Skip to main content

Draining the Pool? Carbon Storage and Fluxes in Three Alpine Plant Communities

Ecosystems volume 21, pages 316–330 (2018)Cite this article

Abstract

Shrub communities have expanded in arctic and alpine tundra during recent decades. Changes in shrub abundance may alter ecosystem carbon (C) sequestration and storage, with potential positive or negative feedback on global C cycling. To assess potential implications of shrub expansion in different alpine plant communities, we compared C fluxes and pools in one Empetrum-dominated heath, one herb- and cryptogam-dominated meadow, and one Salix-shrub community in Central Norway. Over two growing seasons, we measured Gross Ecosystem Photosynthesis, Ecosystem Respiration (ER), and C pools for above-ground vegetation, litter, roots, and soil separated into organic and mineral horizons. Both the meadow and shrub communities had higher rates of C fixation and ER, but the total ecosystem C pool in the meadow was twice that of the shrub community because of more C in the organic soil horizon. Even though the heath community had the lowest rates of C fixation, it stored one and a half times more C than the shrub community. The results indicate that the relatively high above-ground biomass sequestering C during the growing season is not associated with high C storage in shrub-dominated communities. Instead, shrub-dominated areas may be draining the carbon-rich alpine soils because of high rates of decomposition. These processes were not shown by mid-growing season C fluxes, but were reflected by the very different distribution of C pools in the three habitats.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution.

Access options

Buy single article

Instant access to the full article PDF.

USD 39.95

Price includes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Figure 1
Figure 2
Figure 3

References

  • Arnone JA, Obrist D. 2003. A large daylight geodesic dome for quantofication of whole-ecosystem CO2 and water vapour fluxes in arid shrublands. J Arid Environ 55:629–43.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Austrheim G, Solberg EJ, Mysterud A. 2011. Spatio-temporal variation in large herbivore pressure in Norway during 1949–1999: has decreased grazing by livestock been countered by increased browsing by cervids? Wildlife Biol 17:286–98.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Baele A, Sørensen MV, Nystuen KO, Limpens J, Graae BJ, De Frenne P. Shrub encroachment in alpine plant communities: Vegetation canopy effects on microclimate (unpublished manuscript).

  • Bardgett RD, Bowman WD, Kaufmann R, Schmidt SK. 2005. A temporal approach to linking aboveground and belowground ecology. Trends Ecol Evol 20:634–41.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Bates D, Mächler M, Bolker B, Walker S. 2015. Fitting linear mixed-effects models using lme4. J Stat Softw 67:48.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Becklin KM, Pallo ML, Galen C. 2012. Willows indirectly reduce arbuscular mycorrhizal fungal colonization in understorey communities. J Ecol 100:343–51.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Björk RG, Molau U. 2007. Ecology of alpine snowbeds and the impact of global change. Arctic Antarctic Alpine Res 39:34–43.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Blume-Werry G, Wilson SD, Kreyling J, Milbau A. 2016. The hidden season: growing season is 50% longer below than above ground along an arctic elevation gradient. New Phytol 209:978–86.

    CAS  Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Cahoon SM, Sullivan PF, Shaver GR, Welker JM, Post E. 2012. Interactions among shrub cover and the soil microclimate may determine future Arctic carbon budgets. Ecol Lett 15:1415–22.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Campioli M, Michelsen A, Demey A, Vermeulen A, Samson R, Lemeur R. 2009. Net primary production and carbon stocks for subarctic mesic-dry tundras with contrasting microtopography, altitude, and dominant species. Ecosystems 12:760–76.

    CAS  Article  Google Scholar 

  • Cannone N, Sgorbati S, Guglielmin M. 2007. Unexpected impacts of climate change on alpine vegetation. Front Ecol Environ 5:360–4.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Clemmensen KE, Finlay RD, Dahlberg A, Stenlid J, Wardle DA, Lindahl BD. 2015. Carbon sequestration is related to mycorrhizal fungal community shifts during long-term succession in boreal forests. New Phytol 205:1525–36.

