Paul Hanson - Academia.edu (original) (raw)

Papers by Paul Hanson

Agricultural and Forest Meteorology, 2002

Y. Kominami). a v a i l a b l e a t w w w . s c i e n c e d i r e c t . c o m j o u r n a l h o m... more Y. Kominami). a v a i l a b l e a t w w w . s c i e n c e d i r e c t . c o m j o u r n a l h o m e p a g e : w w w . e l s e v i e r . c o m / l o c a t e / a g r f o r m e t 0168-1923/$ -see front matter # a g r i c u l t u r a l a n d f o r e s t m e t e o r o l o g y 1 4 8 ( 2 0 0 8 ) 7 2 3 -7 3 7

Science of The Total Environment, 2000

Predicted changes in climate have raised concerns about potential impacts on terrestrial forest e... more Predicted changes in climate have raised concerns about potential impacts on terrestrial forest ecosystem productivity, biogeochemical cycling, and the availability of water resources. This review summarizes characteristics of drought typical to the major forest regions of the United States, future drought projections, and important features of plant and forest community response to drought. Research needs and strategies for coping with future drought are also discussed. Notwithstanding uncertainties surrounding the magnitude and direction of future climate change, and the net impact on soil water availability to forests, a number of conclusions can be made regarding the sensitivity of forests to future drought. The primary response will be a reduction in net primary production and stand water use, which are driven by reductions in stomatal conductance. Mortality of small stature plants (i.e. seedlings and saplings) is a likely consequence of severe drought. In comparison, deep rooting and substantial reserves of carbohydrates and nutrients make mature trees less susceptible to water limitations caused by severe or prolonged drought. However, severe or prolonged drought may render even mature trees more susceptible to insects or disease. Drought-induced reductions in decomposition rates may cause a buildup of organic material on the forest floor, with ramifications for fire regimes and nutrient cycling. Although early model predictions of climate change impacts suggested extensive forest dieback and species migration, more recent analyses suggest that catastrophic dieback will be a local phenomenon, and changes in forest composition will be a relatively gradual process. Better climate predictions at regional scales, with a higher temporal resolution (months to days), coupled with carefully designed, field-based experiments that incorporate multiple driving variables (e.g. temperature and CO2), will advance our ability to predict the response of different forest regions to climate change.

Canadian Journal of Forest Research-revue Canadienne De Recherche Forestiere, 1989

Page 1. 889 Induction of nitrate reductase activity in red spruce needles by N02 and HN03 vapor1 ... more Page 1. 889 Induction of nitrate reductase activity in red spruce needles by N02 and HN03 vapor1 Richard J. Norby2 Environmental Sciences Division, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, PO Box 2008, Building 1506, Oak Ridge ...

Agricultural and Forest Meteorology, 2000

There is a strong need to extend whole-tree measurements of sap flow into broad-leaved forests wh... more There is a strong need to extend whole-tree measurements of sap flow into broad-leaved forests where characteristics of stand structure, surface roughness, leaf dimension, and aerodynamic and canopy conductance may interact to partially decouple the canopy from the atmosphere. The implications of this partial decoupling to understanding the environmental control of canopy transpiration and to the modeling of forest water use are many. Therefore, thermal dissipation probes were used over a three-month period (June through August, 1997) to quantify day-to-day and tree-to-tree variation in whole-tree sap flow (Q) for 12 red maple (Acerrubrum L.) trees growing in an upland oak forest of eastern Tennessee. Whole-tree Q was calculated as the product of measured sap velocity, sapwood area and the fraction of sapwood functional in water transport. Daily canopy transpiration (Ec) was calculated from whole-tree Q and projected crown area, whereas average daily conductance (gc) was derived by inverting the Penman–Monteith equation. Maximum Q averaged 73 kg per tree per day and varied between 45 and 160 kg per day for trees that ranged in stem diameter (DBH) from 17 to 35 cm, and from 19 to 26 m in height. Canopy transpiration peaked at 3.0 mm per day in early July and averaged 1.5 mm per day over the 3-month measurement period. Tree-to-tree variability for Ec was high. Maximum rates of Ec varied from 1.9 mm per day for the tree with the smallest projected crown area to 5.7 mm per day for one of the largest trees. Day-to-day variation in Ec was a function of daily differences in net radiation (Rn) and atmospheric humidity deficit (δe). Increases in daily Rn and δe led to linear increases in canopy transpiration and there was no indication that a plateau-style relationship existed between Ec and average daily δe. Mean daily gc ranged from 1.4 to 6.7 mm s−1, and averaged 3.4 mm s−1 across the 12 study trees. Some of the tree-to-tree variation observed for Ec and gc was related to the fact that not all trees occupied the same vertical position within the stand. Variation in estimates of the daily decoupling coefficient (0≤Ω≤1) was also considerable and for individual trees the seasonally-averaged Ω varied from 0.12 to 0.37, and averaged 0.23 for the 12 study trees. An Ω of this magnitude indicates that red maple canopies are partially decoupled from the atmosphere and suggests that significant vertical gradients of air temperature and δe from the canopy surface to the bulk air several meters above the canopy are possible. Model analysis of hourly data indicated that simulated surface temperatures in mid-July were 3.6–5.8°C higher than above-canopy reference temperatures, and δe at the canopy surface was 0.3 kPa higher than that of the bulk atmosphere. These calculations were partially supported by leaf-level measurements taken on one of the trees from a 20-m canopy-access tower. The implications of this partial decoupling to understanding and modeling the environmental control of canopy transpiration are discussed.

