Biogeosciences www.biogeosciences.net 1726-4170 1726-4189 5 4 2008 10.5194/bg-5-969-2008 http://www.biogeosciences.net/5/969/2008/ http://www.biogeosciences.net/5/969/2008/bg-5-969-2008.html http://www.biogeosciences.net/5/969/2008/bg-5-969-2008.pdf 969 980 2008-07-01 Modeling carbon dynamics in two adjacent spruce forests with different soil conditions in Russia J. Kurbatova C. Li changsheng.li@unh.edu A. Varlagin X. Xiao N. Vygodskaya A.N. Severtsov Institute of Ecology and Evolution, Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow, Russia Institute for the Study of Earth, Oceans, and Space, University of New Hampshire, Durham, NH 03824, USA Net ecosystem carbon exchange (NEE) was measured with eddy covariance method for two adjacent forests located at the southern boundary of European taiga in Russia in 1999–2004. The two spruce forests shared similar vegetation composition but differed in soil conditions. The wet spruce forest (WSF) possessed a thick peat layer (60 cm) with a high water table seasonally close to or above the soil surface. The dry spruce forest (DSF) had a relatively thin organic layer (5 cm) with a deep water table (>60 cm). The measured multi-year average NEE fluxes (2000 and –1440 kg C ha^−1yr^−1 for WSF and DSF, respectively) indicated that WSF was a source while DSF a sink of atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO₂) during the experimental years. A process-based model, Forest-DNDC, was employed in the study to interpret the observations. The modeled multi-year average NEE fluxes were 1800 and –2200 kg C ha^−1yr^−1 for WSF and DSF, respectively, which were comparable with observations. The modeled data also showed high soil heterotrophic respiration rates at WSF that suggested that the water table fluctuation at WSF could have played a key role in determining the negative carbon balance in the wetland ecosystem. A sensitivity test was conducted by running Forest-DNDC with varied water table scenarios for WSF. The results indicated that the NEE fluxes from WSF were highly sensitive to the water table depth. When the water table was high, the WSF ecosystem maintained as a sink of atmospheric CO₂; while along with the drop of the water table the length of the flooded period reduced and more organic matter in the soil profile suffered from rapid decomposition that gradually converted the ecosystem into a source of atmospheric CO₂. The general effect of water table variation on wetland carbon balance observed from this modeling study could be applicable for a wide range of wetland ecosystems that have accumulated soil organic carbon while face hydrological changes under certain climatic or land-use change scenarios. Aber, J. D. and Federer, C. A.: A generalized, lumped-parameter model of photosynthesis, evapotranspiration and net primary production in temperate and boreal forest ecosystems, OECOLOGIA, 92, 463–474, 1992. Aubinet, M., Grelle, A., Ibrom, A., Rannik, U., Moncrieff, J., Foken, T., Kowalski, A. S., Martin, P. H., Berbigier, P., Bernhofer, C., Clement, R., Elbers, J., Granier, A., Grunwald, T., Morgenstern, K., Pilegaard, K., Rebmann, C., Snijders, W., Valentini, R., and Vesala, T.: Estimates of the annual net carbon and water exchange of forests: The euroflux methodology, Advances in Ecological Research, 30(30), 113–175, 2000. Butterbach-Bahl, K., Kesik, M., Miehle, P., Papen, H., and Li, C.: Quantifying the regional source strength of n-trace gases across agricultural and forest ecosystems with process based models, Plant and Soil, 260, 311–329, 2004. Clark, K. L., Gholz, H. L., Moncrieff, J. B., Cropley, F., Loescher, H. W.: Environmental controls over net exchanges of carbon dioxide from contrasting Florida ecosystems, Ecological Applications, 9(3), 936, 1999. Clark, K. L., Gholz, H. L., and M. S. Castro, M. S.: Carbon dynamics along a chronosequence of slash pine plantations in north Florida, Ecological Applications, 14:4. 