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Type: Journal Article
Author(s): Isla H. Myers-Smith; A. David McGuire; Jennifer W. Harden; F. Stuart Chapin III
Publication Date: 2007

[1] We measured CO2 and CH4 exchange from the center of a Sphagnum-dominated permafrost collapse, through an aquatic moat, and into a recently burned black spruce forest on the Tanana River floodplain in interior Alaska. In the anomalously dry growing season of 2004, both the collapse and the surrounding burned area were net sinks for CO2, with a mean daytime net ecosystem exchange of -1.4 mmol CO2 m-2 s-1, while the moat was a CH4 source with a mean flux of 0.013 mmol CH4 m-2 s-1. Regression analyses identified temperature as the dominant factor affecting intragrowing season variation in CO2 exchange and soil moisture as the primary control influencing CH4 emissions. CH4 emissions during the wettest portion of the growing season were four times higher than during the driest periods. If temperatures continue to warm, peatland vegetation will likely expand with permafrost degradation, resulting in greater carbon accumulation and methane emissions for the landscape as a whole. © 2007 by the American Geophysical Union.

Citation: Myers-Smith, I. H., A. D. McGuire, J. W. Harden, and F. S. Chapin. 2007. Influence of disturbance on carbon exchange in a permafrost collapse and adjacent burned forest. Journal of Geophysical Research: Biogeosciences, v. 112, p. G04017-11. 10.1029/2007.

Cataloging Information

Topics:
Regions:
Keywords:
  • biomass
  • black spruce
  • boreal forests
  • carbon
  • carbon dioxide
  • CH4 - methane
  • coniferous forests
  • disturbance
  • ecosystem dynamics
  • fire frequency
  • fire intensity
  • fire management
  • forest management
  • grasses
  • Interior Alaska
  • moisture
  • mosses
  • Picea mariana
  • soil moisture
  • soil temperature
  • soils
  • sphagnum
  • statistical analysis
  • temperature
  • tundra
  • wildfires
Tall Timbers Record Number: 22501Location Status: In-fileCall Number: Fire FileAbstract Status: Fair use, Okay, Reproduced by permission
Record Last Modified:
Record Maintained By: FRAMES Staff (https://www.frames.gov/contact)
FRAMES Record Number: 46714

This bibliographic record was either created or modified by Tall Timbers and is provided without charge to promote research and education in Fire Ecology. The E.V. Komarek Fire Ecology Database is the intellectual property of Tall Timbers.