Animals and the zoogeochemistry of the carbon cycle

Science ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 362 (6419) ◽  
pp. eaar3213 ◽  
Author(s):  
Oswald J. Schmitz ◽  
Christopher C. Wilmers ◽  
Shawn J. Leroux ◽  
Christopher E. Doughty ◽  
Trisha B. Atwood ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Carbon Cycle ◽  
Carbon Cycling ◽  
Animal Movement ◽  
Carbon Sources ◽  
Ecosystem Processes ◽  
Carbon Exchange ◽  
Ecosystem Carbon ◽  
Scientific Challenge ◽  
And Storage ◽  
Global Carbon

Predicting and managing the global carbon cycle requires scientific understanding of ecosystem processes that control carbon uptake and storage. It is generally assumed that carbon cycling is sufficiently characterized in terms of uptake and exchange between ecosystem plant and soil pools and the atmosphere. We show that animals also play an important role by mediating carbon exchange between ecosystems and the atmosphere, at times turning ecosystem carbon sources into sinks, or vice versa. Animals also move across landscapes, creating a dynamism that shapes landscape-scale variation in carbon exchange and storage. Predicting and measuring carbon cycling under such dynamism is an important scientific challenge. We explain how to link analyses of spatial ecosystem functioning, animal movement, and remote sensing of animal habitats with carbon dynamics across landscapes.

scholarly journals Sources and sinks of carbon in boreal ecosystems of interior Alaska: A review

Elem Sci Anth ◽  
2014 ◽  
Vol 2 ◽  
Author(s):  
Thomas A. Douglas ◽  
Miriam C. Jones ◽  
Christopher A. Hiemstra ◽  
Jeffrey R. Arnold
Keyword(s):  
Carbon Cycle ◽  
Forest Succession ◽  
Fire Severity ◽  
Research Question ◽  
Carbon Sources ◽  
Ecosystem Processes ◽  
Boreal Ecosystems ◽  
Sources And Sinks ◽  
Interior Alaska ◽  
Discontinuous Permafrost

Abstract Boreal ecosystems store large quantities of carbon but are increasingly vulnerable to carbon loss due to disturbance and climate warming. The boreal region in Alaska and Canada, largely underlain by discontinuous permafrost, presents a challenging landscape for itemizing carbon sources and sinks in soil and vegetation. The roles of fire, forest succession, and the presence (or absence) of permafrost on carbon cycle, vegetation, and hydrologic processes have been the focus of multidisciplinary research in boreal ecosystems for the past 20 years. However, projections of a warming future climate, an increase in fire severity and extent, and the potential degradation of permafrost could lead to major landscape and carbon cycle changes over the next 20 to 50 years. To assist land managers in interior Alaska in adapting and managing for potential changes in the carbon cycle we developed this review paper by incorporating an overview of the climate, ecosystem processes, vegetation, and soil regimes. Our objective is to provide a synthesis of the most current carbon storage estimates and measurements to guide policy and land management decisions on how to best manage carbon sources and sinks. We surveyed estimates of aboveground and belowground carbon stocks for interior Alaska boreal ecosystems and summarized methane and carbon dioxide fluxes. These data have been converted into similar units to facilitate comparison across ecosystem compartments. We identify potential changes in the carbon cycle with climate change and human disturbance. A novel research question is how compounding disturbances affect carbon sources and sinks associated with boreal ecosystem processes. Finally, we provide recommendations to address the challenges facing land managers in efforts to manage carbon cycle processes. The results of this study can be used for carbon cycle management in other locations within the boreal biome which encompasses a broad distribution from 45° to 83° north.

