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Ecological functioning in grass–shrub Mediterranean ecosystems measured by eddy covariance

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Abstract

Climate change may alter ecosystem functioning, as assessed via the net carbon (C) exchange (NEE) with the atmosphere, composed of the biological processes photosynthesis (GPP) and respiration (R eco). In addition, in semi-arid Mediterranean ecosystems, a significant fraction of respired CO2 is stored in the vadose zone and emitted afterwards by subsoil ventilation (VE), contributing also to NEE. Such conditions complicate the prediction of NEE for future change scenarios. To evaluate the possible effects of climate change on annual NEE and its underlying processes (GPP, R eco and VE) we present, over a climate/altitude range, the annual and interannual variability of NEE, GPP, R eco and VE in three Mediterranean sites. We found that annual NEE varied from a net source of around 130 gC m−2 in hot and arid lowlands to a net sink of similar magnitude for alpine meadows (above 2,000 m a.s.l) that are less water stressed. Annual net C fixation increased because of increased GPP during intermittent and several growth periods occurring even during winter, as well as due to decreased VE. In terms of interannual variability, the studied subalpine site behaved as a neutral C sink (from emission of 49 to fixation of 30 gC m−2 year−1), with precipitation as the main factor controlling annual GPP and R eco. Finally, the importance of VE as 0–23 % of annual NEE is highlighted, indicating that this process could shift some Mediterranean ecosystems from annual C sinks to sources.

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Acknowledgments

PSO is a Juan de la Cierva fellow, funded by the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation. This research was funded by the Andalusian regional government project GEOCARBO (P08-RNM-3721), MIGRAME (RNM-6734) and GLOCHARID, including European Union ERDF funds, with support from the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation projects Carbored-II (CGL2010-22193-C04-02), SOILPROF (CGL2011-15276-E) and CARBORAD (CGL2011-27493), as well as the European Community’s Seventh Framework Programme (FP7/2007-2013) under grant agreement no. 244122. Comments and English revision from A. S. Kowalski improved this paper.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Departamento de Desertificación y Geoecología, Estación Experimental de Zonas Áridas (EEZA), Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (CSIC), 04120, Almería, Spain

    Penélope Serrano-Ortiz, Enrique. P. Sánchez-Cañete, Ana Were, Olga Uclés, Laura Morillas & Francisco Domingo

  2. Instituto Interuniversitario del Sistema Tierra en Andalucía, Centro Andaluz de Medio Ambiente (IISTA-CEAMA), 18006, Granada, Spain

    Penélope Serrano-Ortiz, Oscar Pérez-Priego & Enrique. P. Sánchez-Cañete

  3. Departamento de Edafología y Química Agrícola, Universidad de Almería, 04120, Almería, Spain

    Cecilio Oyonarte

  4. Departamento de Física Aplicada, Universidad de Granada, 18071, Granada, Spain

    Oscar Pérez-Priego

  5. Departamento de Ciências Fundamentais e Sociais, Universidade Federal da Paraíba Campus II, Areia, PB, 58397-000, Brazil

    Borja R. Reverter

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  1. Penélope Serrano-Ortiz
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  2. Cecilio Oyonarte
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  3. Oscar Pérez-Priego
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  5. Enrique. P. Sánchez-Cañete
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  6. Ana Were
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  7. Olga Uclés
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Correspondence to Penélope Serrano-Ortiz.

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Communicated by Mercedes Bustamante.

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Serrano-Ortiz, P., Oyonarte, C., Pérez-Priego, O. et al. Ecological functioning in grass–shrub Mediterranean ecosystems measured by eddy covariance. Oecologia 175, 1005–1017 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00442-014-2948-0

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