scholarly journals Detecting the permafrost carbon feedback: Talik formation and increased cold-season respiration as precursors to sink-to-source transitions

Author(s):  
Nicholas C. Parazoo ◽  
Charles D. Koven ◽  
David M. Lawrence ◽  
Vladimir Romanovsky ◽  
Charles E. Miller

Abstract. Thaw and release of permafrost carbon (C) due to climate change is likely to offset increased vegetation C uptake in Northern High Latitude (NHL) terrestrial ecosystems. Models project that this permafrost C feedback may act as a slow leak, in which case detection and attribution of the feedback may be difficult. The formation of talik, a sub-surface layer of perennially thawed soil, can accelerate permafrost degradation and soil respiration, ultimately shifting the C balance of permafrost affected ecosystems from long-term C sinks to long-term C sources. It is imperative to understand and characterize mechanistic links between talik, permafrost thaw, and respiration of deep soil C to detect and quantify the permafrost C feedback. Here, we use the Community Land Model (CLM) version 4.5, a permafrost and biogeochemistry model, in comparison to long term deep borehole data along North American and Siberian transects, to investigate thaw driven C sources in NHL (> 55° N) from 2000–2300. Widespread talik at depth IS projected across most of the NHL permafrost region (14 million km2) by 2300, correlated to increased cold season warming, earlier spring thaw, and growing active layers. Talik formation peaks in the 2050s in warm permafrost regions in the sub-Arctic. Comparison to borehole data suggests talik formation may even occur sooner. Accelerated decomposition of deep soil C following talik onset shifts the surface balance of photosynthetic uptake and litter respiration into long-term C sources across 3.2 million km2 of permafrost. Talik driven sources occur predominantly in warm permafrost, but sink-to-source transition dates are delayed by decades to centuries due to high ecosystem productivity. In contrast, most of the cold permafrost region in the northern Arctic (3 million km2) shifts to a net source by the end of the 21st century in the absence of talik due to the high decomposition rates of shallow, young C in organic rich soils coupled with low productivity. Our results provide important clues signaling imminent talik onset and C source transition including: (1) late cold season (Jan–Feb) soil warming at depth (~ 2 m), (2) increasing cold season emissions (Nov–Apr), (3) enhanced respiration of deep, old C in warm permafrost and young, shallow C in organic rich cold permafrost soils. Our results suggest a mosaic of processes that govern carbon source-to-sink transitions at high latitudes, and emphasize the urgency of monitoring soil thermal profiles, organic C age and content, cold season CO2 emissions, and atmospheric 14CO2 as key indicators of the permafrost C feedback.

2018 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
pp. 123-144 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nicholas C. Parazoo ◽  
Charles D. Koven ◽  
David M. Lawrence ◽  
Vladimir Romanovsky ◽  
Charles E. Miller

Abstract. Thaw and release of permafrost carbon (C) due to climate change is likely to offset increased vegetation C uptake in northern high-latitude (NHL) terrestrial ecosystems. Models project that this permafrost C feedback may act as a slow leak, in which case detection and attribution of the feedback may be difficult. The formation of talik, a subsurface layer of perennially thawed soil, can accelerate permafrost degradation and soil respiration, ultimately shifting the C balance of permafrost-affected ecosystems from long-term C sinks to long-term C sources. It is imperative to understand and characterize mechanistic links between talik, permafrost thaw, and respiration of deep soil C to detect and quantify the permafrost C feedback. Here, we use the Community Land Model (CLM) version 4.5, a permafrost and biogeochemistry model, in comparison to long-term deep borehole data along North American and Siberian transects, to investigate thaw-driven C sources in NHL (> 55∘ N) from 2000 to 2300. Widespread talik at depth is projected across most of the NHL permafrost region (14 million km2) by 2300, 6.2 million km2 of which is projected to become a long-term C source, emitting 10 Pg C by 2100, 50 Pg C by 2200, and 120 Pg C by 2300, with few signs of slowing. Roughly half of the projected C source region is in predominantly warm sub-Arctic permafrost following talik onset. This region emits only 20 Pg C by 2300, but the CLM4.5 estimate may be biased low by not accounting for deep C in yedoma. Accelerated decomposition of deep soil C following talik onset shifts the ecosystem C balance away from surface dominant processes (photosynthesis and litter respiration), but sink-to-source transition dates are delayed by 20–200 years by high ecosystem productivity, such that talik peaks early (∼ 2050s, although borehole data suggest sooner) and C source transition peaks late (∼ 2150–2200). The remaining C source region in cold northern Arctic permafrost, which shifts to a net source early (late 21st century), emits 5 times more C (95 Pg C) by 2300, and prior to talik formation due to the high decomposition rates of shallow, young C in organic-rich soils coupled with low productivity. Our results provide important clues signaling imminent talik onset and C source transition, including (1) late cold-season (January–February) soil warming at depth (∼ 2 m), (2) increasing cold-season emissions (November–April), and (3) enhanced respiration of deep, old C in warm permafrost and young, shallow C in organic-rich cold permafrost soils. Our results suggest a mosaic of processes that govern carbon source-to-sink transitions at high latitudes and emphasize the urgency of monitoring soil thermal profiles, organic C age and content, cold-season CO2 emissions, and atmospheric 14CO2 as key indicators of the permafrost C feedback.


