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Impacts of a Decadal Drainage Disturbance on Surface–Atmosphere fluxes of Carbon Dioxide in a Permafrost Ecosystem

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Impacts of a Decadal Drainage Disturbance on Surface–Atmosphere fluxes of Carbon Dioxide in a Permafrost Ecosystem Biogeosciences, 13, 5315–5332, 2016 www.biogeosciences.net/13/5315/2016/ doi:10.5194/bg-13-5315-2016 © Author(s) 2016. CC Attribution 3.0 License. Impacts of a decadal drainage disturbance on surface–atmosphere fluxes of carbon dioxide in a permafrost ecosystem Fanny Kittler1, Ina Burjack1, Chiara A. R. Corradi2, Martin Heimann1,3, Olaf Kolle1, Lutz Merbold4,6, Nikita Zimov5, Sergey Zimov5, and Mathias Göckede1 1Biogeochemical Systems, Max Planck Institute for Biogeochemistry, Jena, Germany 2University of Tuscia, Viterbo, Italy 3Division of Atmospheric Sciences, Department of Physics, University of Helsinki, Finland 4ETH Zurich, Department of Environmental Systems Science, Institute of Agricultural Sciences, Zurich, Switzerland 5North-East Science Station, Pacific Institute for Geography, Far-Eastern Branch of Russian Academy of Science, Chersky, Republic of Sakha (Yakutia), Russia 6Mazingira Centre, International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI), Nairobi, Kenya Correspondence to: Fanny Kittler ([email protected]) Received: 4 April 2016 – Published in Biogeosciences Discuss.: 22 April 2016 Revised: 31 August 2016 – Accepted: 6 September 2016 – Published: 23 September 2016 Abstract. Hydrologic conditions are a major controlling fac- the past decade. Net changes in CO2 fluxes are dominated tor for carbon exchange processes in high-latitude ecosys- by a major increase in photosynthetic uptake, resulting in a tems. The presence or absence of water-logged conditions stronger CO2 sink in 2013–2015. Application of a MODIS- can lead to significant shifts in ecosystem structure and car- based classification scheme to separate the growing season bon cycle processes. In this study, we compared growing into four sub-seasons improved the interpretation of interan- season CO2 fluxes of a wet tussock tundra ecosystem from nual variability by illustrating the systematic shifts in CO2 an area affected by decadal drainage to an undisturbed area uptake patterns that have occurred in this ecosystem over the on the Kolyma floodplain in northeastern Siberia. For this past 10 years and highlighting the important role of the late comparison we found the sink strength for CO2 in recent growing season for net CO2 flux budgets. years (2013–2015) to be systematically reduced within the drained area, with a minor increase in photosynthetic up- take due to a higher abundance of shrubs outweighed by a more pronounced increase in respiration due to warmer 1 Introduction near-surface soil layers. Still, in comparison to the strong reduction of fluxes immediately following the drainage dis- Northern high-latitude permafrost landscapes contain over turbance in 2005, recent CO2 exchange with the atmosphere 1000 Pg of organic carbon in the upper 3 m of the soil over this disturbed part of the tundra indicate a higher carbon (Hugelius et al., 2014), equaling approximately 50 % of the turnover, and a seasonal amplitude that is comparable again global belowground carbon storage. This vast amount of or- to that within the control section. This indicates that the local ganic carbon has been accumulated due to the slow decom- permafrost ecosystem is capable of adapting to significantly position rates of organic matter under low temperatures and different hydrologic conditions without losing its capacity to anoxic conditions during the last two glacial cycles (Zimov act as a net sink for CO2 over the growing season. The com- et al., 2009). With the sustainability of these huge carbon parison of undisturbed CO2 flux rates from 2013–2015 to the pools being dependent on future climate conditions (Kauf- period of 2002–2004 indicates that CO2 exchange with the man et al., 2009; Kirschbaum, 1995; Serreze et al., 2000), atmosphere was intensified, with increased component fluxes there is a high potential for global feedback if the permafrost (ecosystem respiration and gross primary production) over carbon reservoir is destabilized under future climate condi- tions (Beer, 2008). One potential outcome could be that the Published by Copernicus Publications on behalf of the European Geosciences Union. 