Kimberly A. Novick

Separating the effects of albedo from eco‐physiological changes on surface temperature along a successional chronosequence in the southeastern United States

[1] InthesoutheasternUnitedStates(SE),theconversionof abandoned agricultural land to forests is the dominant feature of land-cover change. However, few attempts have been made to quantify the impact of such conversion on surface temperature. Here, this issue is explored experimentally and analytically in three adjacent ecosystems (a grass-covered old-field, OF, a planted pine forest, PP, and a hardwood forest, HW) representing a successional chronosequence in the SE. The results showed that changes in albedo alone can warm the surface by 0.9C for the OF-to-PP conversion, and 0.7C for the OF-to-HW conversion on annual time scales. However, changes in eco-physiological and aerodynamic attributes alone can cool the surface by 2.9 and 2.1C, respectively. Both model and measurements consistently suggest a stronger over-all surface cooling for the OF-to-PP conversion, and the reason is attributed to leaf area variations and its impacts on boundary layer conductance. Citation: Juang, J.-Y., G. Katul, M. Siqueira, P. Stoy, and K. Novick (2007), Separating the effects of albedo from eco-physiological changes on surface temperature along a successional chronosequence in the southeastern United States, Geophys. Res. Lett., 34, L21408, doi:10.1029/2007GL031296.

On the difference in the net ecosystem exchange of CO2 between deciduous and evergreen forests in the southeastern United States

The southeastern United States is experiencing a rapid regional increase in the ratio of pine to deciduous forest ecosystems at the same time it is experiencing changes in climate. This study is focused on exploring how these shifts will affect the carbon sink capacity of southeastern US forests, which we show here are among the strongest carbon sinks in the continental United States. Using eight-year-long eddy covariance records collected above a hardwood deciduous forest (HW) and a pine plantation (PP) co-located in North Carolina, USA, we show that the net ecosystem exchange of CO2 (NEE) was more variable in PP, contributing to variability in the difference in NEE between the two sites (ΔNEE) at a range of timescales, including the interannual timescale. Because the variability in evapotranspiration (ET) was nearly identical across the two sites over a range of timescales, the factors that determined the variability in ΔNEE were dominated by those that tend to decouple NEE from ET. One such factor was water use efficiency, which changed dramatically in response to drought and also tended to increase monotonically in nondrought years (P < 0.001 in PP). Factors that vary over seasonal timescales were strong determinants of the NEE in the HW site; however, seasonality was less important in the PP site, where significant amounts of carbon were assimilated outside of the active season, representing an important advantage of evergreen trees in warm, temperate climates. Additional variability in the fluxes at long-time scales may be attributable to slowly evolving factors, including canopy structure and increases in dormant season air temperature. Taken together, study results suggest that the carbon sink in the southeastern United States may become more variable in the future, owing to a predicted increase in drought frequency and an increase in the fractional cover of southern pines.

EO-1 Hyperion Reflectance Time Series at Calibration and Validation Sites: Stability and Sensitivity to Seasonal Dynamics

This study evaluated Earth Observing 1 (EO-1) Hyperion reflectance time series at established calibration sites to assess the instrument stability and suitability for monitoring vegetation functional parameters. Our analysis using three pseudo-invariant calibration sites in North America indicated that the reflectance time series are devoid of apparent spectral trends and their stability consistently is within 2.5-5 percent throughout most of the spectral range spanning the 12+ year data record. Using three vegetated sites instrumented with eddy covariance towers, the Hyperion reflectance time series were evaluated for their ability to determine important variables of ecosystem function. A number of narrowband and derivative vegetation indices (VI) closely described the seasonal profiles in vegetation function and ecosystem carbon exchange (e.g., net and gross ecosystem productivity) in three very different ecosystems, including a hardwood forest and tallgrass prairie in North America, and a Miombo woodland in Africa. Our results demonstrate the potential for scaling the carbon flux tower measurements to local and regional landscape levels. The VIs with stronger relationships to the CO2 parameters were derived using continuous reflectance spectra and included wavelengths associated with chlorophyll content and/or chlorophyll fluorescence. Since these indices cannot be calculated from broadband multispectral instrument data, the opportunity to exploit these spectrometer-based VIs in the future will depend on the launch of satellites such as EnMAP and HyspIRI. This study highlights the practical utility of space-borne spectrometers for characterization of the spectral stability and uniformity of the calibration sites in support of sensor cross-comparisons, and demonstrates the potential of narrowband VIs to track and spatially extend ecosystem functional status as well as carbon processes measured at flux towers.

