Net Primary Production Rates Research Articles

Carbon Balance in Salt Marsh and Mangrove Ecosystems: A Global Synthesis

Mangroves and salt marshes are among the most productive ecosystems in the global coastal ocean. Mangroves store more carbon (739 Mg CORG ha−1) than salt marshes (334 Mg CORG ha−1), but the latter sequester proportionally more (24%) net primary production (NPP) than mangroves (12%). Mangroves exhibit greater rates of gross primary production (GPP), aboveground net primary production (AGNPP) and plant respiration (RC), with higher PGPP/RC ratios, but salt marshes exhibit greater rates of below-ground NPP (BGNPP). Mangroves have greater rates of subsurface DIC production and, unlike salt marshes, exhibit active microbial decomposition to a soil depth of 1 m. Salt marshes release more CH4 from soil and creek waters and export more dissolved CH4, but mangroves release more CO2 from tidal waters and export greater amounts of particulate organic carbon (POC), dissolved organic carbon (DOC) and dissolved inorganic carbon (DIC), to adjacent waters. Both ecosystems contribute only a small proportion of GPP, RE (ecosystem respiration) and NEP (net ecosystem production) to the global coastal ocean due to their small global area, but contribute 72% of air–sea CO2 exchange of the world’s wetlands and estuaries and contribute 34% of DIC export and 17% of DOC + POC export to the world’s coastal ocean. Thus, both wetland ecosystems contribute disproportionately to carbon flow of the global coastal ocean.

Aboveground Carbon Storage and Cycling of Flooded and Upland Forests of the Brazilian Pantanal

Tropical forests and savanna (cerrado) are important carbon (C) sinks; however, few data exist for seasonally flooded forests. We quantified the annual rates of aboveground net primary production (ANPP) over a five-year period for two forests, an upland mixed forest and a seasonally flooded cerrado forest, located in the northern Pantanal region of Brazil. We hypothesized that rates of ANPP would be higher for the mixed forest than the cerrado forest because seasonal flooding can limit rates of tree growth. ANPP was calculated as the sum of the annual litter production measured from litterfall traps and the stem growth increment measured from dendrometers and tree density. ANPP varied between 3.8–5.5 MgC ha−1 y−1 for the flooded forest and 1.6–4.6 MgC ha−1 y−1 for the upland forest. Litter production accounted for 57% of the ANPP, and the difference in ANPP between the upland and flooded forests was due to consistently higher litter production in the flooded forest. Annual variations in ANPP were not correlated with annual precipitation, presumably because the hydrology of these sites is driven more by the flood stage of the Cuiaba River than by local precipitation. However, consistent declines in forest floor litter mass occurred at both sites, suggesting that C storage may be responding to some unknown disturbance that occurred prior to our sampling campaign. Seasonal variation in rainfall exerted an important control on litter production dynamics, with leaf litter production increasing during the dry season and stem and reproductive litter production increasing during the wet season. While there are few studies of seasonally flooded tropical forests, our data suggest that the seasonally flooded and upland forests of the northern Pantanal can act as appreciable aboveground C sinks.

Differential thermal tolerance between algae and corals may trigger the proliferation of algae in coral reefs.

Marine heatwaves can lead to rapid changes in entire communities, including in the case of shallow coral reefs the potential overgrowth of algae. Here we tested experimentally the differential thermal tolerance between algae and coral species from the Red Sea through the measurement of thermal performance curves and the assessment of thermal limits. Differences across functional groups (algae vs. corals) were apparent for two key thermal performance metrics. First, two reef-associated algae species (Halimeda tuna and Turbinaria ornata) had higher lethal thermal limits than two coral species (Pocillopora verrucosa and Stylophora pistillata) conferring those species of algae with a clear advantage during heatwaves by surpassing the thermal threshold of coral survival. Second, the coral species had generally greater deactivation energies for net and gross primary production rates compared to the algae species, indicating greater thermal sensitivity in corals once the optimum temperature is exceeded. Our field surveys in the Red Sea reefs before and after the marine heatwave of 2015 show a change in benthic cover mainly in the southern reefs, where there was a decrease in coral cover and a concomitant increase in algae abundance, mainly turf algae. Our laboratory and field observations indicate that a proliferation of algae might be expected on Red Sea coral reefs with future ocean warming.