1154–1171, 2004. Cui, J., Li, C., Sun, G., and Trettin, C.: Linkage of mike she to wetland-dndc for carbon budgeting and anaerobic biogeochemistry simulatio, Biogeochemistry, 72, 147–167, 2005. Dixon, R. K., Brown, S., Houghton, R., Solomon, S. C., Trexler, M. C., and Wisniewski, J.: Carbon pools and flux of global forest ecosystems, Science, 263, 185–190, 1994. Falge, E., Baldocchi, D., Tenhunen, J., Aubinet, M., Bakwin, P., Berbigier, P., Bernhofer, C., Burba, G., Clement, R., Davis, K. J., Elbers, J. A., Goldstein, A. H., Grelle, A., Granier, A., Guomundsson, J., Hollinger, D., Kowalski, A. S., Katul, G., Law, B. E., Malhi, Y., Meyers, T., Monson, R. K., Munger, J. W., Oechel, W., Paw, K. T., Pilegaard, K., Rannik, U., Rebmann, C., Suyker, A., Valentini, R., Wilson, K., and Wofsy, S.: Seasonality of ecosystem respiration and gross primary production as derived from fluxnet measurements, Agricultural and Forest Meteorology, 113, 53–74, 2002. Fan, S., Gloor, M., Mahlman, J., Pacala, S., Sarmiento, J., Takahashi, T., and Tans, P.: A large terrestrial carbon sink in north america implied by atmospheric and oceanic carbon dioxide data and models, Science, 282, 442–446, 1998. Hamada, S., Ohta, T., Hiyama, T., Kuwada, T., Takahashi, A., and Maximov, T. C.: Hydrometeorological behaviour of pine and larch forests in eastern siberia, Hydrological Processes, 18, 23–39, 2004. Hollinger, D. Y., Kelliher, F. M., Schulze, E. D., Bauer, G., Arneth, A., Byers, J. N., Hunt, J. E., McSeveny, T. M., Kobak, K. I., Milukova, I., Sogatchev, A., Tatarinov, F., Varlargin, A., Ziegler, W., and Vygodskaya, N. N.: Forest-atmosphere carbon dioxide exchange in eastern siberia, Agricultural and Forest Meteorology, 90, 291–306, 1998. Jarvis, P. and Linder, S.: Constraints to growth of boreal forests, Nature, 405, 904–905, 2000. Jarvis, P., Saugier, B., and Schulze, E. D.: Producitivity of boreal forests, in: Terrestrial global productivity, edited by: Roy, J., Saugier, B., and Mooney, H. A., Academic Press Inc., San Diego, CA, 211–244, 2001. Kesik, M., Ambus, P., Baritz, R., Bruggemann, N. B., Butterbach-Bahl, K., Damm, M., Duyzer, J., Horvath, L., Kiese, R., Kitzler, B., Leip, A., Li, C., Pihlatie, M., Pilegaard, K., Seufert, G., Simpson, D., Skiba, U., Smiatek, G., Vesala, T., and Zechmeister-Boltenstern, S.: Inventories of N₂O and NO emissions from european forest soils, Biogeosciences, 2, 353–375, 2005. Kiese, R., Li, C., Hilbert, D., Papen H., and Butterbach-Bahl, K.: Regional application of PnET-N-DNDC for estimating the N₂O source strength of tropical rainforests in the Wet Tropics of Australia, Global Change Biol., 11, 128–144, 2004. Kobak, K. I., Turchinovich, I. Y., Kondrasheva, N. Y., Schulze, E. D., Schulze, W., Koch, H., and Vygodskaya, N. N.: Vulnerability and adaptation of the larch forest in eastern siberia to climate change, Water, Air, and Soil Pollution, 92, 119–127, 1996. Kolle, O. and Rebmann, C.: EddySoft – Documentation of a Software Package to Aquire and Process Eddy Covariance Data, Max-Planck-Institut fur Biogeochemie, Jena, Technical Report, 10, 85, 2007. Li, C., Aber, J. D., Stange, F., Butterbach-Bahl, K., and Papen, H.: A process-oriented model of N2O and NO emissions from forest soils: 1. Model developement, J. Geophys. Res.