Consequences of warming on tundra carbon balance determined by reindeer grazing history
(2014) In Nature Climate Change 4(5). p.384-388- Abstract
Arctic tundra currently stores half of the global soil carbon (C) stock. Climate warming in the Arctic may lead to accelerated CO 2 release through enhanced decomposition and turn Arctic ecosystems from a net C sink into a net C source, if warming enhances decomposition more than plant photosynthesis. A large portion of the circumpolar Arctic is grazed by reindeer/caribou, and grazing causes important vegetation shifts in the long-term. Using a unique experimental set-up, where areas experiencing more than 50 years of either light (LG) or heavy (HG) grazing were warmed and/or fertilized, we show that under ambient conditions areas under LG were a 70% stronger C sink than HG areas. Although warming decreased the C sink by 38% under LG,... (More)
Arctic tundra currently stores half of the global soil carbon (C) stock. Climate warming in the Arctic may lead to accelerated CO 2 release through enhanced decomposition and turn Arctic ecosystems from a net C sink into a net C source, if warming enhances decomposition more than plant photosynthesis. A large portion of the circumpolar Arctic is grazed by reindeer/caribou, and grazing causes important vegetation shifts in the long-term. Using a unique experimental set-up, where areas experiencing more than 50 years of either light (LG) or heavy (HG) grazing were warmed and/or fertilized, we show that under ambient conditions areas under LG were a 70% stronger C sink than HG areas. Although warming decreased the C sink by 38% under LG, it had no effect under HG. Grazing history will thus be an important determinant in the response of ecosystem C balance to climate warming, which at present is not taken into account in climate change models.
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- author
- Väisänen, Maria ; Ylänne, Henni LU ; Kaarlejärvi, Elina ; Sjögersten, Sofie ; Olofsson, Johan ; Crout, Neil and Stark, Sari
- publishing date
- 2014-05
- type
- Contribution to journal
- publication status
- published
- in
- Nature Climate Change
- volume
- 4
- issue
- 5
- pages
- 384 - 388
- publisher
- Nature Publishing Group
- external identifiers
-
- scopus:84899524909
- ISSN
- 1758-678X
- DOI
- 10.1038/nclimate2147
- language
- English
- LU publication?
- no
- additional info
- Funding Information: We thank A. Niva and S. Aakkonen for their valuable help with the field experiments. We thank Su. Katves and Si. Katves for assisting with vegetation recording and J. Hyvönen for helping with the statistical analysis. This study was funded by the Academy of Finland (project numbers 218121 and 130507).
- id
- eea3c666-6da4-4df6-b90b-b713e2ceb154
- date added to LUP
- 2021-10-24 16:57:18
- date last changed
- 2022-04-19 17:28:08
@article{eea3c666-6da4-4df6-b90b-b713e2ceb154,
abstract = {{<p>Arctic tundra currently stores half of the global soil carbon (C) stock. Climate warming in the Arctic may lead to accelerated CO 2 release through enhanced decomposition and turn Arctic ecosystems from a net C sink into a net C source, if warming enhances decomposition more than plant photosynthesis. A large portion of the circumpolar Arctic is grazed by reindeer/caribou, and grazing causes important vegetation shifts in the long-term. Using a unique experimental set-up, where areas experiencing more than 50 years of either light (LG) or heavy (HG) grazing were warmed and/or fertilized, we show that under ambient conditions areas under LG were a 70% stronger C sink than HG areas. Although warming decreased the C sink by 38% under LG, it had no effect under HG. Grazing history will thus be an important determinant in the response of ecosystem C balance to climate warming, which at present is not taken into account in climate change models.</p>}},
author = {{Väisänen, Maria and Ylänne, Henni and Kaarlejärvi, Elina and Sjögersten, Sofie and Olofsson, Johan and Crout, Neil and Stark, Sari}},
issn = {{1758-678X}},
language = {{eng}},
number = {{5}},
pages = {{384--388}},
publisher = {{Nature Publishing Group}},
series = {{Nature Climate Change}},
title = {{Consequences of warming on tundra carbon balance determined by reindeer grazing history}},
url = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/nclimate2147}},
doi = {{10.1038/nclimate2147}},
volume = {{4}},
year = {{2014}},
}