    CAS  Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Cornelissen JHC, van Bodegom PM, Aerts R, Callaghan TV, van Logtestijn RSP, Alatalo J, Chapin FS, Gerdol R, Gudmundsson J, Gwynn-Jones D, Hartley AE, Hik DS, Hofgaard A, Jónsdóttir IS, Karlsson S, Klein JA, Laundre J, Magnusson B, Michelsen A, Malou U, Onipchenko VG, Quested HM, Sandvik SM, Schmidt IK, Shaver GR, Solheim B, Soudzilovskaia NA, Stenström A, Tolvanen A, Totland Ø, Wada N, Welker JM, Zhao X, Team MOLT. 2007. Global negative vegetation feedback to climate warming responses of leaf litter decomposition rates in cold biomes. Ecol Lett 10:619–27.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Deslippe JR, Simard SW. 2011. Below-ground carbon transfer among Betula nana may increase with warming in Arctic tundra. New Phytol 192:689–98.

    CAS  Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Epstein HE, Raynolds MK, Walker DA, Bhatt US, Tucker CJ, Pinzon JE. 2012. Dynamics of aboveground phytomass of the circumpolar Arctic tundra during the past three decades. Environ Res Lett 7:1–12.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Eskelinen A, Stark S, Männistö M. 2009. Links between plant community composition, soil organic matter quality and microbial communities in contrasting tundra habitats. Oecologia 161:113–23.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Euskirchen ES, Bret-Harte MS, Scott GJ, Edgar C, Shaver GR. 2012. Seasonal patterns of carbon dioxide and water fluxes in three representative tundra ecosystems in northern Alaska. Ecosphere 3:1–19.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Euskirchen ES, McGuire AD, Chapin FS, Yi S, Thompson CC. 2009. Changes in vegetation in northern Alaska under scenarios of climate change, 2003–2100: implications for climate feedbacks. Ecol Appl 19:1022–43.

    CAS  Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Graae BJ, De Frenne P, Kolb A, Brunet J, Chabrerie O, Verheyen K, Pepin N, Heinken T, Zobel M, Shevtsova A, Nijs I, Milbau A. 2012. On the use of weather data in ecological studies along altitudinal and latitudinal gradients. Oikos 121:3–19.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Graae BJ, Ejrnaes R, Lang SI, Meineri E, Ibarra PT, Bruun HH. 2011. Strong microsite control of seedling recruitment in tundra. Oecologia 166:565–76.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Grogan P, Jonasson S. 2006. Ecosystem CO2 production during winter in a Swedish subarctic region: the relative importance of climate and vegetation type. Global Change Biol 12:1479–95.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hartley IP, Garnett MH, Sommerkorn M, Hopkins DW, Fletcher BJ, Sloan VL, Phoenix GK, Wookey PA. 2012. A potential loss of carbon associated with greater plant growth in the European Arctic. Nat Clim Change 2:875–9.

    CAS  Article  Google Scholar 

  • Heffner RA, Butler MJ, Reilly CK. 1996. Pseudorepliction revisited. Ecology 77:2558–62.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Heskel MA, Atkin OK, Turnbull MH, Griffin KL. 2013. Bringing the Kok effect to light: a review on the integration of daytime respiration and net ecosystem exchange. Ecosphere 4:1–14.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hobbie S, Nadelhoffer K, Högberg P. 2002. A synthesis: the role of nutrients as constraints on carbon balances in boreal and arctic regions. Plant Soil 242:163–70.

    CAS  Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hodgson JM. 1997. Soil survey field handbook. Silsoe: Cranfield University.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hothorn T, Bretz F, Westfall P. 2008. Simultaneous inference in general parametric models. Biometr J 50:346–63.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hultén E, Fries M. 1986. Atlas of North European vascular plants: north of the Tropic of Cancer. Königstein: Koeltz Scientific Books.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hurlbert SH. 1984. Pseudoreplication and the design of ecological field experiments. Ecol Monogr 54:187–211.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Iversen CM, Sloan VL, Sullivan PF, Euskirchen ES, McGuire AD, Norby RJ, Walker AP, Warren JM, Wullschleger SD. 2015. The unseen iceberg: plant roots in arctic tundra. New Phytol 205:34–58.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Jasoni RL, Smith SD, Arnone IJA. 2005. Net ecosystem CO2 exchange in Mojave Desert shrublands during the eighth year of exposure to elevated CO2. Global Change Biol 11:749–56.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Johnson PCD. 2014. Extension of Nakagawa & Schielzeth’s R2GLMM to random slopes models. Methods Ecol Evol 5:944–6.

