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Carbon dioxide exchange in a cool-temperate evergreen coniferous forest over complex topography in Japan during two years with contrasting climates

  • JPR Symposium
  • Carbon cycle process in East Asia
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Abstract

We investigated carbon dioxide (CO2) exchange and its environmental response during two years with contrasting climate (2006 and 2007) in a cool-temperate mixed evergreen coniferous forest dominated by Japanese cedar (Cryptomeria japonica) and Japanese cypress (Chamaecyparis obtusa). The study, which was conducted in a mountainous region of central Japan, used the eddy-covariance technique. Our results (crosschecked using the common u * approach and van Gorsel’s alternative approach) showed that annual gross primary production (GPP) and ecosystem respiration (RE) were at least 6% higher in the dry year than in the wet year, whereas net ecosystem exchange (NEE) was similar in both years. Without soil water stress, strong light stress or seasonality of plant area index during most of the study period, the forest had high metabolic activity. GPP and RE differed greatly between the two years, especially in spring (April–May) and summer (July–September), respectively. The spring GPP difference (>20%) was influenced by different winter air temperatures and snow melt timing, which controlled photosynthetic capacity in spring, and by different spring light intensities. The annual NEE differed depending on the evaluation method used, but the mean 2-year NEE estimated by the u * threshold approach [−3.39 ± 0.11 (SD) MgC ha−1 year−1] appears more reasonable in comparison with results from other forests.

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Acknowledgments

We thank Mr. K. Kurumado and Mr. Y. Miyamoto of the River Basin Research Center, Gifu University, for their support at the Takayama Field Station. Thanks are also due to Prof. T. Ohtsuka of Gifu University, Dr. H. Kondo of AIST, and anonymous reviewers for thoughtful suggestions. We also thank the forest owners at the TKC site for their permission to construct the flux tower and install various measurement systems. This work was supported by the JSPS 21st Century COE program “Satellite Ecology” at Gifu University and the JSPS-KOSEF-NSFC A3 Foresight Program. T.M.S. is grateful for the financial support received from the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology of Japan, Grant-in-Aid for Young Scientists (B), no. 18780113 to T.S. and Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (A), no. 21241009 to H.K.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. River Basin Research Center, Gifu University, 1-1 Yanagido, Gifu, 501-1193, Japan

    Taku M. Saitoh, Ichiro Tamagawa, Hiroyuki Muraoka & Yuichiro Yashiro

  2. BK21 Environmental and Ecological Engineering Research Team, Korea University, Anam-Dong, SeongBuk-Gu, Seoul, 136-701, Korea

    Na-Yeon M. Lee

  3. Department of Biology, Faculty of Education, Waseda University, 2-2 Wakamatsucho, Shinjuku, Tokyo, 162-8480, Japan

    Hiroshi Koizumi

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  1. Taku M. Saitoh
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  2. Ichiro Tamagawa
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  4. Na-Yeon M. Lee
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  5. Yuichiro Yashiro
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Correspondence to Taku M. Saitoh.

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Saitoh, T.M., Tamagawa, I., Muraoka, H. et al. Carbon dioxide exchange in a cool-temperate evergreen coniferous forest over complex topography in Japan during two years with contrasting climates. J Plant Res 123, 473–483 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10265-009-0308-7

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