Carbon flows in the ecosystems of the middle taiga of Central Siberia

Abstract

The observed increase in temperature, caused by increasing concentrations of climate-active (greenhouse) gases in the atmosphere, primarily carbon dioxide (CO2) and methane (CH4), may be responsible for the projected release of carbon accumulated over millennia in large areas of northern latitudes. The scale and duration of the expected effect remains an open question, due to the sporadic nature of quantitative estimates of carbon flows. The work reflects the current status, directions and main results of long-term instrumental studies of carbon flows in the ecosystems of the middle taiga subzone of Central Siberia, on the basis of the Middle Yenisei experimental station of V. N. Sukachev Institute of Forest, Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences (ZOTTO observatory). The dynamics of CO2 and CH4 concentrations in the atmosphere from 2009 to 2020 are presented. The values of net ecosystem exchange of CO2 for forest-swamp complexes are given, indicating that they act as a sink (sink) of atmospheric CO2. For representative ecosystems, an assessment of soil CO2 emission fluxes and the seasonal variation in the values of photosynthetic carbon assimilation by dominants of the subordinate vegetation layer are presented. The patterns of behavior of dissolved forms of carbon in the waters of streams draining oligotrophic and eutrophic swamps in the study area were revealed, and the values of CO2 emission from the water surface were presented.

Keywords

• atmosphere
• climate
• carbon dioxide
• methane
• carbon exchange flows