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Kuzyakov Y. 2002. Review: factors affecting rhizosphere priming effects. J Plant Nutr Soil Sci 165:382–96.

    CAS  Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kuzyakov Y. 2010. Priming effects: interactions between living and dead organic matter. Soil Biol Biochem 42:1363–71.

    CAS  Article  Google Scholar 

  • Körner C. 2003. Alpine plant life: functional plant ecology of high mountain ecosystems. Berlin Heidelberg: Springer. pp 64–74.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Lefcheck JS. 2016. piecewiseSEM: piecewise structural equation modelling in r for ecology, evolution, and systematics. Methods Ecol Evol 7:573–9.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lenoir J, Graae BJ, Aarrestad PA, Alsos IG, Armbruster WS, Austrheim G, Bergendorff C, Birks HJB, Brathen KA, Brunet J, Bruun HH, Dahlberg CJ, Decocq G, Diekmann M, Dynesius M, Ejrnaes R, Grytnes JA, Hylander K, Klanderud K, Luoto M, Milbau A, Moora M, Nygaard B, Odland A, Ravolainen VT, Reinhardt S, Sandvik SM, Schei FH, Speed JDM, Tveraabak LU, Vandvik V, Velle LG, Virtanen R, Zobel M, Svenning JC. 2013. Local temperatures inferred from plant communities suggest strong spatial buffering of climate warming across Northern Europe. Global Change Biol 19:1470–81.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lindahl BD, Tunlid A. 2015. Ectomycorrhizal fungi—potential organic matter decomposers, yet not saprotrophs. New Phytol 205:1443–7.

    CAS  Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Lundell R, Saarinen T, Åström H, Hänninen H. 2008. The boreal dwarf shrub Vaccinium vitis-idaea retains its capacity for photosynthesis through the winter. Botany 86:491–500.

    CAS  Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mack MC, Schuur EAG, Bret-Harte MS, Shaver GR, Chapin FS. 2004. Ecosystem carbon storage in arctic tundra reduced by long-term nutrient fertilization. Nature 431:440–3.

    CAS  Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Marriott CA, Hudson G, Hamilton D, Neilson R, Boag B, Handley LL, Wishart J, Scrimgeour CM, Robinson D. 1997. Spatial variability of soil total C and N and their stable isotopes in an upland Scottish grassland. Plant Soil 196:151–62.

    CAS  Article  Google Scholar 

  • Michaletz ST, Cheng D, Kerkhoff AJ, Enquist BJ. 2014. Convergence of terrestrial plant production across global climate gradients. Nature 512:39–43.

    CAS  Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Moen A. 1998. Nasjonalatlas for Norge: Vegetasjon. Hønefoss: Statens Kartverk.

    Google Scholar 

  • Molau U, Alatalo JM. 1998. Responses of subarctic-alpine plant communities to simulated environmental change: biodiversity og Bryophytes, Lichens and Vascular Plants. Ambio 27:322–8.

    Google Scholar 

  • Myers-Smith IH, Forbes BC, Wilmking M, Hallinger M, Lantz T, Blok D, Tape KD, Macias-Fauria M, Sass-Klaassen U, Lévesque L, Boudreay S, Ropars P, Hermanutz L, Trant A, Collier LS, Weijers S, Rozema J, Rayback SA, Schmidt NM, Schaepman-Strub G, Wipf S, Rixen C, Ménard CB, Venn S, Goetz S, Andreu-Hayles L, Elmendorf S, Ravolainen V, Welker J, Grogan P, Epstein HE, Hik DS. 2011. Shrub expansion in tundra ecosystems: dynamics, impacts and research priorities. Environ Res Lett 6:1–15.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Myers-Smith IH, Hik DS. 2013. Shrub canopies influence soil temperatures but not nutrient dynamics: an experimental test of tundra snow–shrub interactions. Ecol Evol 3:3683–700.

