Identification

Title

An interannual assessment of the relationship between the stable carbon isotopic composition of ecosystem respiration and climate in a high-elevation subalpine forest

Abstract

We measured the carbon isotopic composition (δ(13)C) of ecosystem respiration (δ(13)C(R)) in a subalpine forest across four growing seasons to examine whether patterns in δ(13)C(R) were consistent with those expected based on leaf-level gas-exchange theory, and in agreement with past studies of the relation between δ(13)C(R) and climate conducted across broad geographic regions. Conventional trends (i.e., less negative δ(13)C(R) with increased vapor pressure deficit (VPD) and air temperature (Τ(AIR)), and decreased soil moisture (θ)) were observed when we focused on the driest portions of average-wetness years and when δ(13)C(R) was positively correlated with nighttime ecosystem respiration (R(E)). Nonconventional trends (i.e., more negative δ(13)C(R) with decreased θ, and increased VPD and T(AIR)) were observed under specific climatic conditions (e. g., late snowmelt; extreme T(AIR) late in the growing season), and when δ(13)C(R) was negatively correlated with R(E). These nonconventional trends were independently corroborated using δ(13)C of extracted sugars from needles of dominant tree species at the site. Our results clearly demonstrate that the commonly reported relations between δ(13)C(R) and climate may break down depending on the interactions among environmental conditions. Efforts to model and predict the variability of δ(13)C(R) under changing climatic variables must characterize and parameterize the effects of unique combinations of weather conditions and variable hydrologic regimes, in combination with the susceptibility of photosynthetic isotope discrimination to extreme air temperatures.

Resource type

document

Resource locator

Unique resource identifier

code

http://n2t.net/ark:/85065/d7j103s0

codeSpace

Dataset language

eng

Spatial reference system

code identifying the spatial reference system

Classification of spatial data and services

Topic category

geoscientificInformation

Keywords

Keyword set

keyword value

Text

originating controlled vocabulary

title

Resource Type

reference date

date type

publication

effective date

2016-01-01T00:00:00Z

Geographic location

West bounding longitude

East bounding longitude

North bounding latitude

South bounding latitude

Temporal reference

Temporal extent

Begin position

End position

Dataset reference date

date type

publication

effective date

2011-04-22T00:00:00Z

Frequency of update

Quality and validity

Lineage

Conformity

Data format

name of format

version of format

Constraints related to access and use

Constraint set

Use constraints

Limitations on public access

None

Responsible organisations

Responsible party

contact position

OpenSky Support

organisation name

UCAR/NCAR - Library

full postal address

PO Box 3000

Boulder

80307-3000

email address

opensky@ucar.edu

web address

http://opensky.ucar.edu/

name: homepage

responsible party role

pointOfContact

Metadata on metadata

Metadata point of contact