2002 ◽  
Vol 139 (3) ◽  
pp. 231-243 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. J. A. VINTEN ◽  
B. C. BALL ◽  
M. F. O'SULLIVAN ◽  
J. K. HENSHALL

The effects of ploughing or no-tillage of long-term grass and grass-clover swards on changes in organic C and N pools and on CO2 and denitrified gas emissions were investigated in a 3-year field experiment in 1996–99 near Penicuik, Scotland. The decrease in soil C content between 1996 and 1999 was 15·3 t/ha (95% confidence limits were 1·7–28·9 t/ha). Field estimates of CO2 losses from deep-ploughed, normal-ploughed and no-tillage plots were 3·1, 4·5 and 4·6 t/ha over the sampling periods (a total of 257 days) in 1996–98. The highest N2O fluxes were from the fertilized spring barley under no-tillage. Thus no-tillage did not reduce C emissions, caused higher N2O emissions, and required larger inputs of N fertilizer than ploughing. By contrast, deep ploughing led to smaller C and N2O emissions but had no effect on yields, suggesting that deep ploughing might be an appropriate means of conserving C and N when leys are ploughed in. Subsoil denitrification losses were estimated to be 10–16 kg N/ha per year by measurement of 15N emissions from incubated intact cores. A balance sheet of N inputs and outputs showed that net N mineralization over 3 years was lower from plots receiving N fertilizer than from plots receiving no fertilizer.


Soil Research ◽  
2001 ◽  
Vol 39 (3) ◽  
pp. 435 ◽  
Author(s):  
R. C. Dalal ◽  
K. Y. Chan

The Australian cereal belt stretches as an arc from north-eastern Australia to south-western Australia (24˚S–40˚S and 125˚E–147˚E), with mean annual temperatures from 14˚C (temperate) to 26˚C (subtropical), and with annual rainfall ranging from 250 mm to 1500 mm. The predominant soil types of the cereal belt include Chromosols, Kandosols, Sodosols, and Vertosols, with significant areas of Ferrosols, Kurosols, Podosols, and Dermosols, covering approximately 20 Mha of arable cropping and 21 Mha of ley pastures. Cultivation and cropping has led to a substantial loss of soil organic matter (SOM) from the Australian cereal belt; the long-term SOM loss often exceeds 60% from the top 0–0.1 m depth after 50 years of cereal cropping. Loss of labile components of SOM such as sand-size or particulate SOM, microbial biomass, and mineralisable nitrogen has been even higher, thus resulting in greater loss in soil productivity than that assessed from the loss of total SOM alone. Since SOM is heterogeneous in nature, the significance and functions of its various components are ambiguous. It is essential that the relationship between levels of total SOM or its identif iable components and the most affected soil properties be established and then quantif ied before the concentrations or amounts of SOM and/or its components can be used as a performance indicator. There is also a need for experimentally verifiable soil organic C pools in modelling the dynamics and management of SOM. Furthermore, the interaction of environmental pollutants added to soil, soil microbial biodiversity, and SOM is poorly understood and therefore requires further study. Biophysically appropriate and cost-effective management practices for cereal cropping lands are required for restoring and maintaining organic matter for sustainable agriculture and restoration of degraded lands. The additional benefit of SOM restoration will be an increase in the long-term greenhouse C sink, which has the potentialto reduce greenhouse emissions by about 50 Mt CO2 equivalents/year over a 20-year period, although current improved agricultural practices can only sequester an estimated 23% of the potential soil C sink.