Cycling phosphorus on the Archean Earth: Part II. Phosphorus limitation on primary production in Archean ecosystems

Several lines of evidence point to low rates of net primary production (NPP) in Archean oceans. However, whether Archean NPP was limited by electron donors or nutrients, particularly phosphorus (P), and how these factors might have changed over a billion years of recorded Archean history, remains contentious. One major challenge is to understand quantitatively the biogeochemical cycling of P on the early Earth. In Part I of this series (Hao et al., 2020), we estimated the weathering flux of P to the oceans as a function of temporally increasing continental emergence and elevation through Archean time. In Part II, we conduct thermodynamic and kinetic simulations to understand key processes of P cycling within the Archean ocean, including seafloor weathering, recycling of organic P, the solubility and precipitation of secondary phosphate minerals, and the burial diagenesis of P precipitates. Our calculations suggest low solubilities of apatite minerals in Archean seawater, primarily due to nearly neutral pH and high levels of Ca. This low solubility, in turn, implies a negligible contribution of apatite dissolution to P bioavailability in Archean seawater.We also simulate the solubility limits of common secondary P-bearing minerals, showing that vivianite would have been the least soluble P mineral in ferruginous Archean seawater (0.1–0.3 µM), even at moderate supersaturation states (Ω = 100 or 1000). If vivianite precipitation was kinetically favorable by microbial activities and mineral adsorption, the sinking flux of P as vivianite in Archean seawater could have reached the modern sinking flux, implying that vivianite precipitation was a potentially major sink for P in Archean oceans. During burial diagenesis, however, vivianite in porewater would have become less stable than Ca-phosphates of lower solubility. At elevated temperatures (>100 °C) associated with burial diagenesis and low-grade metamorphism, vivianite is predicted to react irreversibly with calcite to form apatite.Optimistic assumptions about the recycling efficiency of P on the Archean Earth lead us to estimate that by the end of the eon the total flux of P (continental weathering + recycling) could have supported NPP at levels up to 7% of the modern. The total flux of P would have been much lower on the early and middle Archean Earth, whereas fluxes of electron donors could have been higher, suggesting very low productivity and P-limitation of marine ecosystems during much of the eon. Comparing our estimates of NPP as limited by P supply with the estimate by Ward et al. (2019), in which NPP was limited by electron donors and metabolic efficiency, there could have been a transition between P-limited productivity in the early to middle Archean to electron donor-limitation closer to the eon’s end (assuming no oxygenic photosynthesis). Once oxygenic photosynthesis reached ecological significance, probably near the end of the Archean, our estimated flux of P would allow rapid oxidation of atmosphere.

Drivers of short-term variability in phytoplankton production in an embayment of the southern Benguela upwelling system

St Helena Bay (SHB), a retention zone in the southern Benguela upwelling system, supports 40–50% of the region's primary productivity. It also experiences harmful algal blooms (HABs) and hypoxic conditions that are difficult to predict given the high sub-seasonal variability. To better understand this variability, net primary production (NPP), nitrate and ammonium uptake, and phytoplankton community composition were monitored for ten days in SHB during summer, the season of enhanced upwelling. A period of active upwelling (days 1–5) was followed by one of relaxation (days 6–10). During upwelling, the mixed layer was deeper than the euphotic zone and phytoplankton were light-limited, evidenced by high ambient nitrate concentrations and low rates of NPP and nitrate uptake. During relaxation, stratification increased, restricting phytoplankton production to a shallow euphotic zone in which nitrate was exhausted after three days; the subsequent decline in NPP and nitrate uptake rates confirm that nutrient availability rapidly succeeded light as the dominant control on productivity. Nanophytoplankton (mainly the small diatoms, Chaetoceros spp. and Skeletonema costatum) dominated the biomass, NPP, and nitrate uptake throughout the experiment. We attribute this to their ability to respond quickly to newly-upwelled nitrate and to sustain elevated nitrate uptake rates for longer than pico- and microphytoplankton. They may also engage in luxury nitrate uptake, storing nitrate intracellularly under high-nutrient conditions and assimilating it later when nutrients are depleted. Additionally, Chaetoceros spp. and S. costatum are chain-formers, benefitting from the advantages of being small (i.e., as individual cells) and large (i.e., when aggregated into chains). A weakening of surface stratification late in the experiment may have prevented dinoflagellates, some of which are HAB species, from succeeding the diatoms. One implication of this is that understanding the rapid cycling between light and nutrient limitation of SHB phytoplankton, induced by an actively-upwelling versus stratified water column, may improve our capacity to anticipate HABs and the associated hypoxic events.