Ecological Monographs, 2004

Models represent our primary method for integration of small-scale, processlevel phenomena into a... more Models represent our primary method for integration of small-scale, processlevel phenomena into a comprehensive description of forest-stand or ecosystem function. They also represent a key method for testing hypotheses about the response of forest ecosystems to multiple changing environmental conditions. This paper describes the evaluation of 13 stand-level models varying in their spatial, mechanistic, and temporal complexity for their ability to capture intra-and interannual components of the water and carbon cycle for an upland, oak-dominated forest of eastern Tennessee. Comparisons between model simulations and observations were conducted for hourly, daily, and annual time steps. Data for the comparisons were obtained from a wide range of methods including: eddy covariance, sapflow, chamber-based soil respiration, biometric estimates of stand-level net primary production and growth, and soil water content by time or frequency domain reflectometry. Response surfaces of carbon and water flux as a function of environmental drivers, and a variety of goodness-of-fit statistics (bias, absolute bias, and model efficiency) were used to judge model performance.

Physiologia Plantarum, 1995

Gas exchange techniques were used to investigate light-saturated carbon assimilation and its stom... more Gas exchange techniques were used to investigate light-saturated carbon assimilation and its stomatal and non-stomatal limitations over two seasons in mature trees of five species in a closed deciduous forest. Stomatal and nonstomatal contributions to decreases in assimilation resulting from leaf age and drought were quantified relative to the maximum rates obtained early in the season at optimal soil water contents. Although carbon assimilation, stomatal conductance and photosynthetic capacity (V cmax ) decreased with leaf age, decreases in V cmax accounted for about 75% of the leaf-age related reduction in light-saturated assimilation rates, with a secondary role for stomatal conductance (around 25%). However, when considered independently from leaf age, the drought response was dominated by stomatal limitations, accounting for about 75% of the total limitation. Some of the analytical difficulties associated with computing limitation partitioning are discussed, including path dependence, patchy stomatal closure and diffusion in the mesophyll. Although these considerations may introduce errors in our estimates, our analysis establishes some reasonable boundaries on relative limitations and shows differences between drought and non-drought years. Estimating seasonal limitations under natural conditions, as shown in this study, provides a useful basis for comparing limitation processes between years and species.

New Phytologist, 2004

Rising atmospheric CO 2 and temperatures are probably altering ecosystem carbon cycling, causing ... more Rising atmospheric CO 2 and temperatures are probably altering ecosystem carbon cycling, causing both positive and negative feedbacks to climate. Below-ground processes play a key role in the global carbon (C) cycle because they regulate storage of large quantities of C, and are potentially very sensitive to direct and indirect effects of elevated CO 2 and temperature. Soil organic matter pools, roots and associated rhizosphere organisms all have distinct responses to environmental change drivers, although availability of C substrates will regulate all the responses. Elevated CO 2 increases C supply below-ground, whereas warming is likely to increase respiration and decomposition rates, leading to speculation that these effects will moderate one another. However, indirect effects on soil moisture availability and nutrient supply may alter processes in unexpected directions. Detailed, mechanistic understanding and modelling of below-ground flux components, pool sizes and turnover rates is needed to adequately predict long-term, net C storage in ecosystems. In this synthesis, we discuss the current status of below-ground responses to elevated CO 2 and Research review www.newphytologist.org © New Phytologist (2004) 162: 311-322 Review 312 temperature and potential feedback effects, methodological challenges, and approaches to integrating models and measurements. © New Phytologist (2004) 162 : 311 -322

