| 1. |
- Abbott, Benjamin W., et al.
(författare)
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Biomass offsets little or none of permafrost carbon release from soils, streams, and wildfire : an expert assessment
- 2016
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Ingår i: Environmental Research Letters. - : IOP Publishing. - 1748-9326. ; 11:3
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- As the permafrost region warms, its large organic carbon pool will be increasingly vulnerable to decomposition, combustion, and hydrologic export. Models predict that some portion of this release will be offset by increased production of Arctic and boreal biomass; however, the lack of robust estimates of net carbon balance increases the risk of further overshooting international emissions targets. Precise empirical or model-based assessments of the critical factors driving carbon balance are unlikely in the near future, so to address this gap, we present estimates from 98 permafrost-region experts of the response of biomass, wildfire, and hydrologic carbon flux to climate change. Results suggest that contrary to model projections, total permafrost-region biomass could decrease due to water stress and disturbance, factors that are not adequately incorporated in current models. Assessments indicate that end-of-the-century organic carbon release from Arctic rivers and collapsing coastlines could increase by 75% while carbon loss via burning could increase four-fold. Experts identified water balance, shifts in vegetation community, and permafrost degradation as the key sources of uncertainty in predicting future system response. In combination with previous findings, results suggest the permafrost region will become a carbon source to the atmosphere by 2100 regardless of warming scenario but that 65%-85% of permafrost carbon release can still be avoided if human emissions are actively reduced.
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| 2. |
- Milbrink, Göran, et al.
(författare)
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Large-scale and long-term decrease in fish growth following the construction of hydroelectric reservoirs
- 2011
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Ingår i: Canadian Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences. - 0706-652X .- 1205-7533. ; 68:12, s. 2167-2173
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Hydroelectric reservoirs retain large volumes of water and have a global impact on sea level, elemental cycles, and biodiversity. Using data from a total of 90 historical and recent surveys in nine regulated and eight unregulated alpine and subalpine lakes, we show an additional large effect of reservoirs, i.e., that impoundment causes drastically decreased fish growth and thereby great negative consequences for inland fisheries in Scandinavia. Following a long period (40-65 years) after impoundment, the length and mass of Arctic charr (Salvelinus alpinus) of the single age class 4+ years was, on average, 35% and 72% lower, respectively, in impounded versus natural lakes in northern Scandinavia. The effect was stronger at higher altitudes and can be mitigated by addition of inorganic nutrients. We suggest that the decreased fish growth is a consequence of lowered ecosystem productivity, oligotrophication, caused by impoundment, resulting in erosion and loss of the littoral ecosystem as well as delayed flooding and leakage of nutrients from the riparian zone until after the growing season.
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| 3. |
- Steger, Kristin, et al.
(författare)
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Microbial biomass and community composition in boreal lake sediments
- 2011
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Ingår i: Limnology and Oceanography. - Waco : American Society of Limnology and Oceanography. - 0024-3590 .- 1939-5590. ; 56:2, s. 725-733
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- We used phospholipid fatty acids (PLFA) to determine microbial biomass and community structure in the sediments of eight boreal lakes with different loadings of allochthonous organic carbon and total phosphorus (TP) in the water during the course of a year. The total concentration of PLFA, an estimate of the microbial biomass, depended more on TP, a proxy for pelagic primary production, but not on dissolved organic carbon, a proxy for terrestrial organic carbon input. The composition of PLFAs varied considerably over time, demonstrating seasonal dynamics in microbial community composition. When PLFA profiles in all lakes and seasons are compared, community composition is more similar within season than within lakes.
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| 4. |
- Fischer, Helmut, et al.
(författare)
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Microbial leaf degraders in boreal streams : bringing together stochastic and deterministic regulators of community composition
- 2009
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Ingår i: Freshwater Biology. - : Wiley. - 0046-5070 .- 1365-2427. ; 54:11, s. 2276-2289
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Leaves that fall into the water represent a new habitat for microorganisms to colonise in streams, providing an opportunity to study colonisation and the subsequent regulation of community structure. We explored community composition of bacteria and fungi on decomposing alder leaves in nine streams in central Sweden, and describe their relationship with environmental variables. Succession of the microbial community was studied in one of the streams for 118 days. Microbial community composition was examined by denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis on replicate samples of leaves from each stream. 2. During succession in one stream, maximum taxon richness was reached after 34 days for bacteria and 20 days for fungi respectively. Replicate samples within this stream differed between each other earlier in colonisation, while subsequently such variation among replicate communities was low and remained stable for several weeks. Replicate samples taken from all the nine streams after 34 days of succession showed striking similarities in microbial communities within-streams, although communities differed more strongly between streams. 3. Canonical analysis of microbial communities and environmental variables revealed that water chemistry had a significant influence on community composition. This influence was superimposed on a statistical relationship between the properties of stream catchments and microbial community composition. 4. The catchment regulates microbial communities in two different ways. It harbours the species pool from which the in-stream microbial community is drawn and it governs stream chemistry and the composition of organic substrates that further shape the communities. We suggest that there is a random element to colonisation early in succession, whereas other factors such as species interactions, stream chemistry and organic substrate properties, result in a more deterministic regulation of communities during later stages.
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| 5. |
- Kothawala, Dolly N., et al.
(författare)
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The relative influence of land cover, hydrology, and in-stream processing on the composition of dissolved organic matter in boreal streams
- 2015
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Ingår i: Journal of Geophysical Research - Biogeosciences. - 2169-8953 .- 2169-8961. ; 120:8, s. 1491-1505
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Low-order boreal streams are particularly sensitive interfaces where dissolved organic matter (DOM) is transported from soils to inland waters. Disentangling the relative influence of key environmental factors suspected to influence stream water DOM composition is highly relevant to predicting the reactivity and fate of terrestrial DOM entering inland waters. Here we examined changes to DOM composition using absorbance and fluorescence, from 17 boreal streams ranging from first to fourth orders, over 14 months, including the rarely studied winter season, and two snowmelt periods (n = 836). We also analyzed soil pore water samples from three forest soil lysimeters to a depth of 70 cm (n = 60). Of five identified fluorescing parallel factor analysis components, two (C4 and C5) expressed a clear mire wetland or forest signature, providing distinct molecular markers of dominant land cover. In fact, land cover alone explained 49% of the variability in DOM composition. In contrast, seasonal fluctuations in hydrology only contributed to minor shifts (8%) in the composition of stream water DOM, while in-stream transformations to DOM composition were undetectable. These findings suggest that low-order boreal streams act as a passive pipe, since in-stream processing of DOM is restricted by short water residence times (6 h to 2 days). In addition, we demonstrated the sensitivity of optical approaches to distinguish between key terrestrial sources of DOM in the boreal landscape. By distinguishing the proportional leverage of key environmental controls on headwater stream DOM composition, we are better equipped to predict where and when key DOM transformations occur in the aquatic conduit.
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