Impact of Changes to the Atmospheric Soluble Iron Deposition Flux on Ocean Biogeochemical Cycles in the Anthropocene

AbstractIron can be a growth‐limiting nutrient for phytoplankton, modifying rates of net primary production, nitrogen fixation, and carbon export ‐ highlighting the importance of new iron inputs from the atmosphere. The bioavailable iron fraction depends on the emission source and the dissolution during transport. The impacts of anthropogenic combustion and land use change on emissions from industrial, domestic, shipping, desert, and wildfire sources suggest that Northern Hemisphere soluble iron deposition has likely been enhanced between 2% and 68% over the Industrial Era. If policy and climate follow the intermediate Representative Concentration Pathway 4.5 trajectory, then results suggest that Southern Ocean (>30°S) soluble iron deposition would be enhanced between 63% and 95% by 2100. Marine net primary productivity and carbon export within the open ocean are most sensitive to changes in soluble iron deposition in the Southern Hemisphere; this is predominantly driven by fire rather than dust iron sources. Changes in iron deposition cause large perturbations to the marine nitrogen cycle, up to 70% increase in denitrification and 15% increase in nitrogen fixation, but only modestly impacts the carbon cycle and atmospheric CO2concentrations (1–3 ppm). Regionally, primary productivity increases due to increased iron deposition are often compensated by offsetting decreases downstream corresponding to equivalent changes in the rate of phytoplankton macronutrient uptake, particularly in the equatorial Pacific. These effects are weaker in the Southern Ocean, suggesting that changes in iron deposition in this region dominates the global carbon cycle and climate response.

Brazilian Dry Forest (Caatinga) Response To Multiple ENSO: the role of Atlantic and Pacific Ocean

The semi-arid region of Northeast Brazil (NEB) experiences severe droughts during El Niño Southern Oscillation (ENSO) years, with major impacts on the dynamics of the native vegetation (Caatinga). However, the effect of these droughts on carbon cycling is not well understood. Here, a numerical model is used to investigate the influence of variations in Pacific and Atlantic sea surface temperatures (SST) on drought and carbon dynamics of the Caatinga during past ENSO events. We demonstrate that precipitation reductions in the Caatinga have a strong influence on vegetation dynamics, with net primary production (NPP) remaining low throughout the droughts. Furthermore, the Caatinga acts as a carbon sink, even in years of severe drought. However, net ecosystem exchange (NEE) is lower in years of low NPP rates, resulting in long periods with limited ecosystem activity. The SST patterns indicate that extreme vegetation changes in the Caatinga are associated with the combination of ENSO events and North Atlantic SST warming.

High Below-Ground Productivity Allocation of Alpine Grasslands on the Northern Tibet.

