Scientific Reports (Mar 2022)
Earlier snowmelt may lead to late season declines in plant productivity and carbon sequestration in Arctic tundra ecosystems
- Donatella Zona,
- Peter M. Lafleur,
- Koen Hufkens,
- Barbara Bailey,
- Beniamino Gioli,
- George Burba,
- Jordan P. Goodrich,
- Anna K. Liljedahl,
- Eugénie S. Euskirchen,
- Jennifer D. Watts,
- Mary Farina,
- John S. Kimball,
- Martin Heimann,
- Mathias Göckede,
- Martijn Pallandt,
- Torben R. Christensen,
- Mikhail Mastepanov,
- Efrén López-Blanco,
- Marcin Jackowicz-Korczynski,
- Albertus J. Dolman,
- Luca Belelli Marchesini,
- Roisin Commane,
- Steven C. Wofsy,
- Charles E. Miller,
- David A. Lipson,
- Josh Hashemi,
- Kyle A. Arndt,
- Lars Kutzbach,
- David Holl,
- Julia Boike,
- Christian Wille,
- Torsten Sachs,
- Aram Kalhori,
- Xia Song,
- Xiaofeng Xu,
- Elyn R. Humphreys,
- Charles D. Koven,
- Oliver Sonnentag,
- Gesa Meyer,
- Gabriel H. Gosselin,
- Philip Marsh,
- Walter C. Oechel
Affiliations
- Donatella Zona
- Department Biology, San Diego State University
- Peter M. Lafleur
- School of the Environment, Trent University
- Koen Hufkens
- UMR 1391 ISPA, INRA
- Barbara Bailey
- Department Biology, San Diego State University
- Beniamino Gioli
- Institute of BioEconomy, IBE, National Research Council (CNR)
- George Burba
- LI-COR Biosciences
- Jordan P. Goodrich
- Department of Earth Sciences, University of Waikato
- Anna K. Liljedahl
- Water and Environmental Research Center, University of Alaska Fairbanks
- Eugénie S. Euskirchen
- Institute of Arctic Biology, University of Alaska Fairbanks
- Jennifer D. Watts
- Woodwell Climate Research Center
- Mary Farina
- Woodwell Climate Research Center
- John S. Kimball
- W.A. Franke College of Forestry & Conservation, The University of Montana
- Martin Heimann
- Max Planck Institute for Biogeochemistry
- Mathias Göckede
- Max Planck Institute for Biogeochemistry
- Martijn Pallandt
- Max Planck Institute for Biogeochemistry
- Torben R. Christensen
- Department of Ecoscience, Arctic Research Centre, Aarhus University
- Mikhail Mastepanov
- Department of Ecoscience, Arctic Research Centre, Aarhus University
- Efrén López-Blanco
- Department of Ecoscience, Arctic Research Centre, Aarhus University
- Marcin Jackowicz-Korczynski
- Department of Ecoscience, Arctic Research Centre, Aarhus University
- Albertus J. Dolman
- The Netherlands Institute for Sea Research
- Luca Belelli Marchesini
- Department of Sustainable Agro-Ecosystems and Bioresources, Research and Innovation Centre, Fondazione Edmund Mach
- Roisin Commane
- Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory, Columbia University
- Steven C. Wofsy
- School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, Harvard University
- Charles E. Miller
- Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology
- David A. Lipson
- Department Biology, San Diego State University
- Josh Hashemi
- Department Biology, San Diego State University
- Kyle A. Arndt
- Earth Systems Research Center, Institute for the Study of Earth, Oceans, and Space, University of New Hampshire
- Lars Kutzbach
- Institute of Soil Science, Center for Earth System Research and Sustainability (CEN), Universität Hamburg
- David Holl
- Institute of Soil Science, Center for Earth System Research and Sustainability (CEN), Universität Hamburg
- Julia Boike
- Permafrost Research, Alfred Wegener Institute, Helmholtz Centre for Polar and Marine Research
- Christian Wille
- GFZ German Research Centre for Geosciences
- Torsten Sachs
- GFZ German Research Centre for Geosciences
- Aram Kalhori
- GFZ German Research Centre for Geosciences
- Xia Song
- Department Biology, San Diego State University
- Xiaofeng Xu
- Department Biology, San Diego State University
- Elyn R. Humphreys
- Department of Geography and Environmental Studies, Carleton University
- Charles D. Koven
- Climate and Ecosystem Sciences Division, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL)
- Oliver Sonnentag
- Département de Géographie, Université de Montréal
- Gesa Meyer
- Département de Géographie, Université de Montréal
- Gabriel H. Gosselin
- Département de Géographie, Université de Montréal
- Philip Marsh
- Department of Geography and Environmental Studies, Wilfrid Laurier University
- Walter C. Oechel
- Department Biology, San Diego State University
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-022-07561-1
- Journal volume & issue
-
Vol. 12,
no. 1
pp. 1 – 10
Abstract
Abstract Arctic warming is affecting snow cover and soil hydrology, with consequences for carbon sequestration in tundra ecosystems. The scarcity of observations in the Arctic has limited our understanding of the impact of covarying environmental drivers on the carbon balance of tundra ecosystems. In this study, we address some of these uncertainties through a novel record of 119 site-years of summer data from eddy covariance towers representing dominant tundra vegetation types located on continuous permafrost in the Arctic. Here we found that earlier snowmelt was associated with more tundra net CO2 sequestration and higher gross primary productivity (GPP) only in June and July, but with lower net carbon sequestration and lower GPP in August. Although higher evapotranspiration (ET) can result in soil drying with the progression of the summer, we did not find significantly lower soil moisture with earlier snowmelt, nor evidence that water stress affected GPP in the late growing season. Our results suggest that the expected increased CO2 sequestration arising from Arctic warming and the associated increase in growing season length may not materialize if tundra ecosystems are not able to continue sequestering CO2 later in the season.