Agricultural and Forest Meteorology, 2000

The energy balance components were measured above the ground surface of a temperate deciduous for... more The energy balance components were measured above the ground surface of a temperate deciduous forest over an annual cycle using the eddy covariance technique. Over a year, the net radiation at the forest floor was 21.5% of that above the canopy, but this proportion was not constant, primarily because of the distinct phenological stages separated by the emergence and senescence of leaves. The dominant response to seasonal changes in net radiation was through corresponding changes in the sensible heat flux, and both net radiation and sensible heat flux peaked just before leaf emergence. Evaporation at the forest floor was typically less than 0.5 mm per day, and unlike sensible heat flux, was not closely coupled to seasonal changes in net radiation. Instead, evaporation at the forest floor responded primarily to rapid changes in litter water content. Forest floor evaporation was limited by the water-holding capacity of litter, and when the atmospheric demand was large, the litter layer dried on the time scale of several hours. After this rapid period of drying, net radiation and sensible heat flux dominated the energy budget.When leaves were present during the growing season, the sensible and latent energy fluxes at the forest floor were less than 10% of the total canopy fluxes, and the mean Bowen ratio was similar to that above the canopy. However, during the dormant season, the controls of the energy budget at the forest floor largely determine the whole canopy fluxes. On an annual basis, the fluxes from the forest floor are roughly 15–22% of those above the canopy and the evaporation was 86 mm.

Ecological Applications, 2002

A central question concerning the response of terrestrial ecosystems to a changing atmosphere is ... more A central question concerning the response of terrestrial ecosystems to a changing atmosphere is whether increased uptake of carbon in response to increasing atmospheric carbon dioxide concentration results in greater plant biomass and carbon storage or, alternatively, faster cycling of C through the ecosystem. Net primary productivity (NPP) of a closed-canopy Liquidambar styraciflua (sweetgum) forest stand was assessed for three years in a free-air CO 2 -enrichment (FACE) experiment. NPP increased 21% in stands exposed to elevated CO 2 , and there was no loss of response over time. Wood increment increased significantly during the first year of exposure, but subsequently most of the extra C was allocated to production of leaves and fine roots. These pools turn over more rapidly than wood, thereby reducing the potential of the forest stand to sequester additional C in response to atmospheric CO 2 enrichment. Hence, while this experiment provides the first evidence that CO 2 enrichment can increase productivity in a closed-canopy deciduous forest, the implications of this result must be tempered because the increase in productivity resulted in faster cycling of C through the system rather than increased C storage in wood. The fate of the additional C entering the soil system and the environmental interactions that influence allocation need further investigation.

Agricultural and Forest Meteorology, 2001

A multi-year, multi-technique study was conducted to measure evapotranspiration and its component... more A multi-year, multi-technique study was conducted to measure evapotranspiration and its components within an uneven-aged mixed deciduous forest in the Southeastern United States. Four different measurement techniques were used, including soil water budget (1 year), sap flow (2 years), eddy covariance (5 years), and catchment water budget (31 years). Annual estimates of evapotranspiration were similar for the eddy covariance and catchment water balance techniques, averaging 571 ± 16 mm (eddy covariance) and 582±28 mm (catchment water balance) per year over a 5-year period. There were qualitative similarities between sap flow and eddy covariance estimates on a daily basis, and sap flow estimates of transpiration were about 50% of annual evapotranspiration estimated from eddy covariance and catchment studies. Soil evaporation was estimated using a second eddy covariance system below the canopy, and these measurements suggest that soil evaporation explains only a small portion of the difference between sap flow estimates of transpiration and eddy covariance and catchment water budget estimates of evapotranspiration. Convergence of the catchment water balance and eddy covariance methods and moderately good energy balance closure suggests that the sap flow estimates could be low, unless evaporation of canopy-intercepted water was especially large. The large species diversity and presence of ring-porous trees at our site may explain the difficulty in extrapolating sap flow measurements to the spatial scales representative of the eddy covariance and catchment water balance methods. Soil water budget estimates were positively correlated with eddy covariance and sap flow measurements, but the data were highly variable and in error under conditions of severe surface dryness and after rainfall events.