The allocation of net primary production (NPP) between above- and belowground components is a key step of ecosystem material cycling and energy flows, which determines many critical parameters, e.g., the fraction of below ground NPP (BNPP) to NPP (fBNPP) and root turnover rates (RTR), in vegetation models. However, direct NPP estimation and partition are scarcely based on field measurements of biomass dynamics in the alpine grasslands on the Northern Tibetan Plateau (NTP). Consequently, these parameters are unverifiable and controversial. Here, we measured above- and belowground biomass dynamics (monthly from May to September each year from 2013 to 2015) to estimate NPP dynamics and allocations in four typical alpine grassland ecosystems, i.e., an alpine meadow, alpine meadow steppe, alpine steppe and alpine desert steppe. We found that NPP and its components, above and below ground NPP (ANPP and BNPP), increased significantly from west to east on the NTP, and ANPP was mainly affected by temperature while BNPP and NPP were mainly affected by precipitation. The bulk of BNPP was generally concentrated in the top 10 cm soil layers in all four alpine grasslands (76.1% ± 9.1%, mean ± SD). Our results showed that fBNPP was significantly different among these four alpine grasslands, with its means in alpine meadow (0.93), alpine desert steppe (0.92) being larger than that in the alpine meadow steppe (0.76) and alpine steppe (0.77). Both temperature and precipitation had significant and positive effects on the fBNPP, while their interaction effects were significantly opposite. RTR decreased with increasing precipitation, but increased with increasing temperature across this ecoregion. Our study illustrated that alpine grasslands on the NTP, especially in the alpine meadow and alpine desert steppe, partitioned an unexpected and greater NPP to below ground than most historical reports across global grasslands, indicating a more critical role of the root carbon pool in carbon cycling in alpine grasslands on the NTP.

Ebullition of oxygen from seagrasses under supersaturated conditions.

Gas ebullition from aquatic systems to the atmosphere represents a potentially important fraction of primary production that goes unquantified by measurements of dissolved gas concentrations. Although gas ebullition from photosynthetic surfaces has often been observed, it is rarely quantified. The resulting underestimation of photosynthetic activity may significantly bias the determination of ecosystem trophic status and estimated rates of biogeochemical cycling from in situ measures of dissolved oxygen. Here, we quantified gas ebullition rates in Zostera marina meadows in Virginia, U.S.A. using simple funnel traps and analyzed the oxygen concentration and isotopic composition of the captured gas. Maximum hourly rates of oxygen ebullition (3.0 mmol oxygen m−2 h−1) were observed during the coincidence of high irradiance and low tides, particularly in the afternoon when oxygen and temperature maxima occurred. The daily ebullition fluxes (up to 11 mmol oxygen m−2 d−1) were roughly equivalent to net primary production rates determined from dissolved oxygen measurements indicating that bubble ebullition can represent a major component of primary production that is not commonly included in ecosystem‐scale estimates. Oxygen content comprised 20–40% of the captured bubble gas volume and correlated negatively with its δ18O values, consistent with a predominance of mixing between the higher δ18O of atmospheric oxygen in equilibrium with seawater and the lower δ18O of oxygen derived from photosynthesis. Thus, future studies interested in the metabolism of highly productive, shallow water ecosystems, and particularly those measuring in situ oxygen flux, should not ignore the bubble formation and ebullition processes described here.

Relationship Between Carbon- and Oxygen-Based Primary Productivity in the Arctic Ocean, Svalbard Archipelago

Phytoplankton contribute half of the primary production in the biosphere and are the major source of energy for the Arctic Ocean ecosystem. While primary production measurements are therefore fundamental to our understanding of marine biogeochemical cycling, the extent to which current methods provide a definitive estimate of this process remains uncertain given differences in their underlying approaches and assumptions. This is especially the case in the Arctic Ocean, a region of the planet undergoing rapid evolution as a result of climate change, yet where primary production measurements are sparse. In this study, we compared three common methods for estimating primary production in the European Arctic Ocean: 1) production of 18O-labeled oxygen (GPP-18O), 2) changes in dissolved oxygen (GPP-DO) and 3) incorporation rates of 14C-labelled carbon into particulate organic carbon (14C-POC) and into total organic carbon (14C-TOC, the sum of dissolved and particulate organic carbon). Results show that primary production rates derived using oxygen methods showed good agreement across season and were strongly positively correlated. While also strongly correlated, higher scatter associated with seasonal changes was observed between 14C-POC and 14C-TOC. The 14C-TOC-derived rates were, on average, approximately 50 % of the oxygen-based estimates. However, the relationship between these estimates changed seasonally. In May, during a spring bloom of Phaeocystis sp., 14C-TOC was 52 % and 50 % of GPP-DO and GPP-18O respectively, while in August, during post-bloom conditions dominated by flagellates, 14C-TOC was 125 % of GPP-DO and 14C-TOC was 175 % of GPP-18O. Varying relationship between C and O rates may be the result of varying importance of respiration, where C-based rates estimate Net Primary Production (NPP) and O-based rates estimate Gross Primary Production (GPP).However, uncertainty remains in this comparison, given differing assumptions of the methods and the photosynthetic quotients.The median O:C ratio of 4.75 in May is within the range of that observed for other regions of the world’s ocean. However, the median O:C ratio for August is < 1, lower than in any other reported region. Our results suggest further research is needed to estimate O:C in Arctic waters, and at different times of the seasonal cycle.