Soil Research ◽  
1998 ◽  
Vol 36 (2) ◽  
pp. 273 ◽  
Author(s):  
W. J. Slattery ◽  
D. G. Edwards ◽  
L. C. Bell ◽  
D. R. Coventry ◽  
K. R. Helyar

Changes in soil organic matter were determined for a long-term (1975–95) experiment at the Rutherglen Research Institute in north-eastern Victoria. The crop rotations in this experiment were continuous lupins (LL) and continuous wheat (WW). The soil at this site was a solodic or Yellow Dermosol with a soil pH of 6·08 (pH in 0·01 М CaCl2 1 : 5) in 1975 in the surface 10 cm, which had declined by 0·8 and 1·5 pH units for WW and LL, respectively, in the 0–20 cm soil zone by 1992. Acidification rates decreased with increasing soil depth. The acidification rate in the 0–60 cm soil zone was 12·5 kmol(H+)/ha·year for the LL rotation and 4·6 kmol(H+)/ha·year for the WW rotation. The amount of CaCO3 required to neutralise the acidification of wheat-lupin rotations as calculated in this paper was up to 3·8 t/ha ·10 years for a WLWL rotation or 3 ·3 t/ha ·10 years for a WWL rotation; these amounts are significantly higher than previously reported rates. In this paper, we calculate the impact of changes in soil carbon (C) status over time, and therefore soil buffering, on the rates of acidification in incremental soil layers to a depth of 60 cm. Total organic C for these rotations in 1992 was 1·12% for WW and 1·17% for LL in the 0–10 cm soil zone. An investigation of the humic and fulvic acid fractions of these 2 rotations to a depth of 60 cm showed that the LL rotation had significantly higher (P < 0·05) C at depth than the WW rotation. Acidification due to the net decrease in soil C over the 15-year study period plus acidification due to the alkali removed in the seed was calculated to be –4·88 kmol(H+)/ha·year for the LL rotation and –6·52 kmol(H+)/ha·year for the WW rotation.


2004 ◽  
Vol 84 (1) ◽  
pp. 49-61 ◽  
Author(s):  
E. A. Paul ◽  
H. P. Collins ◽  
K. Paustian ◽  
E. T. Elliott ◽  
S. Frey ◽  
...  

Factors controlling soil organic matter (SOM) dynamics in soil C sequestration and N fertility were determined from multi-site analysis of long-term, crop rotation experiments in Western Canada. Analyses included bulk density, organic and inorganic C and N, particulate organic C (POM-C) and N (POM -N), and CO2-C evolved during laboratory incubation. The POM-C and POM-N contents varied with soil type. Differences in POM-C contents between treatments at a site (δPOM-C) were related (r2= 0.68) to treatment differences in soil C (δSOC). The CO2-C, evolved during laboratory incubation, was the most sensitive indicator of management effects. The Gray Luvisol (Breton, AB) cultivated plots had a fivefold difference in CO2-C release relative to a twofold difference in soil organic carbon (SOC). Soils from cropped, Black Chernozems (Melfort and Indian Head, SK) and Dark Brown Chernozems (Lethbridge, AB) released 50 to 60% as much CO2-C as grassland soils. Differences in CO2 evolution from the treatment with the lowest SOM on a site and that of other treatments (δCO2-C) in the early stages of the incubation were correlated to δPOM-C and this pool reflects short-term SOC storage. Management for soil fertility, such as N release, may differ from management for C sequestration. Key words: Multi-site analysis, soil management, soil C and N, POM-C and N, CO2 evolution


2018 ◽  
Vol 15 (1) ◽  
pp. 379-397 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tracy Elsey-Quirk ◽  
Viktoria Unger

