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King ACF, Bauska TK, Brook EJ, Kalk M, Nehrbass-Ahles C, Wolff EW, Strawson I, Rhodes RH, Osman MB. Reconciling ice core CO 2 and land-use change following New World-Old World contact. Nat Commun 2024; 15:1735. [PMID: 38443398 PMCID: PMC10915154 DOI: 10.1038/s41467-024-45894-9] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/14/2023] [Accepted: 02/06/2024] [Indexed: 03/07/2024] Open
Abstract
Ice core records of carbon dioxide (CO2) throughout the last 2000 years provide context for the unprecedented anthropogenic rise in atmospheric CO2 and insights into global carbon cycle dynamics. Yet the atmospheric history of CO2 remains uncertain in some time intervals. Here we present measurements of CO2 and methane (CH4) in the Skytrain ice core from 1450 to 1700 CE. Results suggest a sudden decrease in CO2 around 1610 CE in one widely used record may be an artefact of a small number of anomalously low values. Our analysis supports a more gradual decrease in CO2 of 0.5 ppm per decade from 1516 to 1670 CE, with an inferred land carbon sink of 2.6 PgC per decade. This corroborates modelled scenarios of large-scale reorganisation of land use in the Americas following New World-Old World contact, whereas a rapid decrease in CO2 at 1610 CE is incompatible with even the most extreme land-use change scenarios.
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Affiliation(s)
| | | | - Edward J Brook
- College of Earth, Ocean and Atmospheric Sciences, Oregon State University, Corvallis, OR, USA
| | - Mike Kalk
- College of Earth, Ocean and Atmospheric Sciences, Oregon State University, Corvallis, OR, USA
| | - Christoph Nehrbass-Ahles
- Department of Earth Sciences, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK
- National Physical Laboratory, Teddington, UK
| | - Eric W Wolff
- Department of Earth Sciences, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK
| | - Ivo Strawson
- British Antarctic Survey, Cambridge, UK
- Department of Earth Sciences, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK
| | - Rachael H Rhodes
- Department of Earth Sciences, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK
| | - Matthew B Osman
- Department of Geography, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK
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2
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Byun E, Rezanezhad F, Fairbairn L, Slowinski S, Basiliko N, Price JS, Quinton WL, Roy-Léveillée P, Webster K, Van Cappellen P. Temperature, moisture and freeze-thaw controls on CO 2 production in soil incubations from northern peatlands. Sci Rep 2021; 11:23219. [PMID: 34853354 PMCID: PMC8636591 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-021-02606-3] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/06/2021] [Accepted: 11/19/2021] [Indexed: 11/20/2022] Open
Abstract
Peat accumulation in high latitude wetlands represents a natural long-term carbon sink, resulting from the cumulative excess of growing season net ecosystem production over non-growing season (NGS) net mineralization in soils. With high latitudes experiencing warming at a faster pace than the global average, especially during the NGS, a major concern is that enhanced mineralization of soil organic carbon will steadily increase CO2 emissions from northern peatlands. In this study, we conducted laboratory incubations with soils from boreal and temperate peatlands across Canada. Peat soils were pretreated for different soil moisture levels, and CO2 production rates were measured at 12 sequential temperatures, covering a range from - 10 to + 35 °C including one freeze-thaw event. On average, the CO2 production rates in the boreal peat samples increased more sharply with temperature than in the temperate peat samples. For same temperature, optimum soil moisture levels for CO2 production were higher in the peat samples from more flooded sites. However, standard reaction kinetics (e.g., Q10 temperature coefficient and Arrhenius equation) failed to account for the apparent lack of temperature dependence of CO2 production rates measured below 0 °C, and a sudden increase after a freezing event. Thus, we caution against using the simple kinetic expressions to represent the CO2 emissions from northern peatlands, especially regarding the long NGS period with multiple soil freeze and thaw events.