Seasonal and inter-annual variability of net primary production in the NW Iberian margin (1998–2016) in relation to wind stress and sea surface temperature

Seasonal and inter-annual variability of satellite-derived net primary production (NPP) in the NW Iberian margin and its relationship with the offshore Ekman transport (-Qx) and a variety of sea surface temperature (SST) indices have been examined over the period 1998–2016. Seasonality explained about 55% of NPP variability over the shelf and the adjacent ocean. Maximum NPP rates occurred by May in the adjacent ocean, and were delayed until July over the shelf. The excess production (ΔNPP) over the shelf compared to the ocean domain represented 0.45 ± 0.02 g C m−2 d−1 or 37 ± 2% of the total NPP and peaked in August, in between the maximum -Qx and the maximum SST difference between the shelf and the adjacent ocean (ΔSST). During the upwelling season, the inter-annual variability of NPP in the adjacent ocean correlated positively with the spring stratification (SSTstr) and the average -Qx over the upwelling season and ΔNPP correlated inversely with ΔSST. Conversely, during the downwelling season, ΔNPP correlated with the average stratification (SSTdown) over the downwelling season. The rates of change of NPP with the climate-related variables (-Qx, ΔSST, SSTstr, SSTdown), obtained from these regressions, may be used to test the sensitivity of the NW Iberian upwelling productivity to climate change.

Photosynthesis and Respiration of Baltic Sea Benthic Diatoms to Changing Environmental Conditions and Growth Responses of Selected Species as Affected by an Adjacent Peatland (Hütelmoor).

Eight benthic diatom taxa (Actinocyclus octonarius, Melosira moniliformis, Halamphora sp. 1, Halamphora sp. 2, Navicula perminuta, Navicula phyllepta, Nitzschia dubiiformis, Nitzschia pusilla) were isolated from sediments sampled in the southern coastal brackish Baltic Sea and established as unialgal cultures. The coastal shallow water sampling area lies close to a fen peat site (Hütelmoor) and both are connected through an underground peat layer, which might facilitate organic matter and nutrient fluxes along the terrestrial-marine gradient. The photosynthetic performance of these diatoms was measured at different photon fluence rates (0–1200 μmol photons m–2 s–1, always recorded at 20°C) and different temperatures (5–40°C, always measured at saturating ∼270 μmol photons m–2 s–1), resulting in light saturation points between 32 and 151 μmol photons m–2 s–1 and maximum net primary production rates of 23–144 μmol O2 mg–1 Chl a h–1. None of the species showed severe photoinhibition, and hence all displayed a high photo-physiological plasticity. Photosynthetic oxygen evolution and respirational oxygen consumption between 5 and 40°C revealed eurythermal traits for half of the studied taxa as photosynthetic efficiency was at least 20% of the maximum values at the extreme temperatures. The remaining taxa also indicated eurythermal characteristics, however, photosynthetic efficiency of at least 20% was at a narrower temperature range [5 (10) °C to 30 (35) °C]. Species-specific optimum temperatures for photosynthesis (15–30°C) were always lower compared to respiration (25–40°C). Actinocyclus octonarius and Nitzschia dubiiformis were grown in different defined media, some enriched with Hütelmoor water to test for possible effects of organic components. Hütelmoor water media stimulated growth of both diatom species when kept in a light dark cycle. Actinocyclus octonarius particularly grew in darkness in Hütelmoor water media, pointing to heterotrophic capabilities. The benthic diatoms studied are characterized by high photo-physiological plasticity and a broad temperature tolerance to maintain high primary production rates under wide environmental fluctuations. Organic carbon fluxes from the Hütelmoor into the Baltic Sea may support mixo- and/or heterotrophic growth of microphytobenthic communities. These are essential traits for living in a highly dynamic and variable shallow water environment at the coastal zone of the Baltic Sea.