Decrypting the sources of dissolved inorganic carbon in river water: Isotopic study from river Ganga, India

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anurag Kumar ◽  
Prasanta Sanyal
Keyword(s):  
Carbon Cycle ◽  
River Water ◽  
Bay Of Bengal ◽  
Inorganic Carbon ◽  
Dissolved Inorganic Carbon ◽  
Carbon Sources ◽  
Global Carbon Cycle ◽  
Freshwater Flux ◽  
River Ganga ◽  
Global Carbon

<p>Freshwater flux transport large amount of carbon (dissolved and particulate, organic and inorganic) from the continent into the ocean, contributing significantly to the global carbon cycle. The present sources and sinks of natural as well as anthropogenically produced C compounds in the global carbon cycle remain enigmatic. Among the carbon sources in the river ecosystem, the dissolved inorganic carbon (DIC) constitutes a major component of carbon influx from land to ocean. These fluxes are significantly influenced by the terrestrial and estuary processes. The isotopic composition of DIC can be used to understand the sources and cycling of carbon in rivers and estuaries. In this study, δ<sup>13</sup>C values of DIC in river water of Ganga have been used to understand the sources of dissolved inorganic carbon into the river. The river Ganga (2500 km) is the largest river of the Indian subcontinent which originates from the Gangotri glacier and drains into the Bay of Bengal through its vast delta in the Sunderban. The Ganga river basin (GRB) covers an area of 10<sup>6</sup> km<sup>2</sup> draining the carbon sources of the entire basin into the mainstream of river Ganga. The river transports nearly 0.2% of the global freshwater flux, 1% of global DIC flux and 5% of the global sediment flux into the ocean. Despite its significant importance to the global carbon transport, the understanding of the DIC sources in the complex Ganga river system remains enigmatic. Therefore to elucidate the carbon sources in the river Ganga, the δ<sup>13</sup>C DIC of river water were measured from source (Gomukh) to sink (Bay of Bengal) of the river Ganga for pre and late-monsoon period. The seasonal variation in the δ<sup>13</sup>C DIC shows enriched isotopic values in pre-monsoon compared to late-monsoon samples. The upper, middle and lower stretch of the river shows distinct enrichment factors for pre and late-monsoon samples. The variation in the δ<sup>13</sup>C DIC of river water might be indicating the DIC signature of the source water. The pre-monsoon samples show enrichment in the δ<sup>13</sup>C DIC values as we move downstream of the river, whereas the late-monsoon samples show a slight depletion trend. The difference between the pre and late- monsoon samples might be indicating the high input of soil CO<sub>2</sub> during the late-monsoon season which is characterized by lower δ<sup>13</sup>C values.</p>

Are response function representations of the global carbon cycle ever interpretable?

Tellus B ◽  
2009 ◽  
Vol 61 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Sile Li ◽  
Andrew J. Jarvis ◽  
David T. Leedal
Keyword(s):  
Carbon Cycle ◽  
Response Function ◽  
Global Carbon Cycle ◽  
Global Carbon

scholarly journals High and specific diversity of protists in the deep-sea basins dominated by diplonemids, kinetoplastids, ciliates and foraminiferans

2021 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Alexandra Schoenle ◽  
Manon Hohlfeld ◽  
Karoline Hermanns ◽  
Frédéric Mahé ◽  
Colomban de Vargas ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Carbon Cycling ◽  
Deep Sea ◽  
Trophic Levels ◽  
Earth System ◽  
Parasitic Species ◽  
Unicellular Eukaryotes ◽  
The Earth ◽  
Dna Metabarcoding ◽  
Global Carbon ◽  
Pelagic Communities

AbstractHeterotrophic protists (unicellular eukaryotes) form a major link from bacteria and algae to higher trophic levels in the sunlit ocean. Their role on the deep seafloor, however, is only fragmentarily understood, despite their potential key function for global carbon cycling. Using the approach of combined DNA metabarcoding and cultivation-based surveys of 11 deep-sea regions, we show that protist communities, mostly overlooked in current deep-sea foodweb models, are highly specific, locally diverse and have little overlap to pelagic communities. Besides traditionally considered foraminiferans, tiny protists including diplonemids, kinetoplastids and ciliates were genetically highly diverse considerably exceeding the diversity of metazoans. Deep-sea protists, including many parasitic species, represent thus one of the most diverse biodiversity compartments of the Earth system, forming an essential link to metazoans.

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