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Affiliation(s)
- Eunji Byun
- Ecohydrology Research Group, Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences and Water Institute, University of Waterloo, Waterloo, ON, Canada.
| | - Fereidoun Rezanezhad
- Ecohydrology Research Group, Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences and Water Institute, University of Waterloo, Waterloo, ON, Canada.
| | - Linden Fairbairn
- Ecohydrology Research Group, Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences and Water Institute, University of Waterloo, Waterloo, ON, Canada
- Environment and Climate Change Canada, Toronto, ON, Canada
| | - Stephanie Slowinski
- Ecohydrology Research Group, Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences and Water Institute, University of Waterloo, Waterloo, ON, Canada
| | - Nathan Basiliko
- Department of Biology and Vale Living With Lakes Centre, Laurentian University, Sudbury, ON, Canada
| | - Jonathan S Price
- Department of Geography and Environmental Management, University of Waterloo, Waterloo, ON, Canada
| | - William L Quinton
- Cold Regions Research Centre, Wilfrid Laurier University, Waterloo, ON, Canada
| | - Pascale Roy-Léveillée
- Environment and Climate Change Canada, Toronto, ON, Canada
- Université Laval, Quebec City, QC, Canada
| | - Kara Webster
- Canadian Forest Service Great Lakes Forestry Centre - Natural Resources Canada, Sault Ste Marie, ON, Canada
| | - Philippe Van Cappellen
- Ecohydrology Research Group, Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences and Water Institute, University of Waterloo, Waterloo, ON, Canada.
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3
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Piperno DR, McMichael CH, Pitman NCA, Andino JEG, Ríos Paredes M, Heijink BM, Torres-Montenegro LA. A 5,000-year vegetation and fire history for tierra firme forests in the Medio Putumayo-Algodón watersheds, northeastern Peru. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 2021; 118:e2022213118. [PMID: 34580207 PMCID: PMC8501791 DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2022213118] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 04/01/2021] [Indexed: 12/25/2022] Open
Abstract
This paper addresses an important debate in Amazonian studies; namely, the scale, intensity, and nature of human modification of the forests in prehistory. Phytolith and charcoal analysis of terrestrial soils underneath mature tierra firme (nonflooded, nonriverine) forests in the remote Medio Putumayo-Algodón watersheds, northeastern Peru, provide a vegetation and fire history spanning at least the past 5,000 y. A tree inventory carried out in the region enables calibration of ancient phytolith records with standing vegetation and estimates of palm species densities on the landscape through time. Phytolith records show no evidence for forest clearing or agriculture with major annual seed and root crops. Frequencies of important economic palms such as Oenocarpus, Euterpe, Bactris, and Astrocaryum spp., some of which contain hyperdominant species in the modern flora, do not increase through prehistoric time. This indicates pre-Columbian occupations, if documented in the region with future research, did not significantly increase the abundance of those species through management or cultivation. Phytoliths from other arboreal and woody species similarly reflect a stable forest structure and diversity throughout the records. Charcoal 14C dates evidence local forest burning between ca. 2,800 and 1,400 y ago. Our data support previous research indicating that considerable areas of some Amazonian tierra firme forests were not significantly impacted by human activities during the prehistoric era. Rather, it appears that over the last 5,000 y, indigenous populations in this region coexisted with, and helped maintain, large expanses of relatively unmodified forest, as they continue to do today.