Greenhouse Gas Concentration and Volcanic Eruptions Controlled the Variability of Terrestrial Carbon Uptake Over the Last Millennium.

The terrestrial net biome production (NBP) is considered as one of the major drivers of interannual variation in atmospheric CO2 levels. However, the determinants of variability in NBP under the background climate (i.e., preindustrial conditions) remain poorly understood, especially on decadal‐to‐centennial timescales. We analyzed 1,000‐year simulations spanning 850‐1,849 from the Community Earth System Model (CESM) and found that the variability in NBP and heterotrophic respiration (RH) were largely driven by fluctuations in the net primary production (NPP) and carbon turnover rates in response to climate variability. On interannual to multidecadal timescales, variability in NBP was dominated by variation in NPP, while variability in RH was driven by variation in turnover rates. However, on centennial timescales (100‐1,000 years), the RH variability became more tightly coupled to that of NPP. The NBP variability on centennial timescales was low, due to the near cancellation of NPP and NPP‐driven RH changes arising from climate internal variability and external forcings: preindustrial greenhouse gases, volcanic eruptions, land use changes, orbital change, and solar activity. Factorial experiments showed that globally on centennial timescales, the forcing of changes in greenhouse gas concentrations were the largest contributor (51%) to variations in both NPP and RH, followed by volcanic eruptions impacting NPP (25%) and RH (31%). Our analysis of the carbon‐cycle suggests that geoengineering solutions by injection of stratospheric aerosols might be ineffective on longer timescales.

The relationship between primary production and export production in the ocean: Effects of time lags and temporal variability

We analyzed net primary production (NPP) and export production rates measured in the Southern Ocean (SO) and at Station ALOHA (22° 45′N, 158° 00′W) and discovered that in both cases there was a highly significant negative correlation between NPP and the ratio of export production to NPP (i.e., the export ratio). We show that in both cases this negative correlation can be explained by a time lag between the production and export of organic matter from the euphotic zone. The negative correlation appears (disappears) in simulated data if the estimates of the relationship between NPP and export production are based on measurements over timeframes that are comparable to or shorter (much longer) than the time lag between NPP and export production. At Station ALOHA, where data are available from a time series that extends back to 1988, the negative correlation disappears when the data are climatologies over monthly time intervals, which are long compared to the assumed lag of five days between the production and export of organic matter at low latitudes. We conclude that because of the temporal variability of NPP and the time lags between the production and export of organic matter, meaningful estimates of export ratios will need to be based on rates of NPP and export production averaged over timeframes that are long compared to the lag between production and export.

Spatiotemporal variation of productivity and carbon use efficiency of forests in Northeast China from 2000 to 2015.

Understanding changes in vegetation productivity and carbon use efficiency and their responses to climate change is significant to accurately assess and predict regional carbon budget in Northeast forest area, a region being an important carbon sink and sensitive to global change. Based on MODIS monitoring data and vegetation type distribution data, I analyzed the spatiotemporal varia-tions of ecosystem productivity (net primary productivity (NPP), gross primary productivity (GPP)) and carbon use efficiency (NPP/GPP) of Northeast forest from 2000 to 2015. Results showed that the average NPP and GPP were 346.4 and 773 g C·m-2·a-1, respectively, and the average NPP/GPP was 0.45 during 2000 and 2015. NPP and GPP of different forest types were following the order: coniferous and broad-leaved mixed forests > deciduous broad-leaved forests > coniferous forests, while the difference in NPP/GPP was not significant among different forest types. NPP and GPP were high in Southeast part and low in Northwest part. From 2000 to 2015, the NPP, GPP and NPP/GPP of Northeast forest showed a fluctuating increase, suggesting the carbon sequestration capacity was gradually enhanced. However, the trends and rates of NPP, GPP and NPP/GPP showed spatial variation. NPP, GPP and NPP/GPP increased significantly in the southern part of the Daxing'anling while decreased significantly in the northern part of the Daxing'anling, and showed a weak increasing trend in the rest of Northeast forest. The increase of annual precipitation was the main factor driving the fluctuating increase of NPP, GPP and NPP/GPP in Northeast forest.

