Investigations of Carbon and Water Fluxes in a Sierra Nevada Meadow
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INVESTIGATIONS OF CARBON AND WATER FLUXES IN A SIERRA NEVADA MEADOW A Thesis submitted to the faculty of San Francisco State University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Degree Master of Arts In Geography: Resource Management and Environmental Planning by Darren Alden Blackburn San Francisco, California August 2017 Copyright by Darren Alden Blackburn 2017 CERIFICATION OF APPROVAL I certify that I have read Investigations of carbon and water fluxes in a Sierra Nevada meadow by Darren Alden Blackburn, and that in my opinion this work meets the criteria for approving a thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirement for the degree Master of Arts in Geography: Resource Management and Environmental Planning at San Francisco State University. Andrew Oliphant, Ph.D. Professor of Geography & Environment Jerry Davis, Ph.D. Professor of Geography & Environment INVESIGATIONS OF CARBON AND WATER FLUXES IN A SIERRA NEVADA MEADOW Darren Alden Blackburn San Francisco, California 2017 This study investigates the diurnal and seasonal surface-atmosphere exchanges of carbon dioxide (CO2), water and energy in a partly degraded Northern Sierra Nevada meadow. The eddy covariance technique was employed to quantify these exchanges in Loney Meadow (1822 m a.s.l.) for most of the annual snow-free period from May to September 2016. This meadow impacted by stream channel incision and is scheduled to undergo restoration work to raise the water table. The observed net ecosystem exchange (NEE) of CO2 showed that the ecosystem functioned as a strong sink throughout most of the study period sequestering an average of -18.51 gC m-2 d-1 during the peak of the growing season. The entire study period produced an average daily total NEE value of -7.71 gC m- 2 d-1. The meadow progressed from a strong sink in the peak of the growing season (- 18.51 gC m-2 d-1) to a weak source (2.97 gC m-2 d-1) following a decline in soil moisture. During daylight hours, photosynthetically active radiation (PAR) was shown to be the -2 -1 dominant driver of the CO2 flux with values ranging between -0.2 and -1.0 mgC m s . At night, GPP shut down and the ecosystem functioned as a small source of CO2 with values ranging between 0.1 and 0.3 mgC m-2 s-1. At the seasonal scale soil moisture was shown to be a strong control on the CO2 exchange, which has important implications for understanding the impact of land management and climate change on meadow carbon budgets. I certify that the Abstract is a correct representation of the content of this thesis. ________________________________________ _____________ Chair, Thesis Committee Date ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Thank you so much to my committee, Andrew Oliphant and Jerry Davis. The knowledge, adventures and support you have given me throughout this journey is truly appreciated. I have had the pleasure of getting to know a number of the Geography Department’s faculty and lecturers, so thank you to them for their guidance and advice. Thank you, Sara Baguskas, for sharing your enthusiasm and for taking the time to talk about my project and discuss future opportunities. Thanks to Rachel Hutchinson and the team at SYRCL for collaborating with us and facilitating access to the study site. To my meadow buddy, Austen Lorenz, thanks for talking meadows with me and always being fun to work with. Thanks to Quentin Clark for support in the field and in the Map Library (including Sweatpants Saturdays). Suzanne Maher, thank you for motivating me to take on this project and for all the help along the way. Christa Meier, as a fellow struggling climatologist, thank you for always being ready with kind words and occasional commiseration. My roommate from UCLA, Ryon Nixon, thanks for giving me friendship, energy and clarity when I really needed it. Yael Golan, Tov! Thank you for always being willing to take breaks with me and providing me with dog-sitting opportunities. Kerstin Kalchmayr for the hikes, Charlotte Hummer for the laughs, Danielle Mazzella for the drinks, and to the rest of my fellow graduate students, thanks! Finally, a big thank you to Loney Meadow! It will always be a special place to me. v TABLE OF CONTENTS List of Tables .................................................................................................................... viii List of Figures ..................................................................................................................... ix 1.0 INTRODUCTION ......................................................................................................... 1 1.1 Research Objective ............................................................................................ 2 1.2 Sierra Nevada Mountain Meadows ................................................................... 2 1.3 Healthy vs. Degraded Meadows ........................................................................ 7 1.4 Restoration of Meadows .................................................................................. 12 2.0 STUDY SITE DESCRIPTION ................................................................................... 13 3.0 METHODS .................................................................................................................. 18 3.1 Eddy Covariance Theory ................................................................................. 18 3.2 Experimental Design ....................................................................................... 20 3.3 Data Processing, Rejection and Uncertainty ................................................... 22 3.3.1 Plausible Limit Testing ................................................................................. 22 3.3.2 Insufficient Turbulence ................................................................................ 23 3.3.3 Footprint Assessment ................................................................................... 24 3.4 Partitioning and Gap Filling CO2 Exchanges .................................................. 25 3.5 Accuracy Assessment: Energy Balance Closure ............................................. 27 4.0 RESULTS .................................................................................................................... 31 4.1 Observed Net Ecosystem Exchange of CO2 .................................................... 31 vi 4.1.1 Diurnal Patterns of Net Ecosystem Exchange .............................................. 32 4.1.2 Seasonal Patterns of CO2 Exchanges ........................................................... 34 4.2 CO2 Flux Partitioning into RE and GPP .......................................................... 36 4.2.1 Ecosystem Respiration ................................................................................. 37 4.2.2 GPP and Light Use Efficiency ..................................................................... 40 4.3 Diurnal Controls on Ecosystem CO2 Exchange .............................................. 42 4.4 Seasonal and Synoptic Controls on Ecosystem CO2 Exchange ...................... 46 5.0 DISCUSSION .............................................................................................................. 50 5.1 Annual CO2 Budget Estimate ......................................................................... 51 5.2 Comparison of Loney Meadow to Wetland and Grassland Ecosystems ......... 54 5.2.1 Comparison of Diurnal Patterns and Daily Totals ....................................... 56 5.2.2 Annual Comparison ...................................................................................... 58 5.3 Unmeasured Carbon Fluxes in Loney Meadow .............................................. 60 5.3.1 Methane Flux ................................................................................................ 61 5.3.2 Transport of Dissolved Organic Carbon through Stream Network .............. 62 5.3.3 Grazing by Livestock ................................................................................... 63 5.3 Implications for Meadow CO2 Exchanges under Changing Land-use and Climate ............................................................................................................ 64 6.0 CONCLUSIONS ......................................................................................................... 66 7.0 REFERENCES ............................................................................................................ 69 vii LIST OF TABLES Table Page 1. Dominant species commonly associated with three plant communities found in SN mountain meadows………………….……………………....…....5 2. Total snowfall recorded at Bowman Dam, CA (Elevation: 1643 m) for the 2014-15 and 2015-16 water years. Source: WRCC 2017………..….…….....14 3. Energy balance closure statistics using linear regression after applying testing criteria to flux data……………………………...……….…………...31 4. Growing season phases identified with date ranges, descriptions, images of the meadow surface and environmental conditions……………………….36 5. Regression parameters and statistics for the respiration model using binned averages and divided into seasonal periods (1-4) and the entire study period (ALL) with average observed nighttime RE………………………….…..….39 6. LUE curve parameters and statistics with average observed GPP……….…..41 7. The average daily CO2 flux values for each seasonal period and the entire study period…………………………….……………………….….….46 8. Annual CO2 budget estimates divided into observed seasonal periods (1-4), modeled periods (0 and 5) and the estimated flux when snow covered the meadow…………………..………………………………….…….……..53