Geoderma, 2005

Although the rates and mechanisms of soil organic matter (SOM) stabilization are difficult to obs... more Although the rates and mechanisms of soil organic matter (SOM) stabilization are difficult to observe directly, radiocarbon has proven an effective tracer of soil C dynamics, particularly when coupled with practical fractionation schemes. To explore the rates of C cycling in temperate forest soils, we took advantage of a unique opportunity in the form of an inadvertent stand-level 14C-labeling originating from a local industrial release. A simple density fractionation scheme separated SOM into inter-aggregate particulate organic matter (free light fraction, free LF), particulate organic matter occluded within aggregates (occluded LF), and organic matter that is complexed with minerals to form a dense fraction (dense fraction, DF). Minimal agitation and density separation was used to isolate the free LF. The remaining dense sediment was subjected to physical disruption and sonication followed by density separation to separate it into occluded LF and DF. The occluded LF had higher C concentrations and C:N ratios than the free LF, and the C concentration in both light fractions was ten times that of the DF. As a result, the light fractions together accounted for less than 4% of the soil by weight, but contained 40% of the soil C in the 0–15 cm soil increment. Likewise, the light fractions were less than 1% weight of the 15–30 cm increment, but contained more than 35% of the soil C. The degree of SOM protection in the fractions, as indicated by Δ14C, was different. In all cases the free LF had the shortest mean residence times. A significant depth by fraction interaction for 14C indicates that the relative importance of aggregation versus organo-mineral interactions for overall C stabilization changes with depth. The rapid incorporation of 14C label into the otherwise depleted DF shows that this organo-mineral fraction comprises highly stable material as well as more recent inputs.

Agricultural and Forest Meteorology, 2002

Y. Kominami). a v a i l a b l e a t w w w . s c i e n c e d i r e c t . c o m j o u r n a l h o m... more Y. Kominami). a v a i l a b l e a t w w w . s c i e n c e d i r e c t . c o m j o u r n a l h o m e p a g e : w w w . e l s e v i e r . c o m / l o c a t e / a g r f o r m e t 0168-1923/$ -see front matter # a g r i c u l t u r a l a n d f o r e s t m e t e o r o l o g y 1 4 8 ( 2 0 0 8 ) 7 2 3 -7 3 7

Science of The Total Environment, 2000

Predicted changes in climate have raised concerns about potential impacts on terrestrial forest e... more Predicted changes in climate have raised concerns about potential impacts on terrestrial forest ecosystem productivity, biogeochemical cycling, and the availability of water resources. This review summarizes characteristics of drought typical to the major forest regions of the United States, future drought projections, and important features of plant and forest community response to drought. Research needs and strategies for coping with future drought are also discussed. Notwithstanding uncertainties surrounding the magnitude and direction of future climate change, and the net impact on soil water availability to forests, a number of conclusions can be made regarding the sensitivity of forests to future drought. The primary response will be a reduction in net primary production and stand water use, which are driven by reductions in stomatal conductance. Mortality of small stature plants (i.e. seedlings and saplings) is a likely consequence of severe drought. In comparison, deep rooting and substantial reserves of carbohydrates and nutrients make mature trees less susceptible to water limitations caused by severe or prolonged drought. However, severe or prolonged drought may render even mature trees more susceptible to insects or disease. Drought-induced reductions in decomposition rates may cause a buildup of organic material on the forest floor, with ramifications for fire regimes and nutrient cycling. Although early model predictions of climate change impacts suggested extensive forest dieback and species migration, more recent analyses suggest that catastrophic dieback will be a local phenomenon, and changes in forest composition will be a relatively gradual process. Better climate predictions at regional scales, with a higher temporal resolution (months to days), coupled with carefully designed, field-based experiments that incorporate multiple driving variables (e.g. temperature and CO2), will advance our ability to predict the response of different forest regions to climate change.