A Carbon Flux Assessment Driven by Environmental Factors Over the Tibetan Plateau and Various Permafrost Regions

AbstractIn this study, the spatiotemporal changes in net primary production (NPP) and drivers, including climate change, atmospheric CO2 concentration and land use change, over the Tibetan Plateau from 1979 to 2016 were investigated using the version 4.5 of the Community Land Model. Based on high‐resolution atmospheric forcing data, six numerical experiments were designed to assess the relative contribution of different environmental factors on NPP. Our simulation results suggest that NPP over the Tibetan Plateau has increased significantly at a rate of 2.25 Tg C/year2 since 1979. At the plateau scale, changes in precipitation, CO2 concentration, and land use change contributed approximately 63.3%, 16.7%, and 9.5% to the interannual variation of NPP, respectively. Temperature did not exert a significant effect on the trends of NPP, which results from the increasing temperature enhancing the autotrophic respiration (AR) more than the gross primary production. We also divided the alpine grasslands into four types, including alpine meadow of permafrost, alpine steppe of permafrost, alpine meadow of seasonal frost, and alpine steppe of seasonal frost. We found that the increasing rate of NPP in permafrost regions was significantly higher than that in seasonal frost regions. Compared with other factors, precipitation change played a dominant role in the NPP over the four different types of grasslands. Temperature‐induced change on NPP and AR was larger in the alpine meadow regions compared to in the alpine steppe regions. In addition, NPP and AR showed a more remarkable response to temperature change over alpine meadow of permafrost than other regions.

Biogeochemical recuperation of lowland tropical forest during succession.

High rates of land conversion and land use change have vastly increased the proportion of secondary forest in the lowland tropics relative to mature forest. As secondary forests recover following abandonment, nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P) must be present in sufficient quantities to sustain high rates of net primary production and to replenish the nutrients lost during land use prior to secondary forest establishment. Biogeochemical theory and results from individual studies suggest that N can recuperate during secondary forest recovery, especially relative to P. Here, we synthesized 23 metrics of N and P in soil and plants from 45 secondary forest chronosequences located in the wet tropics to empirically explore (1) whether there is a consistent change in nutrients and nutrient cycling processes during secondary succession in the biome; (2) which metrics of N and P in soil and plants recuperate most consistently; (3) if the recuperation of nutrients during succession approaches similar nutrient concentrations and fluxes as those in mature forest in ~100yr following the initiation of succession; and (4) whether site characteristics, including disturbance history, climate, and soil order are significantly related to nutrient recuperation. During secondary forest succession, nine metrics of N and/or P cycling changed consistently and substantially. In most sites, N concentrations and fluxes in both plants and soil increased during secondary succession, and total P concentrations increased in surface soil. Changes in nutrient concentrations and nutrient cycling processes during secondary succession were similar whether mature forest was included or excluded from the analysis, indicating that nutrient recuperation in secondary forest leads to biogeochemical conditions that are similar to those of mature forest. Further, of the N and P metrics that recuperated, only soil total P and foliar δ15 N were strongly influenced by site characteristics like climate, soils, or disturbance history. Predictable nutrient recuperation across a diverse and productive ecosystem may support future forest growth and could provide a means to quantify successful restoration of ecosystem function in secondary tropical forest beyond biomass or species composition.

