Bibliographic Citation
See/Add Document Discussions Return to Search Results Return to Original Search Page Download as EndNote
Full Text	5 Mb   View Full Text or Access Individual Pages  -   search, view and/or download individual pages
DOI	10.2172/230286
Title	Response of a tundra ecosystem to elevated atmospheric carbon dioxide and CO{sub 2}-induced climate change. [Annual report]
Creator/Author	Oechel, W.C.
Publication Date	1989 Dec 31
OSTI Identifier	OSTI ID: 230286; Legacy ID: DE96009522
Report Number(s)	DOE/ER/60479--T3
DOE Contract Number	FG03-86ER60479
DOI	10.2172/230286
Other Number(s)	Other: ON: DE96009522
Resource Type	Technical Report
Resource Relation	Other Information: PBD: [1989]
Research Org	San Diego State Univ., CA (United States). Dept. of Biology
Sponsoring Org	USDOE, Washington, DC (United States)
Subject	54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES; TUNDRA; ARCTIC REGIONS; TERRESTRIAL ECOSYSTEMS; CARBON DIOXIDE; ECOLOGICAL CONCENTRATION; PROGRESS REPORT; CLIMATE MODELS; SEASONAL VARIATIONS; CARBON CYCLE; PERMAFROST; METHANE
Description/Abstract	Predicting the response of northern ecosystems to increases in atmospheric CO{sub 2} and associated climatic change is important for several reasons, including the fact that northern ecosystems contain large stores of carbon, most of which is below ground and because northern ecosystems could conceivably be either sources or sinks for CO{sub 2} under future climatic and atmospheric CO{sub 2} concentrations. The carbon in northern ecosystems is equal to about 20% of the world`s terrestrial carbon and about 70% of the carbon currently in the atmosphere. Eighty-three percent of this carbon is below ground in the seasonally-thawed upper soil layers and in the permanently frozen zone, the permafrost. Because of bogs and permafrost, northern ecosystems are unusual in that they can potentially store significant amounts of carbon over long time periods. Most other mature ecosystems have little capacity for long- term carbon storage. Given the right conditions, northern ecosystems can also release a significant amount of carbon. A substantial amount of the carbon stored in northern ecosystems, and much of the future storage potential, is in the tundra regions. These systems could conceivably act as sources or sinks depending on developing climatic and atmospheric conditions. Our recent work indicates that elevated CO{sub 2} alone will have little effect on carbon storage in the tundra. However, the combination of elevated atmospheric CO{sub 2} (+ 340 ppm) and air temperature (+4{degrees}C) in the absence of any change in soil water table or soil moisture content, should result in significant increases in carbon sequestering in the tundra. However, if changing climate results in a decrease in the water table and soil moisture levels, this may lead to sizeable losses of carbon from the tundra soils.
Country of Publication	United States
Language	English
Format	Size: 84 p.
Availability	OSTI as DE96009522
System Entry Date	2007 Apr 30
Document Discussions Discuss	User Name:  (for display) Email Address:  (Email address will NOT be displayed.) Discussion Subject:    (All fields required. Document Discussions not displayed until approved.)
See/Add Document Discussions Return to Search Results Return to Original Search Page Download as EndNote
Top