Factors determining the 13C abundance of soil-respired CO2 in Boreal forests

• Analysis of the isotopic composition of the CO2 respired from soils may reveal information about the important component of the ecosystem C balance. This is crucial, since a large terrestrial sink for atmospheric CO2 has been located in the northern hemisphere, and the vast boreal forests may be largely responsible. At the same time, boreal and arctic ecosystems have large amounts of C stored in the soil, and could potentially become a source of CO2 in a warmer climate promoting more rapid decomposition of soil organic matter. Furthermore, the northern hemisphere has complex dynamics in terms of annual fluctuations in both the concentration of CO2 in the atmosphere and its δl3C. It is of utmost importance to understand the causes of this variability, since it interferes with the partitioning between the ocean and the terrestrial contributions in global models. This chapter aims to provide an update on the reviews by Flanagan and Ehleringer and Ehleringer et al. on the causation of the δ13C of the soil CO2 efflux and, in doing this, focuses on the boreal forests.

Subject headings

NATURVETENSKAP  -- Biologi (hsv//swe)

NATURAL SCIENCES  -- Biological Sciences (hsv//eng)

NATURVETENSKAP  -- Biologi -- Ekologi (hsv//swe)

NATURAL SCIENCES  -- Biological Sciences -- Ecology (hsv//eng)

NATURVETENSKAP  -- Biologi -- Annan biologi (hsv//swe)

NATURAL SCIENCES  -- Biological Sciences -- Other Biological Topics (hsv//eng)

Keyword

Biology

Biologi

Publication and Content Type

ref (subject category)

kap (subject category)