Abstract
Stable isotope and micrometeorological techniques have long been used to study carbon cycle dynamics at a variety of spatial and temporal scales. Combination of these techniques provide a powerful tool for gaining greater process information at the ecosystem and regional scales and can provide a meaningful way to scale processes from leaf to region. In this chapter we review the recent literature and examine the key processes influencing biosphere–atmosphere 13CO2 exchange. These processes are examined from the perspective of agricultural land management and rapid seasonal changes in phenology. Novel measurement techniques are introduced that can be used to better quantify the 13CO2 exchange between the biosphere and atmosphere to determine how ecosystem processes, land use modifications, and phenology impact the isotopic composition of the atmosphere (i.e. the atmospheric isotopic forcing associated with land surface processes). High temporal resolution isotope mixing ratio and flux measurements, based on tunable diode laser absorption spectroscopy, are presented. The results demonstrate that the isotopic composition of respiration at the ecosystem scale is strongly linked to plant assimilated carbon, which is dependent on plant metabolic physiology and growth phase. We review how this strong isotopic coupling between ecosystem respiration and photosynthesis can impact isotope-based flux partitioning of net ecosystem CO2 exchange, the variation in the canopy isotopic discrimination parameter, and the resulting isotopic forcing on the atmosphere.
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Abbreviations
- FN :
-
net ecosystem CO2 exchange (μmol m−2 s−1)
- FA :
-
ecosystem photosynthetic assimilation (μmol m−2 s−1)
- FR :
-
ecosystem respiration (μmol m−2 s−1)
- ∆canopy :
-
canopy isotopic discrimination (‰)
- D:
-
canopy isotopic disequilibrium (‰)
- C3 :
-
Calvin cycle plant metabolism
- C4 :
-
Hatch-Slack cycle plant metabolism
- δ13C:
-
carbon isotopic composition (‰)
- ca :
-
canopy air CO2 mixing ratio (ppm)
- cs :
-
leaf boundary layer CO2 mixing ratio (ppm)
- ci :
-
stomatal CO2 mixing ratio (ppm)
- cc :
-
chloroplast CO2 mixing ratio (ppm)
- \(\delta _N^{13}\) :
-
carbon isotope ratio of the net flux (‰)
- δ A :
-
assimilated carbon isotopic composition (‰)
- δ R :
-
non-foliar respired carbon isotopic composition (‰)
- δ N :
-
carbon isotopic composition of the net CO2 exchange (‰)
- δ a :
-
atmospheric carbon isotopic composition (‰)
- g:
-
total conductance (μmol m−2 s−1)
- ga :
-
aerodynamic conductance (μmol m−2 s−1)
- gs :
-
canopy stomatal conductance (μmol m−2 s−1)
- gm :
-
mesophyll wall conductance (μmol m−2 s−1)
- ∆ b :
-
boundary layer diffusional fractionation (‰)
- ∆ s :
-
stomatal diffusional fractionation (‰)
- ∆diss :
-
mesophyll dissolution fractionation (‰)
- ∆aq :
-
aqueous phase mesophyll transport fractionation (‰)
- ∆ f :
-
enzymatic fixation isotopic fractionation (‰)
- Fδ :
-
net ecosystem CO2 isoflux (μmol m−2 s−1‰)
- Kc :
-
eddy diffusivity of CO2 (m2 s−1)
- \(\overline p _a\) :
-
molar density of dry air (mol m−3)
- Ma :
-
molecular weight of dry air (g mol–1 )
- RVPDB :
-
heavy to light isotopic ratio of NBS-19
- w:
-
vertical wind velocity (m s−1)
- Sc :
-
storage rate of change of CO2 between ground and measurement height (mmol m−2 s−1)
- Cwc :
-
cospectral density of vertical wind velocity and CO2 mixing ratio (m ppm s−1)
- \({\rm R}_{\rm N}^{13}\) :
-
heavy to light ratio of isotopic fluxes
- R h :
-
heterotrophic component of total ecosystem respiration
- R a :
-
autotrophic component of total ecosystem respiration
- FRh :
-
heterotrophic component of total ecosystem respiration flux (mmol m−2 s−1)
- FRa :
-
autotrophic component of total ecosystem respiration flux (mmol m−2 s−1)
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Acknowledgements
We express our sincere thanks to John Baker who has had a significant impact on the development of this work. We also thank numerous technicians and students who have provided field assistance including Matt Erickson, Bill Breiter, Jim Brozowski, Travis Bavin, Jennifer Corcoran, Jeremy Smith, Kyounghee Kim and Lisa Welp. We thank Dr. T. A. Black for helping us with the integration of the automated chamber system with the TDL system. Financial support for this project was provided by the National Science Foundation, ATM-0546476 and the Office of Science (BER), U.S. Department of Energy, Grant No. DE-FG02-03ER63684.
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Billmark, K.A., Griffis, T.J. (2009). Influence of Phenology and Land Management on Biosphere-Atmosphere Isotopic CO2 Exchange. In: Noormets, A. (eds) Phenology of Ecosystem Processes. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4419-0026-5_6
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