Metcalfe, Daniel
- University of Oxford
Abstract
P>The effects of drought on the Amazon rainforest are potentially large but remain poorly understood. Here, carbon (C) cycling after 5 yr of a large-scale through-fall exclusion (TFE) experiment excluding about 50% of incident rainfall from an eastern Amazon rainforest was compared with a nearby control plot.Principal C stocks and fluxes were intensively measured in 2005. Additional minor components were either quantified in later site measurements or derived from the available literature.Total ecosystem respiration (R-eco) and total plant C expenditure (PCE, the sum of net primary productivity (NPP) and autotrophic respiration (R-auto)), were elevated on the TFE plot relative to the control. The increase in PCE and R-eco was mainly caused by a rise in R-auto from foliage and roots. Heterotrophic respiration did not differ substantially between plots. NPP was 2.4 +/- 1.4 t C ha-1 yr-1 lower on the TFE than the control. Ecosystem carbon use efficiency, the proportion of PCE invested in NPP, was lower in the TFE plot (0.24 +/- 0.04) than in the control (0.32 +/- 0.04).Drought caused by the TFE treatment appeared to drive fundamental shifts in ecosystem C cycling with potentially important consequences for long-term forest C storage.
Keywords
Amazon rain forest; carbon cycling; carbon dioxide; carbon use efficiency; drought; gross primary productivity; net primary productivity; partitioning
Published in
New Phytologist
2010, volume: 187, number: 3, pages: 608-621
Publisher: WILEY-BLACKWELL
SLU Authors
UKÄ Subject classification
Environmental Sciences and Nature Conservation
Publication identifier
- DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1469-8137.2010.03319.x
Permanent link to this page (URI)
https://res.slu.se/id/publ/61559