-Atmos., 105, 4369–4384, 2000. Li, C., Cui, J., Sun, G., and Trettin, C. C.: Modeling impacts of management on carbon sequestration and trace gas emissions in forested wetland ecosystems, Environmental Management, 33, 176–186, 2004. Li, C.: Quantifying greenhouse gas emissions from soils: Scientific basis and modeling approach, Soil Science and Plant Nutrition, 53, 344–352, 2007. Lloyd, J., Shibistova, O., Zolotoukhine, D., Kolle, O., Arneth, A., Wirth, C., Styles, J. M., Tchebakova, N., and Schulze, E. D.: Seasonal and annual variations in the photosynthetic productivity and carbon balance of a central siberian pine forest, Tellus Series B-Chemical and Physical Meteorology, 54B, 590–610, 2002. Melillo, J. M., Mcguire, A. D., Kicklighter, D. W., Moore, B., Vorosmarty, C. J., and Schloss, A. L.: Global climate-change and terrestrial net primary production, Nature, 363, 234–240, 1993. Miehle, P., S.J. Livesley, P.M. Feikema, C. Li, and S.K. Arndt. Assessing productivity and carbon sequestration capacity of Eucalyptus globulus plantations using the process model Forest-DNDC: Calibration and validation. Ecological Modelling 192, 83–94, 2006. Milyukova, I. M., Kolle, O., Varlagin, A. V., Vygodskaya, N. N., Schulze, E. D., and Lloyd, J.: Carbon balance of a southern taiga spruce stand in european russia, Tellus Series B-Chemical and Physical Meteorology, 54, 429–442, 2002. Moffat, A. M., Papale, D., Reichstein, M., Hollinger, D. Y., Richardson, A. D., Barr, A. G., Beckstein, C., Braswell, B. H., Churkina, G., Desai, A. R., Falge, E., Gove, J. H., Heimann, M., Hui, D., Jarvis, A. J., Kattge, J., Noormets, A., and Stauch, V. J.: Comprehensive comparison of gap-filling techniques for eddy covariance net carbon fluxes, Agr. Forest Meteorol., 147, 209–232, 2007. Myneni, R. B., Dong, J., Tucker, C. J., Kaufmann, R. K., Kauppi, P. E., Liski, J., Zhou, L., Alexeyev, V., and Hughes, M. K.: A large carbon sink in the woody biomass of northern forests, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 98, 14 784–14 789, 2001. Ohta, T., Hiyama, T., Tanaka, H., Kuwada, T., Maximov, T. C., Ohata, T., and Fukushima, Y.: Seasonal variation in the energy and water exchanges above and below a larch forest in eastern siberia, Hydrological Processes, 15, 1459–1476, 2001. Papale, D., Reichstein, M., Aubinet, M., Canfora, E., Bernhofer, C., Longdoz, B., Kutsch, W., Rambal, S., Valentini, R., Vesala, T., Yakir, D.: Towards a standardized processing of Net Ecosystem Exchange measured with eddy covariance technique: algorithms and uncertainty estimation, Biogeosciences, 3, 571–583, 2006. Reichstein, M., Falge, E., Baldocchi, D., Papale, D., Aubinet, M., Berbigier, P., Bernhofer, C., Buchmann, N., Gilmanov, T., Granier, A., Grunwald, T., Havr'ankov'a, K., Ilvesniemi, H., Janous, D., Knohl, A., Laurila, T., Lohila, A., Loustau, D., Matteucci, G., Meyers, T., Miglietta, F., Ourcival, J.-M., Pumpanen, J., Rambal, S., Rotenberg, E., Sanz, M., Tenhunen, J., Seufert, G., Vaccari, F., Vesala, T., Yakir, D., and Valentini, R.: On the separation of net ecosystem exchange into assimilation and ecosystem respiration: review and improved algorithm, Global Change Biol., 11, 1424–1439, 2005. Roeser, C., Montagnani, L., Schulze, E. D., Mollicone, D., Kolle, O., Meroni, M., Papale, D., Marchesini, L. B., Federici, S., and Valentini, R.: Net co₂ exchange rates in three different successional stages of the "Dark taiga" Of central siberia, Tellus