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Hanson, Paul J.

Publications and source records attributed to Hanson, Paul J..

45 records · Page 3

MOFLUX Intensified Soil Moisture Extremes Decrease Soil Organic Carbon Decomposition: Modeling Archive

This Modeling Archive is in support the publication “Intensified Soil Moisture Extremes Decrease Soil Organic Carbon Decomposition: A Mechanistic Modeling Analysis” (Liang et al., 2021). Here we provide model code, inputs, outputs and evaluation datasets for the Microbial ENzyme Decomposition (MEND) model for the Missouri Ozarks AmeriFlux eddy covariance measurement site (MOFLUX) near Ashland, Missouri USA. The MEND model was developed with explicit representation of microbial and enzyme pools to mechanistically simulate the role of microbial organisms and extracellular enzymes in soil organic carbon (SOC) decomposition. Long-term SOC dynamics under intensified moisture extremes are studied using the MEND model that is parameterized with 11 years of measurements from the MOFLUX forest. The model explicitly represents microbial dormancy and resuscitation, different types of SOC-degrading enzymes, and how they vary with changes in soil moisture (Wang et al. 2015, 2019). A combination of two levels of frequency and severity of soil moisture, as well as a control with normal interannual variability, are used to simulate a range of moisture scenarios over 100 years. The code of Microbial-ENzyme Decomposition (MEND) as well as the input and output data are included in the archive. A user’s manual (MEND_Readme.pdf) is included with instructions for compiling and running the model to simulate soil organic carbon decomposition under various moisture scenarios. This dataset contains the modelling archive contained within a compressed (*.zip) file, a file-level metadata file in comma separate (*.csv) format, and two instructional files in PDF (*.pdf) format.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗

SPRUCE Compositional Stability of Peat in Ecosystem-Scale Warming Mesocosms, 2014 and 2019

This dataset contains measurements of carbohydrate and aromatic compounds in peat samples subjected to various levels of deep peat heating (DPE) and whole ecosystem warming (WEW). Samples were collected in August 2014 and August 2019 at the Spruce and Peatland Responses Under Changing Environments (SPRUCE) experimental site within the Marcell Experimental Forest in northern Minnesota, USA. These data serve to identify chemical changes occurring within peatland soils following five years of warming. Samples were analyzed in the uppermost 2m of peat using Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FT-IR) to quantify the relative abundance of carbohydrate and aromatic compounds in the peat. The peat soils were subjected to DPH beginning in June of 2014 followed by WEW in August of 2015. This dataset contains one data file in comma-separated values (.csv) format. Additional metadata are provided: one data dictionary and a file-level metadata file in comma-separated values (.csv) format and a user guide in PDF (*.pdf) format.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗

SPRUCE Radiocarbon analyses quantify peat carbon losses with increasing temperature in a whole ecosystem warming experiment, 2014-2020

This data set contains three *.csv data files with measurements of organic and inorganic carbon fractions and radiocarbon fractions in peat porewater profiles. Measurements of carbon fractions from enclosure drainage outflows are also included. Porewater profiles were collected up to four times annually from 2014 to 2020 with a piezometer and outflow samples were collected up to eight times annually in 2016 and 2017. Porewater organic and inorganic fractions were measured using a Finnigan Mat Delta V Isotope Ratio Mass Spectrometer and a Shimadzu Total Organic Carbon. Radiocarbon analyses were conducted at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL). The peat soils were subjected to deep peat heating (DPH) beginning in June of 2014 followed by whole ecosystem warming (WEW) in August of 2015 (Hanson et al. 2017). The experimental work was conducted in a Picea mariana [black spruce] – Sphagnum spp. bog forest in northern Minnesota, 40 km north of Grand Rapids, in the USDA Forest Service Marcell Experimental Forest (MEF).These changes in these inorganic and organic carbon fractions in response to whole ecosystem warming may alter decomposition and microbial communities, as well as overall soil carbon storage.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗

Peatland warming strongly increases fine-root growth

Belowground climate change responses remain a key unknown in the Earth system. Plant fine-root response is especially important to understand because fine roots respond quickly to environmental change, are responsible for nutrient and water uptake, and influence carbon cycling. However, fine-root responses to climate change are poorly constrained, especially in northern peatlands, which contain up to two-thirds of the world’s soil carbon. We present fine-root responses to warming between +2 °C and 9 °C above ambient conditions in a whole-ecosystem peatland experiment. Warming strongly increased fine-root growth by over an order of magnitude in the warmest treatment, with stronger responses in shrubs than in trees or graminoids. In the first year of treatment, the control (+0 °C) shrub fine-root growth of 0.9 km m -2 y -1 increased linearly by 1.2 km m -2 y -1 (130%) for every degree increase in soil temperature. An extended belowground growing season accounted for 20% of this dramatic increase. In the second growing season of treatment, the shrub warming response rate increased to 2.54 km m -2 °C -1 . Soil moisture was negatively correlated with fine-root growth, highlighting that drying of these typically water-saturated ecosystems can fuel a surprising burst in shrub belowground productivity, one possible mechanism explaining the “shrubification” of northern peatlands in response to global change. This previously unrecognized mechanism sheds light on how peatland fine-root response to warming and drying could be strong and rapid, with consequences for the belowground growing season duration, microtopography, vegetation composition, and ultimately, carbon function of these globally relevant carbon sinks.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗

Rainfall manipulation experiments as simulated by terrestrial biosphere models: Where do we stand?

Changes in rainfall amounts and patterns have been observed and are expected to continue in the near future with potentially significant ecological and societal consequences. Modelling vegetation responses to changes in rainfall is thus crucial to project water and carbon cycles in the future. In this study, we present the results of a new model-data intercomparison project, where we tested the ability of 10 terrestrial biosphere models to reproduce the observed sensitivity of ecosystem productivity to rainfall changes at 10 sites across the globe, in nine of which, rainfall exclusion and/or irrigation experiments had been performed. The key results are as follows: (a) Inter-model variation is generally large and model agreement varies with timescales. In severely water-limited sites, models only agree on the interannual variability of evapotranspiration and to a smaller extent on gross primary productivity. In more mesic sites, model agreement for both water and carbon fluxes is typically higher on fine (daily–monthly) timescales and reduces on longer (seasonal–annual) scales. (b) Models on average overestimate the relationship between ecosystem productivity and mean rainfall amounts across sites (in space) and have a low capacity in reproducing the temporal (interannual) sensitivity of vegetation productivity to annual rainfall at a given site, even though observation uncertainty is comparable to inter-model variability. (c) Most models reproduced the sign of the observed patterns in productivity changes in rainfall manipulation experiments but had a low capacity in reproducing the observed magnitude of productivity changes. Models better reproduced the observed productivity responses due to rainfall exclusion than addition. (d) All models attribute ecosystem productivity changes to the intensity of vegetation stress and peak leaf area, whereas the impact of the change in growing season length is negligible. Finally, the relative contribution of the peak leaf area and vegetation stress intensity was highly variable among models.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