Canadian Journal of Forest Research-revue Canadienne De Recherche Forestiere, 1989

Page 1. 889 Induction of nitrate reductase activity in red spruce needles by N02 and HN03 vapor1 ... more Page 1. 889 Induction of nitrate reductase activity in red spruce needles by N02 and HN03 vapor1 Richard J. Norby2 Environmental Sciences Division, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, PO Box 2008, Building 1506, Oak Ridge ...

Agricultural and Forest Meteorology, 2000

There is a strong need to extend whole-tree measurements of sap flow into broad-leaved forests wh... more There is a strong need to extend whole-tree measurements of sap flow into broad-leaved forests where characteristics of stand structure, surface roughness, leaf dimension, and aerodynamic and canopy conductance may interact to partially decouple the canopy from the atmosphere. The implications of this partial decoupling to understanding the environmental control of canopy transpiration and to the modeling of forest water use are many. Therefore, thermal dissipation probes were used over a three-month period (June through August, 1997) to quantify day-to-day and tree-to-tree variation in whole-tree sap flow (Q) for 12 red maple (Acerrubrum L.) trees growing in an upland oak forest of eastern Tennessee. Whole-tree Q was calculated as the product of measured sap velocity, sapwood area and the fraction of sapwood functional in water transport. Daily canopy transpiration (Ec) was calculated from whole-tree Q and projected crown area, whereas average daily conductance (gc) was derived by inverting the Penman–Monteith equation. Maximum Q averaged 73 kg per tree per day and varied between 45 and 160 kg per day for trees that ranged in stem diameter (DBH) from 17 to 35 cm, and from 19 to 26 m in height. Canopy transpiration peaked at 3.0 mm per day in early July and averaged 1.5 mm per day over the 3-month measurement period. Tree-to-tree variability for Ec was high. Maximum rates of Ec varied from 1.9 mm per day for the tree with the smallest projected crown area to 5.7 mm per day for one of the largest trees. Day-to-day variation in Ec was a function of daily differences in net radiation (Rn) and atmospheric humidity deficit (δe). Increases in daily Rn and δe led to linear increases in canopy transpiration and there was no indication that a plateau-style relationship existed between Ec and average daily δe. Mean daily gc ranged from 1.4 to 6.7 mm s−1, and averaged 3.4 mm s−1 across the 12 study trees. Some of the tree-to-tree variation observed for Ec and gc was related to the fact that not all trees occupied the same vertical position within the stand. Variation in estimates of the daily decoupling coefficient (0≤Ω≤1) was also considerable and for individual trees the seasonally-averaged Ω varied from 0.12 to 0.37, and averaged 0.23 for the 12 study trees. An Ω of this magnitude indicates that red maple canopies are partially decoupled from the atmosphere and suggests that significant vertical gradients of air temperature and δe from the canopy surface to the bulk air several meters above the canopy are possible. Model analysis of hourly data indicated that simulated surface temperatures in mid-July were 3.6–5.8°C higher than above-canopy reference temperatures, and δe at the canopy surface was 0.3 kPa higher than that of the bulk atmosphere. These calculations were partially supported by leaf-level measurements taken on one of the trees from a 20-m canopy-access tower. The implications of this partial decoupling to understanding and modeling the environmental control of canopy transpiration are discussed.

Ecological Monographs, 2004

Models represent our primary method for integration of small-scale, processlevel phenomena into a... more Models represent our primary method for integration of small-scale, processlevel phenomena into a comprehensive description of forest-stand or ecosystem function. They also represent a key method for testing hypotheses about the response of forest ecosystems to multiple changing environmental conditions. This paper describes the evaluation of 13 stand-level models varying in their spatial, mechanistic, and temporal complexity for their ability to capture intra-and interannual components of the water and carbon cycle for an upland, oak-dominated forest of eastern Tennessee. Comparisons between model simulations and observations were conducted for hourly, daily, and annual time steps. Data for the comparisons were obtained from a wide range of methods including: eddy covariance, sapflow, chamber-based soil respiration, biometric estimates of stand-level net primary production and growth, and soil water content by time or frequency domain reflectometry. Response surfaces of carbon and water flux as a function of environmental drivers, and a variety of goodness-of-fit statistics (bias, absolute bias, and model efficiency) were used to judge model performance.