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Naito AT, Cairns DM. 2011. Patterns and processes of global shrub expansion. Prog Phys Geogr 35:423–42.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Nakagawa S, Schielzeth H. 2013. A general and simple method for obtaining R2 from generalized linear mixed-effects models. Methods Ecol Evol 4:133–42.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • New M, Hulme M, Jones PD. 2000. Global 30-year mean monthly climatology, 1961–1990. http://daac.ornl.gov: Oak Ridge National Laboratory Distributed Active Archive Center, Oak Ridge, Tennessee, USA.

  • Newsham KK, Upson R, Read DJ. 2009. Mycorrhizas and dark septate root endophytes in polar regions. Fungal Ecol 2:10–20.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • NGU. 2015. Berggrunn N250 og Løsmasse N50. Norges Geologiske Undersøkelse.

  • Oksanen L. 2001. Logic of experiments in ecology: is pseudoreplication a pseudoissue? Oikos 94:27–38.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Olofsson J, Tømmervik H, Callaghan TV. 2012. Vole and lemming activity observed from space. Nat Clim Change 2:880–3.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Parker TC, Subke JA, Wookey PA. 2015. Rapid carbon turnover beneath shrub and tree vegetation is associated with low soil carbon stocks at a subarctic treeline. Global Change Biol 21:2070–81.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Qian H, Joseph R, Zeng N. 2010. Enhanced terrestrial carbon uptake in the Northern High Latitudes in the 21st century from the Coupled Carbon Cycle Climate Model Intercomparison Project model projections. Global Change Biol 16:641–56.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • R Core Team. 2015. A language and environment for statistical computing. Vienna: R Foundation for Statistical Computing.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ravolainen VT, Bråthen KA, Ims RA, Yoccoz NG, Henden J, Killengren ST. 2011. Rapid, landscape scale responses in riparian tundra vegetation to exclusion of small and large mammalian herbivores. Basic Appl Ecol 12:643–53.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Read DJ, Perez-Moreno J. 2003. Mycorrhizas and nutrient cycling in ecosystems—a journey towards relevance? New Phytol 157:475–92.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Schank JC, Koehnle TJ. 2009. Pseudoreplication is a pseudoproblem. J Comp Psychol 123:421–33.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Saarinen T, Lundell R, Hänninen H. 2011. Recovery of photosynthetic capacity in Vaccinium vitis-idaea during mild spells in winter. Plant Ecol 212:1429–40.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Schadt CW, Martin AP, Lipson DA, Schmidt SK. 2003. Seasonal dynamics of previously unknown Fungal Lineages in Tundra soils. Science 301:1359–61.

    CAS  Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Semenchuk PR, Christiansen CT, Grogan P, Elberling B, Cooper EJ. 2016. Long-term experimentally deepened snow decreases growing-season respiration in a low- and high-arctic tundra ecosystem. J Geophys Res Biogeosci 121:1236–48.

  • Settele J, Scholes R, Betts R, Bunn SE, Leadley P, Nepstad D, Overpeck JT, Taboada MA. 2014. Terrestrial and inland water systems. In: Climate Change 2014: Impacts, Adaptation, and Vulnerability. Part A: Global and Sectoral Aspects. Contribution of Working Group II to the Fifth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel of Climate Change: 271–359.

  • Shaver G. 2015. ITEX circumarctic CO2 flux survey data from Toolik, Alaska; Abisko, Sweden; Svalbard, Norway; Zackenberg, Northeast Greenland; Anaktuvuk River Burn, Alaska and Barrow, Alaska 2003-2009. Long Term Ecol Netw. doi:10.6073/pasta/7e6f56dfe5b6d1d6545a24c3bdd9505e.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sistla SA, Moore JC, Simpson RT, Gough L, Shaver GR, Schimel JP. 2013. Long-term warming restructures Arctic tundra without changing net soil carbon storage. Nature 000:1–4.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sjögersten S, Llurba R, Ribas À, Yanez-Serrano A, Sebastià MT. 2012. Temperature and moisture controls of C fluxes in Grazed Subalpine Grasslands. Arctic Antarctic Alpine Res 44:239–46.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sjögersten S, Wookey PA. 2009. The impact of climate change on ecosystem carbon dynamics at the Scandinavian mountain birch forest-tundra heath ecotone. Ambio 38:2–10.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Sloan VL, Fletcher BJ, Phoenix GK. 2016. Contrasting synchrony in root and leaf phenology across multiple sub-Arctic plant communities. J Ecol 104:239–48.

