Substantial understory contribution to the C sink of a European temperate mountain forest landscape.
Carbon sequestration
Ecosystem modelling
Forest disturbance
Herb layer
Mountain forest
Net ecosystem production
Tree regeneration
Journal
Landscape ecology
ISSN: 0921-2973
Titre abrégé: Landsc Ecol
Pays: Netherlands
ID NLM: 101534628
Informations de publication
Date de publication:
2020
2020
Historique:
received:
14
03
2019
accepted:
10
12
2019
entrez:
14
3
2020
pubmed:
14
3
2020
medline:
14
3
2020
Statut:
ppublish
Résumé
The contribution of forest understory to the temperate forest carbon sink is not well known, increasing the uncertainty in C cycling feedbacks on global climate as estimated by Earth System Models. We aimed at quantifying the effect of woody and non-woody understory vegetation on net ecosystem production (NEP) for a forested area of 158 km We simulated C dynamics for the period 2000-2014, characterized by above-average temperatures, windstorms and a subsequent bark beetle outbreak for the area, using the regional ecosystem model LandscapeDNDC. In the entire study area, woody and non-woody understory vegetation caused between 16 and 37% higher regional NEP as compared to a bare soil scenario over the 15-year period. The mean annual contribution of the understory to NEP was in the same order of magnitude as the average annual European (EU-25) forest C sink. After wind and bark beetle disturbances, the understory effect was more pronounced, leading to an increase in NEP between 35 and 67% compared to simulations not taking into account these components. Our findings strongly support the importance of processes related to the understory in the context of the climate change mitigation potential of temperate forest ecosystems. The expected increases in stand replacing disturbances due to climate change call for a better representation of understory vegetation dynamics and its effect on the ecosystem C balance in regional assessments and Earth System Models.
Identifiants
pubmed: 32165789
doi: 10.1007/s10980-019-00960-2
pii: 960
pmc: PMC7045765
doi:
Types de publication
Journal Article
Langues
eng
Pagination
483-499Subventions
Organisme : Austrian Science Fund FWF
ID : Y 895
Pays : Austria
Informations de copyright
© The Author(s) 2020.
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