Abstract. Salt marshes are important hotspots of long-term belowground carbon (C) storage, where plant biomass and allochthonous C can be preserved in the soil for thousands of years. However, C accumulation rates, as well as the sources of C, may differ depending on environmental conditions influencing plant productivity, allochthonous C deposition, and C preservation. For this study, we examined the relationship between belowground root growth, turnover, decay, above- and belowground biomass, and previously reported longer-term rates of total, labile, and refractory organic C accumulation and accretion in Spartina alterniflora-dominated marshes across two mid-Atlantic, US estuaries. Tidal range, long-term rates of mineral sedimentation, C accumulation, and accretion were higher and salinities were lower in marshes of the coastal plain estuary (Delaware Bay) than in the coastal lagoon (Barnegat Bay). We expected that the conditions promoting high rates of C accumulation would also promote high plant productivity and greater biomass. We further tested the influence of environmental conditions on belowground growth (roots + rhizomes), decomposition, and biomass of S. alterniflora. The relationship between plant biomass and C accumulation rate differed between estuaries. In the sediment-limited coastal lagoon, rates of total, labile, and refractory organic C accumulation were directly and positively related to above- and belowground biomass. Here, less flooding and a higher mineral sedimentation rate promoted greater above- and belowground biomass and, in turn, higher soil C accumulation and accretion rates. In the coastal plain estuary, the C accumulation rate was related only to aboveground biomass, which was positively related to the rate of labile C accumulation. Soil profiles indicated that live root and rhizome biomass was positively associated with labile C density for most marshes, yet high labile C densities below the live root zone and in marshes with high mineral sedimentation rates and low biomass signify the potential contribution of allochthonous C and the preservation of labile C. Overall, our findings illustrate the importance of sediment supply to marshes both for promoting positive plant-C accumulation-accretion feedbacks in geomorphic settings where mineral sediment is limiting and for promoting allochthonous inputs and preservation of labile C leading to high C accumulation and accretion rates in geomorphic settings where sediment supply is abundant.


Soil Research ◽  
2011 ◽  
Vol 49 (1) ◽  
pp. 27 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. K. Conyers ◽  
G. J. Poile ◽  
A. A. Oates ◽  
D. Waters ◽  
K. Y. Chan

Accounting for carbon (C) in soil will require a degree of precision sufficient to permit an assessment of any trend through time. Soil can contain many chemically and physically diverse forms of organic and inorganic carbon, some of which might not meet certain definitions of ‘soil carbon’. In an attempt to assess how measurements of these diverse forms of C might vary with analytical method, we measured the C concentration of 26 substrates by three methods commonly used for soil C (Walkley–Black, Heanes, and Leco). The Heanes and Leco methods were essentially equivalent in their capture of organic C, but the Leco method captured almost all of the inorganic C (carbonates, graphite). The Heanes and Walkley–Black methods did not measure carbonates but did measure 92% and 9%, respectively, of the C in graphite. All three of the common soil test procedures measured some proportion of the charcoal and of the other burnt materials. The proportion of common organic substrates (not the carbonates, graphite, or soil) that was C by weight ranged from ~10% to 90% based on the Heanes and Leco data. The proportion of the organic fraction of those same substrates, as measured by loss-on-ignition, that was C by weight ranged from 42% to 100%. The relationship between Walkley–Black C and total C (by Heanes and Leco) showed that Walkley–Black C was a variable proportion of total C for the 26 substrates. Finally, the well-known, apparent artefact in the Cr-acid methods was investigated: dichromate digestion should contain at least 7–10 mg C in the sample or over-recovery of C might be reported. Our observation that common soil C procedures readily measure C in plant roots and shoots, and in burnt stubble, means that there will likely be intra-annual variation in soil C, because avoidance of these fresh residues is difficult. Such apparent intra-annual variation in soil C will make the detection of long-term trends problematic.


2006 ◽  
Vol 86 (1) ◽  
pp. 141-151 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. F. Plante ◽  
C. E. Stewart ◽  
R. T. Conant ◽  
K. Paustian ◽  
J. Six

Agricultural management affects soil organic matter, which is important for sustainable crop production and as a greenhouse gas sink. Our objective was to determine how tillage, residue management and N fertilization affect organic C in unprotected, and physically, chemically and biochemically protected soil C pools. Samples from Breton, Alberta were fractionated and analysed for organic C content. As in previous reports, N fertilization had a positive effect, tillage had a minimal effect, and straw management had no effect on whole-soil organic C. Tillage and straw management did not alter organic C concentrations in the isolated C pools, while N fertilization increased C concentrations in all pools. Compared with a woodlot soil, the cultivated plots had lower total organic C, and the C was redistributed among isolated pools. The free light fraction and coarse particulate organic matter responded positively to C inputs, suggesting that much of the accumulated organic C occurred in an unprotected pool. The easily dispersed silt-sized fraction was the mineral-associated pool most responsive to changes in C inputs, whereas the microaggregate-derived silt-sized fraction best preserved C upon cultivation. These findings suggest that the silt-sized fraction is important for the long-term stabilization of organic matter through both physical occlusion in microaggregates and chemical protection by mineral association. Key words: Soil organic C, tillage, residue management, N fertilization, silt, clay


2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jennifer W. Harden ◽  
Jonathan A. O'Donnell ◽  
Katherine A. Heckman ◽  
Benjamin N. Sulman ◽  
Charles D. Koven ◽  
...  