    CAS  Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sonesson M, Wielgolaski FE, Kallio P. 1975. Description of Fennoscandian Tundra ecosystems. In: Wielgolaski EE, Ed. Fennoscandian Tundra ecosystems. Berlin: Springer. p 3–28.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Sørensen MV, Strimbeck R, Nystuen KO, Kapas RE, Enquist BJ, Graae BJ. 2017. Data from: draining the pool? carbon storage and fluxes in three alpine plant communities. Dryad Digit Repos. doi:10.5061/dryad.1n50j.

  • Soudzilovskaia NA, van der Heijden MGA, Cornelissen JHC, Makarov MI, Onipchenko VG, Maslov MN, Akhmetzhanova AA, van Bodegom PM. 2015. Quantitative assessment of the differential impacts of arbuscular and ectomycorrhiza on soil carbon cycling. New phytol 208:280–93.

    CAS  Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Speed JDM, Austrheim G, Hester AJ, Mysterud A. 2013. The response of Alpine Salix Shrubs to long-term browsing varies with elevation and herbivore density. Arctic Antarctic Alpine Res 45:584–93.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Street L, Shaver G, Williams M, van Wijk M. 2007. What is the relationship between changes in canopy leaf area and changes in photosynthetic CO2 flux in arctic ecosystems? J Ecol 95:139–50.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sturm M, McFadden JP, Liston GE, Chapin FS, Racine CH, Holmgren J. 2001a. Snow–shrub interactions in Arctic tundra: A hypothesis with climatic implications. J Clim 14:336–44.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sturm M, Racine C, Tape K. 2001b. Climate change: increasing shrub abundance in the Arctic. Nature 411:546–7.

    CAS  Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Sturm M, Schimel J, Michaelson G, Welker JM, Oberbauer SF, Liston GE, Fahnestock J, Romanovsky VE. 2005. Winter biological processes could help convert arctic tundra to shrubland. Bioscience 55:17–26.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sullivan PF, Sommerkorn M, Rueth HM, Nadelhoffer KJ, Shaver GR, Welker JM. 2007. Climate and species affect fine root production with long-term fertilization in acidic tussock tundra near Toolik Lake, Alaska. Oecologia 153:643–52.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Sundqvist MK, Giesler R, Graae BJ, Wallander H, Fogelberg E, Wardle DA. 2011. Interactive effects of vegetation type and elevation on aboveground and belowground properties in a subarctic tundra. Oikos 120:128–42.

    CAS  Article  Google Scholar 

  • Tape K, Sturm M, Racine C. 2006. The evidence for shrub expansion in Northern Alaska and the Pan-Arctic. Global Change Biol 12:686–702.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Tarnocai C, Canadell JG, Schuur EAG, Kuhry P, Mazhitova G, Zimov S. 2009. Soil organic carbon pools in the northern circumpolar permafrost region. Global Biogeochem Cycles 23:GB2023.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Todd-Brown KEO, Randerson JT, Hopkins F, Arora V, Hajima T, Jones C, Shevliakova E, Tjiputra J, Volodin E, Wu T, Zhang Q, Allison SD. 2014. Changes in soil organic carbon storage predicted by Earth system models during the 21st century. Biogeosciences 11:2341–56.

    CAS  Article  Google Scholar 

  • Todd-Brown KEO, Randerson JT, Post WM, Hoffman FM, Tarnocai C, Schuur EAG, Allison SD. 2013. Causes of variation in soil carbon simulations from CMIP5 Earth system models and comparison with observations. Biogeosciences 10:1717–36.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Tømmervik H, Johansen B, Riseth JÅ, Karlsen SR, Solberg B, Høgda KA. 2009. Above ground biomass changes in the mountain birch forests and mountain heaths of Finnmarksvidda, northern Norway, in the period 1957–2006. For Ecol Manag 257:244–57.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Vaisanen M, Ylanne H, Kaarlejarvi E, Sjogersten S, Olofsson J, Crout N, Stark S. 2014. Consequences of warming on tundra carbon balance determined by reindeer grazing history. Nat Clim Change 4:384–8.