Physiologia Plantarum, 1995

Gas exchange techniques were used to investigate light-saturated carbon assimilation and its stom... more Gas exchange techniques were used to investigate light-saturated carbon assimilation and its stomatal and non-stomatal limitations over two seasons in mature trees of five species in a closed deciduous forest. Stomatal and nonstomatal contributions to decreases in assimilation resulting from leaf age and drought were quantified relative to the maximum rates obtained early in the season at optimal soil water contents. Although carbon assimilation, stomatal conductance and photosynthetic capacity (V cmax ) decreased with leaf age, decreases in V cmax accounted for about 75% of the leaf-age related reduction in light-saturated assimilation rates, with a secondary role for stomatal conductance (around 25%). However, when considered independently from leaf age, the drought response was dominated by stomatal limitations, accounting for about 75% of the total limitation. Some of the analytical difficulties associated with computing limitation partitioning are discussed, including path dependence, patchy stomatal closure and diffusion in the mesophyll. Although these considerations may introduce errors in our estimates, our analysis establishes some reasonable boundaries on relative limitations and shows differences between drought and non-drought years. Estimating seasonal limitations under natural conditions, as shown in this study, provides a useful basis for comparing limitation processes between years and species.

New Phytologist, 2004

Rising atmospheric CO 2 and temperatures are probably altering ecosystem carbon cycling, causing ... more Rising atmospheric CO 2 and temperatures are probably altering ecosystem carbon cycling, causing both positive and negative feedbacks to climate. Below-ground processes play a key role in the global carbon (C) cycle because they regulate storage of large quantities of C, and are potentially very sensitive to direct and indirect effects of elevated CO 2 and temperature. Soil organic matter pools, roots and associated rhizosphere organisms all have distinct responses to environmental change drivers, although availability of C substrates will regulate all the responses. Elevated CO 2 increases C supply below-ground, whereas warming is likely to increase respiration and decomposition rates, leading to speculation that these effects will moderate one another. However, indirect effects on soil moisture availability and nutrient supply may alter processes in unexpected directions. Detailed, mechanistic understanding and modelling of below-ground flux components, pool sizes and turnover rates is needed to adequately predict long-term, net C storage in ecosystems. In this synthesis, we discuss the current status of below-ground responses to elevated CO 2 and Research review www.newphytologist.org © New Phytologist (2004) 162: 311-322 Review 312 temperature and potential feedback effects, methodological challenges, and approaches to integrating models and measurements. © New Phytologist (2004) 162 : 311 -322

Agricultural and Forest Meteorology, 2000

The energy balance components were measured above the ground surface of a temperate deciduous for... more The energy balance components were measured above the ground surface of a temperate deciduous forest over an annual cycle using the eddy covariance technique. Over a year, the net radiation at the forest floor was 21.5% of that above the canopy, but this proportion was not constant, primarily because of the distinct phenological stages separated by the emergence and senescence of leaves. The dominant response to seasonal changes in net radiation was through corresponding changes in the sensible heat flux, and both net radiation and sensible heat flux peaked just before leaf emergence. Evaporation at the forest floor was typically less than 0.5 mm per day, and unlike sensible heat flux, was not closely coupled to seasonal changes in net radiation. Instead, evaporation at the forest floor responded primarily to rapid changes in litter water content. Forest floor evaporation was limited by the water-holding capacity of litter, and when the atmospheric demand was large, the litter layer dried on the time scale of several hours. After this rapid period of drying, net radiation and sensible heat flux dominated the energy budget.When leaves were present during the growing season, the sensible and latent energy fluxes at the forest floor were less than 10% of the total canopy fluxes, and the mean Bowen ratio was similar to that above the canopy. However, during the dormant season, the controls of the energy budget at the forest floor largely determine the whole canopy fluxes. On an annual basis, the fluxes from the forest floor are roughly 15–22% of those above the canopy and the evaporation was 86 mm.

