Friday, October 09, 2009
Carbon Storage in Forests Declines Under More Variable Climate
Forests worldwide are important for storing carbon, and climate changes are expected to modify future carbon storage. Climate variability, such as year-to-year fluctuations in temperature and precipitation, can contribute to climate change effects. However, most evaluations of future carbon storage focus on changes in average climate conditions and fail to consider the effect of climate variability. USGS ecologist Steve Perakis co-authored a paper comparing the importance of climate variability and forest growth dynamics for carbon storage in temperate, tropical, and northern forests. Forest dynamics were most important in shaping carbon storage in the tropics. At all sites, carbon storage declined under a more variable climate. These results suggest that climate variability interacts differently with intrinsic forest dynamics to shape carbon storage among ecosystems worldwide.
Sierra, C.A., Loescher, H.W., Harmon, M.E., Richardson, A.D., Hollinger, D.Y., Perakis, S.S., 2009, Interannual variation of carbon fluxes from three contrasting evergreen forests- the role of forest dynamics and climate: Ecology, v. 90, no. 10, p. 2711-2723. [FullText] Catalog No: 1949
Contact:
Steven
Perakis,
FRESC,
541-758-8786,
sperakis@usgs.gov
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