Using geophysical logs to identify Milankovitch cycles and to calculate net primary productivity (NPP) of the Late Permian coals, western Guizhou, China

Milankovitch periodicities of 123 kyr (eccentricity), 35.6 kyr (obliquity), and 21.2 kyr (precession) were identified in geophysical logs of three Late Permian coals: 17#, 18#, and 17 + 18#, from the Songhe mining area in western Guizhou Province. Based on the astronomic temporal framework, the periods of deposition of the 17# (5.6 m), 18# (6.4 m), and 17 + 18# (5.4 m) coals were constrained to 140.8–119.8 kyr, 160–136.2 kyr, and 135–114.9 kyr, respectively. The overall depositional period of the 18# coal of 160–136.2 kyr was further subdivided using the wavelet analysis method, into short and precise periods corresponding to the Milankovitch periodicities. It includes one eccentricity periodicity (123 kyr), three obliquity periodicities (35.6 kyr), and five precession periodicities (21.2 kyr). Different thicknesses of the subdivided coal sections, equivalent to the same time span of deposition, indicate different rates of coal deposition, i.e., thicker sections imply higher rates while the thinner sections represent lower rates. The combination of the measured average carbon concentration with the density of the coals gave rise to long-term average values of carbon accumulation rates for the Late Permian coals, in the range of 42.4–50.6 g⋅C⋅m− 2⋅a− 1. This range corresponds to the long-term average carbon accumulation rates for the initial peat in the range of 60.6–72.3 g⋅C⋅m− 2⋅a− 1. Based on the known quantitative relation between net primary productivity (NPP) values and long-term average carbon accumulation rates for the Holocene tropical peatlands, the range of NPP values for the Late Permian tropical peatlands was estimated as 242.4–433.8 g⋅C⋅m− 2⋅a− 1.A comparison of existing information about peatland NPP levels of various ages and latitudes indicated that when conditions of high rain and high humidity prevail in the palaeo-peatland at given latitude, the NPP rates will vary with changes in atmospheric concentration of CO2 and O2. This relationship may lead to the use of coals as an indicator for the concentration of these gases (CO2 and O2) in the contemporaneous atmosphere encompassing the long records of coal deposition.

The role of water column stability and wind mixing in the production/export dynamics of two bays in the Western Antarctic Peninsula

During January and February 2017 massive phytoplankton blooms (chlorophyll > 15 mg m−3) were registered in surface waters within two bays in the Western Antarctic Peninsula (WAP). Reflecting these intense blooms, surface waters exhibited high pH (up to 8.4), low pCO2 (< 175 µatm) and low nitrate concentrations (down to 1.5 µM). These summer phytoplankton blooms consisted mainly of diatoms and were associated with the presence of shallow, surface freshwater plumes originating from glacier-melt outflow which contributed both to stratification and to iron supply, thus facilitating pronounced nitrate and CO2 drawdown. These findings suggest that with future increases in freshwater discharge around the WAP, phytoplankton blooms in the northern WAP may become more dominated by large cells, resembling the blooms occurring further south along the Peninsula. Fresher surface waters enhanced water column stability in both bays, enabling phytoplankton populations to attain high growth rates. Phytoplankton was observed to double their biomass in 2.3 days, consistent with the high net primary production rates recorded in both bays (1.29–8.83 g C m−2 d−1). Phytoplankton growth rates showed a direct mechanistic relationship with changes in water column stability, suggesting that this is a main driver of primary productivity in near-shore Antarctic coastal ecosystems, which agrees with previous findings. After wind induced mixing, the organic matter produced within both bays did not settle inside them, suggesting that it was laterally advected out of the bays. Thus, we hypothesize that highly productive near-shore bay areas in Antarctica may supply organic matter to oceanic waters.

A small marine biosphere in the Proterozoic.

The riverine supply of the globally limiting nutrient, phosphorus, to the ocean accounts for only a few percent of nutrient supply to photosynthetic organisms in surface waters. Recycling of marine organic matter by heterotrophic organisms provides almost all of the phosphorus that drives net primary production in the modern ocean. In the low-oxygen environments of the Proterozoic, the lack of free oxygen would have limited rates of oxic respiration, slowing the recycling of nutrients and thus limiting global rates of photosynthesis. A series of steady-state mass balance calculations suggest that the rate of net primary production in the ocean was no more than 10% of its modern value during the Proterozoic eon, and possibly less than 1%. The supply of nutrients in such a world would be dominated by river input, rather than recycling within the water column, leading to a small marine biosphere found primarily within estuarine environments.