HR: 0800h
AN: B51C-0212    [Abstracts]
TI: Quantifying Belowground Carbon Allocation in the Northeastern United States
AU: * Silverberg, S K
EM: sarah.silverberg@unh.edu
AF: University of New Hampshire, 39 College Rd Morse Hall, CSRC, Durham, NH 03824
AU: Ollinger, S V
EM: scott.ollinger@unh.edu
AF: University of New Hampshire, 39 College Rd Morse Hall, CSRC, Durham, NH 03824
AU: Smith, M
EM: marielouisesmith@fs.fed.us
AF: USDA Forest Service, Durham Field Office 271 Mast Road, Durham, NH 03824
AU: Lloyd, K L
EM: klloyd@cisunix.unh.edu
AF: University of New Hampshire, 39 College Rd Morse Hall, CSRC, Durham, NH 03824
AB: Forest soils represent a substantial component of the terrestrial carbon cycle and are an important research area for a number of carbon cycle science initiatives. Whereas patterns of aboveground productivity have been relatively well measured and are increasingly included in regional-scale model analyses, belowground estimates are still highly uncertain and progress has been hampered by a variety of methodological difficulties. The lack of data poses a problem because belowground measurements are needed to create a complete carbon budget for terrestrial ecosystems at local, regional and global scales. Ecosystem carbon balances will help identify how and where carbon is being stored, as well as how that might change as forests grow, die back, or transition into different forest types as a result of climate changes. This study focuses on quantifying belowground carbon allocation in the Bartlett Experimental Forest (BEF) of the New Hampshire White Mountains, and examining the degree to which spatial patterns can be related to patterns of soil and canopy nitrogen status. The work is part of a landscape-scale North American Carbon Program (NACP) study currently taking place at the BEF. Belowground carbon allocation can be estimated by subtracting soil respiration from litter (leaf, branch) measurements. Litter and soil respiration are being measured at two scales within the study area. The first includes a 1km2 area around an eddy flux tower at BEF, and is part of the intensive NACP study. Additional plots are distributed throughout the broader landscape to capture a greater degree of variation in vegetation, soils and topography. The goals of the project are (1) to contribute the belowground carbon portion to the total ecosystem carbon budget of BEF, and (2) to extrapolate soil carbon from the plot level to landscape and regional scales using remote sensing of foliar N.
DE: 0428 Carbon cycling (4806)
DE: 0480 Remote sensing
DE: 0486 Soils/pedology (1865)
SC: Biogeosciences [B]
MN: Fall Meeting 2005