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Affiliation(s)
- Dolores R Piperno
- Department of Anthropology, Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History, Washington, DC 20560;
- Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, Panama City 0843-03092, Panama
| | - Crystal H McMichael
- Institute for Biodiversity and Ecosystem Dynamics, University of Amsterdam, 1098 XH Amsterdam, The Netherlands
| | - Nigel C A Pitman
- Keller Science Action Center, The Field Museum, Chicago, IL 60605-2496
| | - Juan Ernesto Guevara Andino
- Keller Science Action Center, The Field Museum, Chicago, IL 60605-2496
- Grupo de Investigación en Biodiversidad, Medio Ambiente y Salud-BIOMAS-Universidad de las Américas, Quito 170513, Ecuador
| | - Marcos Ríos Paredes
- Keller Science Action Center, The Field Museum, Chicago, IL 60605-2496
- Programa de Pós-Graduação em Ecologia, Universidade Federal de Juiz de Fora, Juiz de Fora, MG 36036-900, Brazil
| | - Britte M Heijink
- Institute for Biodiversity and Ecosystem Dynamics, University of Amsterdam, 1098 XH Amsterdam, The Netherlands
| | - Luis A Torres-Montenegro
- Keller Science Action Center, The Field Museum, Chicago, IL 60605-2496
- Herbarium Amazonense, Universidad Nacional de la Amazonía Peruana, Iquitos 16002, Peru
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4
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Zhang X, Wang YP, Rayner PJ, Ciais P, Huang K, Luo Y, Piao S, Wang Z, Xia J, Zhao W, Zheng X, Tian J, Zhang Y. A small climate-amplifying effect of climate-carbon cycle feedback. Nat Commun 2021; 12:2952. [PMID: 34011925 PMCID: PMC8134589 DOI: 10.1038/s41467-021-22392-w] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/08/2020] [Accepted: 03/10/2021] [Indexed: 11/09/2022] Open
Abstract
The climate-carbon cycle feedback is one of the most important climate-amplifying feedbacks of the Earth system, and is quantified as a function of carbon-concentration feedback parameter (β) and carbon-climate feedback parameter (γ). However, the global climate-amplifying effect from this feedback loop (determined by the gain factor, g) has not been quantified from observations. Here we apply a Fourier analysis-based carbon cycle feedback framework to the reconstructed records from 1850 to 2017 and 1000 to 1850 to estimate β and γ. We show that the β-feedback varies by less than 10% with an average of 3.22 ± 0.32 GtC ppm-1 for 1880-2017, whereas the γ-feedback increases from -33 ± 14 GtC K-1 on a decadal scale to -122 ± 60 GtC K-1 on a centennial scale for 1000-1850. Feedback analysis further reveals that the current amplification effect from the carbon cycle feedback is small (g is 0.01 ± 0.05), which is much lower than the estimates by the advanced Earth system models (g is 0.09 ± 0.04 for the historical period and is 0.15 ± 0.08 for the RCP8.5 scenario), implying that the future allowable CO2 emissions could be 9 ± 7% more. Therefore, our findings provide new insights about the strength of climate-carbon cycle feedback and about observational constraints on models for projecting future climate.
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Affiliation(s)
- Xuanze Zhang
- Key Laboratory of Water Cycle and Related Land Surface Processes, Institute of Geographic Sciences and Natural Resources Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China. .,Research Center for Global Change and Ecological Forecasting, School of Ecological and Environmental Science, East China Normal University, Shanghai, China.
| | - Ying-Ping Wang
- Terrestrial Biogeochemistry Group, South China Botanical Garden, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Guangzhou, China. .,CSIRO Oceans and Atmosphere, Private Bag 1, Aspendale, Victoria, Australia.
| | - Peter J Rayner
- School of Earth Sciences, Climate and Energy College, University of Melbourne, Parkville, Victoria, Australia
| | - Philippe Ciais
- Laboratoire des Sciences du Climat et de l'Environnement, LSCE/IPSL, CEA-CNRS-UVSQ, Université Paris-Saclay, Gif-sur-Yvette, France
| | - Kun Huang
- Research Center for Global Change and Ecological Forecasting, School of Ecological and Environmental Science, East China Normal University, Shanghai, China
| | - Yiqi Luo
- Center for Ecosystem Science and Society, Northern Arizona University, Flagstaff, AZ, USA
| | - Shilong Piao
- Sino-French Institute for Earth System Science, College of Urban and Environmental Sciences, Peking University, Beijing, China
| | - Zhonglei Wang
- Wang Yanan Institute for Studies in Economics (WISE) and School of Economics, Xiamen University, Xiamen, China
| | - Jianyang Xia
- Research Center for Global Change and Ecological Forecasting, School of Ecological and Environmental Science, East China Normal University, Shanghai, China
| | - Wei Zhao
- National Meteorological Center, China Meteorological Administration, Beijing, China
| | - Xiaogu Zheng
- Key Laboratory of Regional Climate-Environment Research for East Asia, Institute of Atmospheric Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China
| | - Jing Tian
- Key Laboratory of Water Cycle and Related Land Surface Processes, Institute of Geographic Sciences and Natural Resources Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China
| | - Yongqiang Zhang
- Key Laboratory of Water Cycle and Related Land Surface Processes, Institute of Geographic Sciences and Natural Resources Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China.
