

    Anders Michelsen

  4. Department of Biology, Queen’s University, Biosciences Complex, 116 Barrie Street, Kingston, ON, K7L 3N6, Canada

    Casper Tai Christiansen

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Correspondence to Casper Tai Christiansen.

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A. Michelsen, C. T. Christiansen—conceived of or designed study; C. T. Christiansen—performed research and contributed new methods or models; C. T. Christiansen, A. Michelsen, N. M. Schmidt—analyzed data and wrote the paper.

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Christiansen, C.T., Schmidt, N.M. & Michelsen, A. High Arctic Dry Heath CO2 Exchange During the Early Cold Season. Ecosystems 15, 1083–1092 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10021-012-9569-4

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