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Century-Scale Responses of Ecosystem Carbon Storage and Flux to Multiple Environmental Changes in the Southern United States

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Abstract

Terrestrial ecosystems in the southern United States (SUS) have experienced a complex set of changes in climate, atmospheric CO2 concentration, tropospheric ozone (O3), nitrogen (N) deposition, and land-use and land-cover change (LULCC) during the past century. Although each of these factors has received attention for its alterations on ecosystem carbon (C) dynamics, their combined effects and relative contributions are still not well understood. By using the Dynamic Land Ecosystem Model (DLEM) in combination with spatially explicit, long-term historical data series on multiple environmental factors, we examined the century-scale responses of ecosystem C storage and flux to multiple environmental changes in the SUS. The results indicated that multiple environmental changes shifted SUS ecosystems from a C source of 1.20 ± 0.56 Pg (1 Pg = 1015 g) during the period 1895 to 1950, to a C sink of 2.00 ± 0.94 Pg during the period 1951 to 2007. Over the entire period spanning 1895–2007, SUS ecosystems were a net C sink of 0.80 ± 0.38 Pg. The C sink was primarily due to an increase in the vegetation C pool, whereas the soil C pool decreased during the study period. The spatiotemporal changes of C storage were caused by changes in multiple environmental factors. Among the five factors examined (climate, LULCC, N deposition, atmospheric CO2, and tropospheric O3), elevated atmospheric CO2 concentration was the largest contributor to C sequestration, followed by N deposition. LULCC, climate, and tropospheric O3 concentration contributed to C losses during the study period. The SUS ecosystem C sink was largely the result of interactive effects among multiple environmental factors, particularly atmospheric N input and atmospheric CO2.

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Acknowledgments

This study has been supported by the US Department of Energy National Institute for Climate Change Research (NICCR) Program (DUKE-UN-07-SC-NICCR-1014), NASA Interdisciplinary Science Program (NNX10AU06G), NASA Terrestrial Ecology Program, Alabama Agricultural Experiment Station Research Program (AAES), and the Southern Forest Research Partnership. We would also thank Dr. Edward Rastetter and two anonymous reviewers who have provided thoughtful comments and suggestions, which led to a major improvement in the manuscript.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Forestry and Wildlife Sciences, Auburn University, 602 Duncan Drive, Auburn, Alabama, 36849, USA

    Hanqin Tian, Guangsheng Chen, Chi Zhang, Mingliang Liu, Arthur Chappelka, Wei Ren, Xiaofeng Xu, Chaoqun Lu, Shufen Pan & Graeme Lockaby

  2. International Center for Climate and Global Change Research, Auburn University, Auburn, Alabama, 36830, USA

    Hanqin Tian, Guangsheng Chen, Chi Zhang, Mingliang Liu, Arthur Chappelka, Wei Ren, Xiaofeng Xu, Chaoqun Lu, Shufen Pan & Graeme Lockaby

  3. Eastern Forest Environmental Threat Assessment Center, USDA Forest Service, Raleigh, North Carolina, 27606, USA

    Ge Sun & Steven McNulty

  4. State Key Laboratory of Desert and Oasis Ecology, Xinjiang Institute of Ecology and Geography, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Urumqi, 830011, Xinjiang, China

    Hua Chen

  5. Department of Biological Sciences, Tennessee State University, 3500 John A. Merritt Blvd, Nashville, Tennessee, 37209, USA

    Dafeng Hui

  6. National Council for Air and Stream Improvement (NCASI), Research Triangle Park, P.O. Box 13318, Raleigh, North Carolina, 27709, USA

    Eric Vance

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  1. Hanqin Tian
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Correspondence to Hanqin Tian.

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H. Tian, A. Chappelka, S. Pan, G. Sun, S. McNulty, G. Lockaby and E. Vance designed the study; G. Chen, C. Zhang, M. Liu, W. Ren, X. Xu, C. Lu, H. Chen, D. Hui performed research; H.Tian, G. Chen and C. Zhang wrote the manuscript and all others contributed ideas to manuscript development.

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Tian, H., Chen, G., Zhang, C. et al. Century-Scale Responses of Ecosystem Carbon Storage and Flux to Multiple Environmental Changes in the Southern United States. Ecosystems 15, 674–694 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10021-012-9539-x

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