    CAS  Article  Google Scholar 

  • Veen CGF, Sundqvist MK, Wardle DA. 2015. Environmental factors and traits that drive plant litter decomposition do not determine home-field advantage effects. Funct Ecol 29:1365–2435.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Väre H, Vestberg M, Eurola S. 1992. Mycorrhiza and root-associated fungi in Spitsbergen. Mycorrhiza 1:93–104.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ward SE, Smart SM, Quirk H, Tallowin JRB, Mortimer SR, Shiel RS, Wilby A, Bardgett RD. 2016. Legacy effects of grassland management on soil carbon to depth. Global Change Biol 22:2929–38.

  • Wardle DA, Bardgett RD, Klironomos JN, Setälä H, van der Putten WH, Wall DH. 2004. Ecological linkages between aboveground and belowground biota. Science 304:1629–33.

    CAS  Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Williams M, Street LE, van Wijk M, Shaver G. 2006. Identifying differences in carbon exchange among arctic ecosystem types. Ecosystems 9:288–304.

    CAS  Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wilmking M, Harden J, Tape K. 2006. Effect of tree line advance on carbon storage in NW Alaska. J Geophys Res Biogeosci 111:G02023.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wookey PA, Aerts R, Bardgett RD, Baptist F, Bråthen KA, Cornelissen JHC, Gough L, Hartley IP, Hopkins DW, Lavorels S, Shaver GR. 2009. Ecosystem feedbacks and cascade processes: understanding their role in the responses of Arctic and alpine ecosystems to environmental change. Global Change Biol 15:1153–72.

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

This research was supported by I.K Lykkes fond, Nansenfondet, and The Norwegian Research Council (23060/E10). We gratefully acknowledge help from all our ECOSHRUB field assistants and from the Enquist lab. We thank Aimee Classen’s lab for assistance and collaboration on root and soil samples. We thank Kongsvoll Biological Station and Norsk Villreinsenter for accommodation. We would also like to thank Hanna Lee, Nancy Lea Eik-Nes, James Speed, Stuart Smith, Susanna Karlsson, and the anonymous reviewers for valuable comments on earlier versions of the manuscript.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Biology, NTNU, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Høgskoleringen 5, 7491, Trondheim, Norway

    Mia Vedel Sørensen, Richard Strimbeck, Kristin Odden Nystuen, Rozalia Erzsebet Kapas & Bente Jessen Graae

  2. Faculty of Biosciences and Aquaculture, Nord University, P.O. Box 2501, 7729, Steinkjer, Norway

    Kristin Odden Nystuen

  3. Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Arizona, BioSciences West, Tucson, Arizona, 85721, USA

    Brian J. Enquist

  4. The Santa Fe Institute, 1399 Hyde Park Rd, Santa Fe, New Mexico, 87501, USA

    Brian J. Enquist

Authors
  1. Mia Vedel Sørensen
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Richard Strimbeck
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Kristin Odden Nystuen
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Rozalia Erzsebet Kapas
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  5. Brian J. Enquist
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  6. Bente Jessen Graae
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Mia Vedel Sørensen.

Additional information

Author Contributions

MVS, RS, KON and BJG conceived and designed study. MVS, REK and KON performed research. MVS analyzed data. BJE contributed to new methods. MVS wrote the paper with input from all coauthors.

Electronic supplementary material

Below is the link to the electronic supplementary material.

Supplementary material 1 (PDF 635 kb)

Rights and permissions

Reprints and Permissions

About this article

Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Sørensen, M.V., Strimbeck, R., Nystuen, K.O. et al. Draining the Pool? Carbon Storage and Fluxes in Three Alpine Plant Communities. Ecosystems 21, 316–330 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10021-017-0158-4

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10021-017-0158-4

Keywords

  • carbon
  • soil carbon
  • gross ecosystem photosynthesis
  • net ecosystem exchange
  • ecosystem respiration
  • Salix
  • heath
  • meadow
  • Tundra
  • Empetrum