Ecological Applications, 2002

A central question concerning the response of terrestrial ecosystems to a changing atmosphere is ... more A central question concerning the response of terrestrial ecosystems to a changing atmosphere is whether increased uptake of carbon in response to increasing atmospheric carbon dioxide concentration results in greater plant biomass and carbon storage or, alternatively, faster cycling of C through the ecosystem. Net primary productivity (NPP) of a closed-canopy Liquidambar styraciflua (sweetgum) forest stand was assessed for three years in a free-air CO 2 -enrichment (FACE) experiment. NPP increased 21% in stands exposed to elevated CO 2 , and there was no loss of response over time. Wood increment increased significantly during the first year of exposure, but subsequently most of the extra C was allocated to production of leaves and fine roots. These pools turn over more rapidly than wood, thereby reducing the potential of the forest stand to sequester additional C in response to atmospheric CO 2 enrichment. Hence, while this experiment provides the first evidence that CO 2 enrichment can increase productivity in a closed-canopy deciduous forest, the implications of this result must be tempered because the increase in productivity resulted in faster cycling of C through the system rather than increased C storage in wood. The fate of the additional C entering the soil system and the environmental interactions that influence allocation need further investigation.

Agricultural and Forest Meteorology, 2001

A multi-year, multi-technique study was conducted to measure evapotranspiration and its component... more A multi-year, multi-technique study was conducted to measure evapotranspiration and its components within an uneven-aged mixed deciduous forest in the Southeastern United States. Four different measurement techniques were used, including soil water budget (1 year), sap flow (2 years), eddy covariance (5 years), and catchment water budget (31 years). Annual estimates of evapotranspiration were similar for the eddy covariance and catchment water balance techniques, averaging 571 ± 16 mm (eddy covariance) and 582±28 mm (catchment water balance) per year over a 5-year period. There were qualitative similarities between sap flow and eddy covariance estimates on a daily basis, and sap flow estimates of transpiration were about 50% of annual evapotranspiration estimated from eddy covariance and catchment studies. Soil evaporation was estimated using a second eddy covariance system below the canopy, and these measurements suggest that soil evaporation explains only a small portion of the difference between sap flow estimates of transpiration and eddy covariance and catchment water budget estimates of evapotranspiration. Convergence of the catchment water balance and eddy covariance methods and moderately good energy balance closure suggests that the sap flow estimates could be low, unless evaporation of canopy-intercepted water was especially large. The large species diversity and presence of ring-porous trees at our site may explain the difficulty in extrapolating sap flow measurements to the spatial scales representative of the eddy covariance and catchment water balance methods. Soil water budget estimates were positively correlated with eddy covariance and sap flow measurements, but the data were highly variable and in error under conditions of severe surface dryness and after rainfall events.

Geoderma, 2005

Although the rates and mechanisms of soil organic matter (SOM) stabilization are difficult to obs... more Although the rates and mechanisms of soil organic matter (SOM) stabilization are difficult to observe directly, radiocarbon has proven an effective tracer of soil C dynamics, particularly when coupled with practical fractionation schemes. To explore the rates of C cycling in temperate forest soils, we took advantage of a unique opportunity in the form of an inadvertent stand-level 14C-labeling originating from a local industrial release. A simple density fractionation scheme separated SOM into inter-aggregate particulate organic matter (free light fraction, free LF), particulate organic matter occluded within aggregates (occluded LF), and organic matter that is complexed with minerals to form a dense fraction (dense fraction, DF). Minimal agitation and density separation was used to isolate the free LF. The remaining dense sediment was subjected to physical disruption and sonication followed by density separation to separate it into occluded LF and DF. The occluded LF had higher C concentrations and C:N ratios than the free LF, and the C concentration in both light fractions was ten times that of the DF. As a result, the light fractions together accounted for less than 4% of the soil by weight, but contained 40% of the soil C in the 0–15 cm soil increment. Likewise, the light fractions were less than 1% weight of the 15–30 cm increment, but contained more than 35% of the soil C. The degree of SOM protection in the fractions, as indicated by Δ14C, was different. In all cases the free LF had the shortest mean residence times. A significant depth by fraction interaction for 14C indicates that the relative importance of aggregation versus organo-mineral interactions for overall C stabilization changes with depth. The rapid incorporation of 14C label into the otherwise depleted DF shows that this organo-mineral fraction comprises highly stable material as well as more recent inputs.