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The Carbon Cycle of a Maritime Ancient Temperate Broadleaved Woodland at Seasonal and Annual Scales

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Abstract

This study compares different approaches to quantifying the carbon cycle in a temperate deciduous forest at Wytham Woods in England, which is unusual in its maritime climate and mixed age structure, reflecting low levels of past management. We tested whether eddy covariance and biometric measurements gave consistent estimates of woodland productivity and ecosystem respiration at monthly and annual timescales. Biometric methods estimated gross primary productivity (GPP) as 22.0 ± 1.6 Mg C ha−1 y−1, close to the eddy covariance GPP value of 21.1 Mg C ha−1 y−1. Annual ecosystem respiration (R ECO) was similar, at 20.3 ± 1.5 Mg C ha−1 y−1 for biometric and 19.8 Mg C ha−1 y−1for eddy covariance. The seasonal cycle of monthly biometric and eddy covariance R ECO estimates also closely matched. Net primary productivity (NPP) was 7.0 ± 0.8 Mg C ha−1 y−1, 37% of which was allocated below ground. Leaf fluxes were the greatest component of NPP and R ECO. Ecosystem carbon-use efficiency (CUE = NPP/GPP) was 0.32 ± 0.04; low compared to many temperate broadleaved sites but close to values for old-growth sites. This may reflect the age of some trees, and/or the oceanic climate with relatively mild winters during which there can be substantial autotrophic maintenance respiration in winter but negligible growth. This study demonstrates that biometric measurements can provide robust estimates of site productivity and respiration and that eddy covariance and bottom-up measurements can be combined on seasonal and interannual timescales to enable a detailed understanding of the forest carbon cycle.

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Acknowledgments

Many thanks to everyone who assisted with this work, in particular Michèle Taylor and NERC for the Upper Seeds meteorological data collected under the ECN program, Dave McNeil for installing and maintaining the eddy covariance equipment, and Dr. Terhi Riutta and Earthwatch-HSBC volunteers for collecting and sorting the autumn 2008 leaf litter. KMF was supported by a NERC Studentship at Oxford University and the Centre for Ecology and Hydrology. Some manuscript editing took place whilst KMF was at SLU, Umeå, Sweden, funded by a Kempe Foundation stipend. YM is supported by the Jackson Foundation, the Oxford Martin School, and an Advanced Investigator Award of the European Research Council. Thorough, constructive comments by reviewers improved this manuscript and are greatly appreciated.

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Author notes

  1. K. Fenn

    Present address: Department of Biology, University of York, York, YO10 5DD, UK

  2. M. Morecroft

    Present address: Natural England, Cromwell House, 15 Andover Road, Winchester, SO23 7BT, UK

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Environmental Change Institute, School of Geography and the Environment, University of Oxford, Oxford, OX1 3QY, UK

    K. Fenn, Y. Malhi & M. Thomas

  2. Centre for Ecology & Hydrology, Wallingford, OX10 8BB, UK

    K. Fenn, M. Morecroft & C. Lloyd

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  1. K. Fenn
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Correspondence to K. Fenn.

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YM, MM and CL conceived the work. KMF carried out the fieldwork with assistance where noted in the acknowledgements. KMF analysed the field data and wrote the paper under supervision by YM and MM. MT analysed the eddy covariance data. CL and MT provided comments on the paper.

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Fenn, K., Malhi, Y., Morecroft, M. et al. The Carbon Cycle of a Maritime Ancient Temperate Broadleaved Woodland at Seasonal and Annual Scales. Ecosystems 18, 1–15 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10021-014-9793-1

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