Historic and projected changes in vapor pressure deficit suggest a continental‐scale drying of the United States atmosphere

Via air temperature increases and relative humidity changes, climate change will modify vapor pressure deficit (VPD), which is an important determinant of water vapor and CO2 exchange between the land surface and atmosphere. VPD is the difference between the water vapor the air can hold at saturation (es) and the actual amount of water vapor (ea). Here we assess changes in VPD, es, and ea in the United States (U.S.) for the recent past (1979–2013) and the future (2065–2099) using gridded, observed climate data and output from general circulation models. Historically, VPD has increased for all seasons, driven by increases in es and declines in ea. The spring, summer, and fall seasons exhibited the largest areal extent of significant increases in VPD, which was largely concentrated in the western and southern portions of the U.S. The changes in VPD stemmed from recent air temperature increases and relative humidity decreases. Projections indicate similar, amplified patterns into the future. For the summer, the general circulation model ensemble median showed a 51% projected increase (quartile range of 39 and 64%) in summer VPD for the U.S., reflecting temperature-driven increases in es but decreases or minimal changes in relative humidity that promotes negligible changes in ea. Using a simple model for plant hydraulic functioning, we also show that in the absence of stomatal acclimation, future changes in VPD can reduce stomatal conductance by 9–51%, which is a magnitude comparable to the expected decline in stomatal conductance from rising CO2.

Increased resin flow in mature pine trees growing under elevated CO2 and moderate soil fertility

Warmer climates induced by elevated atmospheric CO(2) (eCO(2)) are expected to increase damaging bark beetle activity in pine forests, yet the effect of eCO(2) on resin production--the trees primary defense against beetle attack--remains largely unknown. Following growth-differentiation balance theory, if extra carbohydrates produced under eCO(2) are not consumed by respiration or growth, resin production could increase. Here, the effect of eCO(2) on resin production of mature pines is assessed. As predicted, eCO(2) enhanced resin flow by an average of 140% (P=0.03) in canopy dominants growing in low-nitrogen soils, but did not affect resin flow in faster-growing fertilized canopy dominants or in carbohydrate-limited suppressed individuals. Thus, pine trees may become increasingly protected from bark beetle attacks in an eCO(2) climate, except where they are fertilized or are allowed to become overcrowded.

Short‐term favorable weather conditions are an important control of interannual variability in carbon and water fluxes

Abstract Ecosystem models often perform poorly in reproducing interannual variability in carbon and water fluxes, resulting in considerable uncertainty when estimating the land‐carbon sink. While many aggregated variables (growing season length, seasonal precipitation, or temperature) have been suggested as predictors for interannual variability in carbon fluxes, their explanatory power is limited and uncertainties remain as to their relative contributions. Recent results show that the annual count of hours where evapotranspiration (ET) is larger than its 95th percentile is strongly correlated with the annual variability of ET and gross primary production (GPP) in an ecosystem model. This suggests that the occurrence of favorable conditions has a strong influence on the annual carbon budget. Here we analyzed data from eight forest sites of the AmeriFlux network with at least 7 years of continuous measurements. We show that for ET and the carbon fluxes GPP, ecosystem respiration (RE), and net ecosystem production, counting the “most active hours/days” (i.e., hours/days when the flux exceeds a high percentile) correlates well with the respective annual sums, with correlation coefficients generally larger than 0.8. Phenological transitions have much weaker explanatory power. By exploiting the relationship between most active hours and interannual variability, we classify hours as most active or less active and largely explain interannual variability in ecosystem fluxes, particularly for GPP and RE. Our results suggest that a better understanding and modeling of the occurrence of large values in high‐frequency ecosystem fluxes will result in a better understanding of interannual variability of these fluxes.