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5
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Wu Z, Hugelius G, Luo Y, Smith B, Xia J, Fensholt R, Lehsten V, Ahlström A. Approaching the potential of model-data comparisons of global land carbon storage. Sci Rep 2019; 9:3367. [PMID: 30833586 PMCID: PMC6399261 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-019-38976-y] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/31/2018] [Accepted: 01/03/2019] [Indexed: 11/08/2022] Open
Abstract
Carbon storage dynamics in vegetation and soil are determined by the balance of carbon influx and turnover. Estimates of these opposing fluxes differ markedly among different empirical datasets and models leading to uncertainty and divergent trends. To trace the origin of such discrepancies through time and across major biomes and climatic regions, we used a model-data fusion framework. The framework emulates carbon cycling and its component processes in a global dynamic ecosystem model, LPJ-GUESS, and preserves the model-simulated pools and fluxes in space and time. Thus, it allows us to replace simulated carbon influx and turnover with estimates derived from empirical data, bringing together the strength of the model in representing processes, with the richness of observational data informing the estimations. The resulting vegetation and soil carbon storage and global land carbon fluxes were compared to independent empirical datasets. Results show model-data agreement comparable to, or even better than, the agreement between independent empirical datasets. This suggests that only marginal improvement in land carbon cycle simulations can be gained from comparisons of models with current-generation datasets on vegetation and soil carbon. Consequently, we recommend that model skill should be assessed relative to reference data uncertainty in future model evaluation studies.
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Affiliation(s)
- Zhendong Wu
- Department of Physical Geography and Ecosystem Science, Lund University, Sölvegatan 12, SE-223 62, Lund, Sweden.
- Department of Geosciences and Natural Resource Management, University of Copenhagen, 1350, Copenhagen, Denmark.
| | - Gustaf Hugelius
- Department of Earth System Science, School of Earth, Energy and Environmental Sciences, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, 94305, USA
- Department of Physical Geography and Bolin Centre for Climate Research, 10691 Stockholm University, Stockholm, Sweden
| | - Yiqi Luo
- Center for Ecosystem Science and Society (Ecoss) and Department of Biological Sciences, Northern Arizona University, Flagstaff, Arizona, USA
| | - Benjamin Smith
- Department of Physical Geography and Ecosystem Science, Lund University, Sölvegatan 12, SE-223 62, Lund, Sweden
- Hawkesbury Institute for the Environment, Western Sydney University, Locked Bag 1797, Penrith, NSW, 2751, Australia
| | - Jianyang Xia
- Research Center for Global Change and Ecological Forecasting, School of Ecological and Environmental Sciences, East China Normal University, Shanghai, China
- Institude of Eco-Chongming (IEC), 3663 N. Zhongshan Rd., Shanghai, 200062, China
| | - Rasmus Fensholt
- Department of Geosciences and Natural Resource Management, University of Copenhagen, 1350, Copenhagen, Denmark
| | - Veiko Lehsten
- Department of Physical Geography and Ecosystem Science, Lund University, Sölvegatan 12, SE-223 62, Lund, Sweden
- Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape research (WSL), Zürcherstr, 11 CH-8903, Birmensdorf, Switzerland
| | - Anders Ahlström
- Department of Physical Geography and Ecosystem Science, Lund University, Sölvegatan 12, SE-223 62, Lund, Sweden
- Department of Earth System Science, School of Earth, Energy and Environmental Sciences, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, 94305, USA
- Center for Middle Eastern Studies, Lund University, Box 201, SE-221 00, Lund, Sweden
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6
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Featherstone AM, Butler PG, Peharda M, Chauvaud L, Thébault J. Influence of riverine input on the growth of Glycymeris glycymeris in the Bay of Brest, North-West France. PLoS One 2017; 12:e0189782. [PMID: 29261749 PMCID: PMC5738111 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0189782] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/04/2017] [Accepted: 12/01/2017] [Indexed: 11/18/2022] Open
Abstract