Series B-Chemical and Physical Meteorology, 54 B, 642–654, 2002. Schimel, D. S., House, J. I., Hibbard, K. A., Bousquet, P., Ciais, P., Peylin, P., Braswell, B. H., Apps, M. J., Baker, D., Bondeau, A., Canadell, J., Churkina, G., Cramer, W., Denning, A. S., Field, C. B., Friedlingstein, P., Goodale, C., Heimann, M., Houghton, R. A., Melillo, J. M., Moore, B., Murdiyarso, D., Noble, I., Pacala, S. W., Prentice, I. C., Raupach, M. R., Rayner, P. J., Scholes, R. J., Steffen, W. L., and Wirth, C.: Recent patterns and mechanisms of carbon exchange by terrestrial ecosystems, Nature, 414, 169–172, 2001. Schulze, E. D., Lloyd, J., Kelliher, F. M., Wirth, C., Rebmann, C., Luhker, B., Mund, M., Knohl, A., Milyukova, I. M., Schulze, W., Ziegler, W., Varlagin, A. B., Sogachev, A. F., Valentini, R., Dore, S., Grigoriev, S., Kolle, O., Panfyorov, M. I., Tchebakova, N., and Vygodskaya, N. N.: Productivity of forests in the eurosiberian boreal region and their potential to act as a carbon sink – a synthesis, Global Change Biology, 5, 703–722, 1999. Shvidenko, A. and Nilsson, S.: Dynamics of russian forests and the carbon budget in 1961-1998: An assessment based on long-term forest inventory data, Climatic Change, 55, 5–37, 2002. Stange, F., Butterbach-Bahl, K., Papen, H., Zechmeister-Boltenstern, S., Li, C. S., and Aber, J.: A process-oriented model of n2o and no emissions from forest soils 2. Sensitivity analysis and validation, J. Geophys. Res.-Atmos., 105, 4385–4398, 2000. Stange, F., Butterbach-Bahl, K., Papen, H., Zechmeister-Boltenstern, S., Li, C., Aber, J.: A process-oriented model of N2O and NO emission from forest soils 2, Sensitivity analysis and validation, J. Geophys. Res., 105 , 4 , 4385–4398, 2000. Sun, G., Li, C., Trettin, C., Lu, J., and McNulty, S. G.: Simulating the Biogeochemical Cycles in Cypress Wetland-Pine Upland Ecosystems at a Landscape Scale with the Wetland-DNDC Model. In Proceedings of the International Conference on Hydrology and Management of Forested Wetlands. April 8-12, 2006. New Bern, NC, 261–270, 2006. Trettin, C. C. and Jurgensen, M. F.: Carbon cycling in wetland forest soils. Pg. 311-331, In: J. Kimble, R. Birdsie, R. Lal. Carbon Sequestration in US Forests, Lewis Publisher. Boca Raton, FL. 2003. Vygodskaya, N., Abrazhko, V., Varlagin, A., Kurbatova, Y., Sidorov, K., Milukova, I., Sogachev, A., Sogacheva, L., Shaposhnikov, E., Nepomnyashii, G., and Abrazhko, M.: Long-term dynamics of soil moisture and drying of spruce trees in spruce forests of the southern taiga, Lesovedenie, 1, 3–22, 2004a. Vygodskaya, N. N., Schulze, E. D., Tchebakova, N. M., Karpachevskii, L. O., Kozlov, D., Sidorov, K. N., Panfyorov, M. I., Abrazko, M. A., Shaposhnikov, E. S., Solnzeva, O. N., Minaeva, T. Y., Jeltuchin, A. S., Wirth, C., and Pugachevskii, A. V.: Climatic control of stand thinning in unmanaged spruce forests of the southern taiga in european russia, Tellus Series B-Chemical and Physical Meteorology, 54, 443–461, 2002. Vygodskaya, N. N., Oltchev, A. V., Kurbatova, J. A., and Varlargin, A.: Gross primary production (gpp) of unmanaged over-mature spruce forests at southern european taiga: Eddy covariance measurements and modeling approach, in: Modeling forest production, scientific tools - data needs and sources, validation and application, edited by: Hasenauer, H., and Makela, A., 421–430, 2004b. Zhang, Y., Li, C. S., Trettin, C. C., Li, H., and Sun, G.: An integrated model of soil, hydrology, and vegetation for carbon dynamics in wetland ecosystems, Global Biogeochem. Cy., 16, 1061, 2002.