Energy and trace-gas fluxes across a soil pH boundary in the Arctic

Abstract

Studies and models of trace-gas flux in the Arctic consider temperature and moisture to be the dominant controls over land–atmosphere exchange1,2, with little attention having been paid to the effects of different substrates. Likewise, current Arctic vegetation maps for models of vegetation change recognize one or two tundra types3,4 and do not portray the extensive regions with different soils within the Arctic. Here we show that rapid changes to ecosystem processes (such as photosynthesis and respiration) that are related to changes in climate and land usage will be superimposed upon and modulated by differences in substrate pH. A sharp soil pH boundary along the northern front of the Arctic Foothills in Alaska separates non-acidic (pH > 6.5) ecosystems to the north from predominantly acidic (pH < 5.5) ecosystems to the south. Moist non-acidic tundra has greater heat flux, deeper summer thaw (active layer), is less of a carbon sink, and is a smaller source of methane than moist acidic tundra.