A crossdated, replicated, chronology of 114 years (1901–2014) was developed from internal growth increments in the shells of Glycymeris glycymeris samples collected monthly from the Bay of Brest, France. Bivalve sampling was undertaken between 2014 and 2015 using a dredge. In total 401 live specimens and 243 articulated paired valves from dead specimens were collected, of which 38 individuals were used to build the chronology. Chronology strength, assessed as the Expressed Population Signal, was above 0.7 throughout, falling below the generally accepted threshold of 0.85 before 1975 because of reduced sample depth. Significant positive correlations were identified between the shell growth and the annual averages of rainfall (1975–2008; r = 0.34) and inflow from the river Elorn (1989–2009; r = 0.60). A significant negative correlation was identified between shell growth and the annual average salinity (1998–2014; r = -0.62). Analysis of the monthly averages indicates that these correlations are associated with the winter months (November–February) preceding the G. glycymeris growth season suggesting that winter conditions predispose the benthic environment for later shell growth. Concentration of suspended particulate matter within the river in February is also positively correlated with shell growth, leading to the conclusion that food availability is also important to the growth of G. glycymeris in the Bay of Brest. With the addition of principle components analysis, we were able to determine that inflow from the River Elorn, nitrite levels and salinity were the fundamental drivers of G. glycymeris growth and that these environmental parameters were all linked.
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Affiliation(s)
- Amy M. Featherstone
- Universite de Bretagne Occidentale, Institut Universitaire Européen de la Mer, Laboratoire des sciences de l’environnement marin (LEMAR UMR 6539 CNRS/UBO/IRD/Ifremer), Plouzané, France
- Université de Bretagne Occidentale, Institut Universitaire Européen de la Mer, Laboratoire des sciences de l’environnement marin (LEMAR UMR 6539 CNRS/UBO/IRD/Ifremer), Plouzané, France
- * E-mail:
| | - Paul G. Butler
- College of Life and Environmental Sciences, University of Exeter, Penryn, Cornwall, United Kingdom
| | | | - Laurent Chauvaud
- Université de Bretagne Occidentale, Institut Universitaire Européen de la Mer, Laboratoire des sciences de l’environnement marin (LEMAR UMR 6539 CNRS/UBO/IRD/Ifremer), Plouzané, France
| | - Julien Thébault
- Université de Bretagne Occidentale, Institut Universitaire Européen de la Mer, Laboratoire des sciences de l’environnement marin (LEMAR UMR 6539 CNRS/UBO/IRD/Ifremer), Plouzané, France
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7
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Unexpectedly large impact of forest management and grazing on global vegetation biomass. Nature 2017; 553:73-76. [PMID: 29258288 PMCID: PMC5756473 DOI: 10.1038/nature25138] [Citation(s) in RCA: 144] [Impact Index Per Article: 20.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/14/2016] [Accepted: 11/15/2017] [Indexed: 11/12/2022]
Abstract
Carbon stocks in vegetation play a key role in the climate system1–4, but their magnitude and patterns, their uncertainties, and the impact of land use on them remain poorly quantified. Based on a consistent integration of state-of-the art datasets, we show that vegetation currently stores ~450 PgC. In the hypothetical absence of land use, potential vegetation would store ~916 PgC, under current climate. This difference singles out the massive effect land use has on biomass stocks. Deforestation and other land-cover changes are responsible for 53-58% of the difference between current and potential biomass stocks. Land management effects, i.e. land-use induced biomass stock changes within the same land cover, contribute 42-47% but are underappreciated in the current literature. Avoiding deforestation hence is necessary but not sufficient for climate-change mitigation. Our results imply that trade-offs exist between conserving carbon stocks on managed land and raising the contribution of biomass to raw material and energy supply for climate change mitigation. Efforts to raise biomass stocks are currently only verifiable in temperate forests, where potentials are limited. In contrast, large uncertainties hamper verification in the tropical forest where the largest potentials are located, pointing to challenges for the upcoming stocktaking exercises under the Paris agreement.
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