Abstract. Ecosystem shifts related to climate change are anticipated for the next decades to centuries based on a number of conceptual and experimentally derived models of plant structure and function. Belowground, the potential responses of soil systems are less well known. We used geochemical steady state models, soil density fractionation, and soil radiocarbon data to constrain changes in soil carbon based on measurements from detrital (free light), aggregate-bound (occluded) and complexed or chemically bound (mineral associated) carbon pools and for bulk soil. We explored a space-for-time sequence of soils along a cold-to-warm climatic gradient from Alaskan Black Spruce forest soil with permafrost (Gelisols; 50 cm Mean Annual Temperature −1.5 ºC), Alaskan White Spruce forest soil lacking permafrost (Inceptisols; 50 cm MAT +3 ºC ), and Iowa Grassland soil lacking permafrost (Mollisols; 50 cm MAT +9 ºC) developed on similar geologic substrates (wind-blown loess deposits). These temperature ranges were also representative of temperatures at 50 cm soil depth from model output by the Community Land Model for the years 2014, 2100, and 2300 for Interior Alaska. Fitting an exponential equation to depth trends in soil C down to 2 m depths, we found that depth distributions of organic C were related mainly to depths of rooting and changes in bulk density. Using output from the geochemical steady state model, the direction and magnitude of the C loss or gain upon ecosystem shift was dictated by the C stocks of initial and final ecosystems. Radiocarbon measurements specific to each soil fraction (free light, occluded, and mineral associated) allowed us to constrain the timing of the potential loss or gain of C in each fraction driven by climatic shifts. Thawing from the Gelisol to Inceptisol in loess parent materials from present day to year 2100 resulted in small net gains to soil C, reflecting the net balance between loss of detrital and gain into occluded and mineral associated C. Greater warming and shifts from Inceptisol to Mollisol analogous to predicted warming from circa 2100 to 2300 resulted in net C losses from both occluded and mineral associated C, although small gains to the free light C fraction occurred throughout the depth profile. Gains to occluded and mineral associated C post- thaw likely reflect aggregate formation and physical protection of C as well as formation of organo-mineral compounds that accompany microbial processing. Greater warming and shifts from Inceptisol to Mollisol, which are analogous to predicted warming circa 2100 to 2300, resulted in net C losses from both occluded and mineral associated C resulting from enhanced decomposition, small gains to the free light C fraction occurred throughout the transition to Mollisol reflecting deeper rooting of the tallgrass prairie system.


1993 ◽  
Vol 73 (1) ◽  
pp. 115-122 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. N'dayegamiye ◽  
D. A. Angers

The long-term effects of wood-residue applications on soil properties are not well documented. This study was undertaken to characterize the organic matter and aggregation of a sandy loam after 9 yr of biennial application of wood residues (tree clippings) at rates of 25, 50 and 100 Mg ha−1 with and without nitrogen fertilization. Carbon (C) and nitrogen (N) contents of the whole soil were determined as well as the C content of the density fractions and of the fractions soluble and insoluble to Na4P2O7. In comparison with the control, the whole-soil C content was 16–24% higher following application of wood residues alone and 16–37% higher for application of wood residues supplemented with nitrogen. The treatments had no effect on soil water-stable macroaggregation (> 250 μm). Wood-residue applications had no effect on the humic material (soluble in Na4P2O7) but favored the humin-C content (the fractions insoluble in Na4P2O7) by 25–60% relative to the control. The light-fraction organic matter was on average 68% larger, and the heavy fraction 17% larger, in the treated soils than in the control. On average, 80% of the differences in total organic C induced by residue application could be attributed to differences in the humin and heavy fractions. The long-term effect of wood-residue applications to the soil was, therefore, reflected in an accumulation of the more stable organic matter present as heavy and humin fractions. In addition, the differences in the light fractions suggested a short-term effect of wood-residue applications.Key words: Light and heavy fractions, wood residues, organic C, water-stable aggregates, humic acids, humins


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document