Carbon Distribution and Net Primary Production in a Forest-Peatland Landscape Mosaic

HR: 1340h
AN: B43D-1601 [Abstracts]
TI: Carbon Distribution and Net Primary Production in a Forest-Peatland Landscape Mosaic
AU: * Weishampel, P
EM: peter.weishampel@gmail.com
AF: University of Minnesota, Dept of Soil, Water, and Climate, 1991 Upper Buford Circle, St. Paul, MN 55108, United States
AU: Kolka, R
AF: US Forest Service Northern Research Station, 1831 HWY 169 East, Grand Rapids, MN 55744, United States
AU: King, J
AF: University of Minnesota, Dept of Soil, Water, and Climate, 1991 Upper Buford Circle, St. Paul, MN 55108, United States
AB: We characterized the distribution of carbon and annual NPP in a mixed forest and peatland landscape in the Marcell Experimental Forest in northern Minnesota, USA. We estimated vegetation biomass and production (aboveground and belowground) and the carbon content of detrital pools (forest floor, woody debris, and mineral soil or peat) in a 1-km2 area that encompassed multiple vegetation cover types, including forested uplands dominated by aspen, mixed-hardwood, or pine, and peatlands dominated by alder, conifers, or ericaceous shrubs and Sphagnum mosses (open peatlands). In aspen dominated areas, which account for >70% of our study area, total C storage was 164 ± 9 Mg C ha^-¹ while pine and hardwood dominated averaged 190 ± 16 and 153 ± 19 Mg C ha^-¹ respectively. Total ecosystem carbon content in peatland areas averaged 1380 ± 170 Mg C ha^-¹ and was highly dependent upon peat depth. Among upland cover types, NPP was greatest in pine-dominated areas (6.2 ± 0.6 Mg C ha^-¹) and similar in aspen- and hardwood- dominated areas (4.7 ± 0.2 and 4.5 ± 0.5 Mg C ha^-¹, respectively). We found considerable variability in NPP among peatland cover types; in coniferous peatlands, alder peatlands, and open peatlands, NPP was 6.0, 2.8 ± 0.4 and 1.4 ± 0.2 Mg C ha^-¹ respectively. Large differences in NPP among peatland cover types as well as smaller but significant differences between deciduous and coniferous upland cover types illustrate the importance of these cover types when scaling carbon cycling to landscape and regional levels.
DE: 0428 Carbon cycling (4806)
DE: 0439 Ecosystems, structure and dynamics (4815)
DE: 0497 Wetlands (1890)
SC: Biogeosciences [B]
MN: 2007 Fall Meeting