5316 F. Kittler et al.: Impacts of a decadal drainage disturbance soil carbon previously locked away in permafrost deposits turbance event (Shaver et al., 1992). Studies addressing long- could be released into the atmosphere as CO2 or CH4 as term (> 10 years) manipulation effects for the high latitudes a consequence of changes in soil temperature and moisture are rare. In one such study, Lamb et al. (2011) found that conditions (Schuur et al., 2008). However, model simula- 16 years of a combined fertilization and warming experi- tions show a wide range of permafrost responses to climate ment in Canada’s high Arctic tundra showed limited effects change (Koven et al., 2011; Schaefer et al., 2011). Empiri- on GHG fluxes and soil chemistry or biochemistry but strong cal studies on the sensitivity of permafrost to environmen- increases in plant cover and height. A 2-decade warming ex- tal drivers are urgently needed to corroborate comprehen- periment in Alaskan tundra revealed increased plant biomass sive Earth system models. Here we report on the effects of a and woody dominance, indirectly increased winter soil tem- decadal drainage experiment on the CO2 exchange in a typi- perature, and increased net ecosystem carbon storage (Sistla cal northern Siberian tundra ecosystem. et al., 2013). In wetting and fertilizing experiments in the Over the last few decades observations in the Arctic have open heath of Zackenberg, an area in northeastern Greenland, shown that, as a result of global warming, temperatures have the soil water supply was increased for 14 years, and occa- risen faster than those observed over the Northern Hemi- sional fertilizer pulses were added, resulting in increased soil sphere as a whole (ACIA, 2004; SWIPA, 2011). This ten- respiration rates during summer and decreased CO2 efflux in dency, primarily driven by ice–albedo effects (Curry et al., autumn (Christiansen et al., 2012). Results from a summer 1995), is expected to continue, and climate models project warming and wetting treatment in northeastern Greenland a strong future high-latitude warming (IPCC, 2013). In per- over 10 years indicated increased CO2 uptake in response to mafrost ecosystems, higher temperatures will lead to in- altered environmental conditions; this increase was mostly creased active layer thickness and thus favor substrate avail- cause by photosynthetic uptake of carbon (Lupascu et al., ability for microbial decomposition and enhanced release of 2014). In a long-term (20 years) fertilization experiment in greenhouse gases (GHGs) to the atmosphere (Schuur et al., Alaskan tundra, Mack et al. (2004) increased nutrient avail- 2008). At the same time, warmer conditions may lead to ability, which lead to a net ecosystem loss of carbon, with in- prolonged vegetation periods with increased photosynthetic creased aboveground plant production outweighed by carbon uptake, while higher soil temperatures may stimulate CO2 and nitrogen losses from deep soil layers. Due to the multi- production through enhanced soil respiration (Flanagan and ple and unclear results of available environmental manipula- Syed, 2011). Ice wedge degradation (Jorgenson et al., 2006; tions, additional and particularly long-term experiments are Lawrence et al., 2008; Payette et al., 2004) is also expected, crucially needed. which has the potential to dramatically alter the geomorphol- To improve the current understanding of links between ogy and hydrology of permafrost landscapes (Liljedahl et al., carbon fluxes and long-term hydrologic disturbance in Arc- 2016). Through this process, a relatively homogeneous area tic permafrost ecosystems, a monitoring program was es- could be transformed into a network of small water chan- tablished near Chersky in northeastern Siberia in 2013 nels that drain water away from the remaining patches of (68.75◦ N, 161.33◦ E). In this study, we present growing sea- soil surface. The resulting changes in the spatiotemporal pat- son CO2 fluxes for two eddy-covariance towers running in terns of soil water availability could potentially trigger sig- parallel over a disturbed tundra ecosystem (i.e., one with a nificant shifts in ecosystem characteristics, such as soil ther- drainage ditch ring installed in 2004) and a control tundra mal regime or vegetation and microbial community com- ecosystem, respectively. We directly compare CO2 flux rates position. These changes, in turn, would alter carbon cycle between both sites for three growing seasons (2013–2015) processes; for example, changing aerobic conditions in the to evaluate the net effect of the long-term drainage on the top soil layers have the potential to change preferred path- carbon cycle. A comparison of disturbed and control flux ways for microbial decomposition of methane (Merbold et rates between historic (2002–2005) and recent (2013–2015) al., 2009; Zona et al., 2009, 2010). Such changes would pro- datasets allows us to assess the combined effect of this distur- mote CO2 efflux due to higher soil respiration rates (Flana- bance and a changing climate. In both cases, we focus on the gan and Syed, 2011; Olivas et al., 2010). net CO2 flux between ecosystem and atmosphere, as well as The complexity of potential positive and negative feed- its major components fluxes, i.e., gross primary productivity back loops between climate change and carbon cycling in (GPP) and ecosystem respiration (Reco). We also analyzed the Arctic leads to considerable uncertainties
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