Cold air drainage flows subsidize montane valley ecosystem productivity

In mountainous areas, cold air drainage from high to low elevations has pronounced effects on local temperature, which is a critical driver of many ecosystem processes, including carbon uptake and storage. Here, we leverage new approaches for interpreting ecosystem carbon flux observations in complex terrain to quantify the links between macro-climate condition, drainage flows, local microclimate, and ecosystem carbon cycling in a southern Appalachian valley. Data from multiple long-running climate stations and multiple eddy covariance flux towers are combined with simple models for ecosystem carbon fluxes. We show that cold air drainage into the valley suppresses local temperature by several degrees at night and for several hours before and after sunset, leading to reductions in growing season respiration on the order of ~8%. As a result, we estimate that drainage flows increase growing season and annual net carbon uptake in the valley by >10% and >15%, respectively, via effects on microclimate that are not be adequately represented in regional- and global-scale terrestrial ecosystem models. Analyses driven by chamber-based estimates of soil and plant respiration reveal cold air drainage effects on ecosystem respiration are dominated by reductions to the respiration of aboveground biomass. We further show that cold air drainage proceeds more readily when cloud cover and humidity are low, resulting in the greatest enhancements to net carbon uptake in the valley under clear, cloud-free (i.e., drought-like) conditions. This is a counterintuitive result that is neither observed nor predicted outside of the valley, where nocturnal temperature and respiration increase during dry periods. This result should motivate efforts to explore how topographic flows may buffer eco-physiological processes from macroscale climate change.

The Duke University Helicopter Observation Platform

Abstract To establish a helicopter observation platform (HOP), Duke University has purchased a Bell 206 “Jet Ranger” helicopter, which has been equipped with a three-dimensional, high-frequency positioning and attitude-recording system, a data acquisition and real-time visualization system, and high-frequency sensors to measure turbulence, temperature, moisture, and CO2 concentration. Thus, it can collect the variables needed to compute some of the turbulent heat and scalar fluxes (using the eddy correlation technique) at low altitudes and low airspeeds that are not feasible with airplanes, yet are quite valuable for studying the exchanges between the Earths surface and the atmosphere. The main objective of this paper is to introduce the Duke HOP capability, emphasizing the range of airspeeds at which practically undisturbed air can be sampled in front of its nose, where its sensors and inlets are attached. Analytical, numerical, and observational studies are used for this purpose. In addition to the cur...

Coarse roots prevent declines in whole-tree non-structural carbohydrate pools during drought in an isohydric and an anisohydric species

Predicted increases in the frequency and severity of droughts have led to a renewed focus on how plants physiologically adjust to low water availability. A popular framework for understanding plant responses to drought characterizes species along a spectrum from isohydry to anisohydry based on their regulation of gas exchange and leaf water potential under drying conditions. One prediction that arises from this theory is that plant drought responses may hinge, in part, on their usage of non-structural carbohydrate (NSC) pools. For example, trees that respond to drought by closing stomates (i.e., isohydric) are predicted to deplete NSC reserves to maintain metabolism, whereas plants that keep stomata open during water stress (i.e., anisohydric), may show little change or even increases in NSC concentration. However, empirical tests of this theory largely rely on aboveground measurements of NSC, ignoring the potentially conflicting responses of root NSC pools. We sought to test these predictions by subjecting potted saplings of Quercus alba L. (an anisohydric species) and Liriodendron tulipifera L. (an isohydric species) to a 6 week experimental drought. We found that stem NSC concentrations were depleted in the isohydric L. tulipifera but maintained in the anisohydric Q. alba-as predicted. However, when scaled to whole-plant NSC content, the drought-induced decreases in stem NSCs in L. tulipifera were offset by increases in root NSCs (especially soluble sugars), resulting in no net change to whole-plant NSC content. Similarly, root sugars increased in Q. alba in response to drought. This increase was concurrent with declines in growth, suggesting a potential trade-off between allocation of photoassimilates to root sugars vs biomass during drought. Collectively, our results suggest that the responses of NSC in coarse roots can differ from stems, and indicate a prominent role of coarse roots in mitigating drought-induced declines in whole-tree NSC pools.