Note to users. If you're seeing this message, it means that your browser cannot find this page's style/presentation instructions -- or possibly that you are using a browser that does not support current Web standards. Find out more about why this message is appearing, and what you can do to make your experience of our site the best it can be.

Science 28 May 1993:
Vol. 260. no. 5112, pp. 1314 - 1317
DOI: 10.1126/science.260.5112.1314
Prev | Table of Contents | Next

Articles

Net Exchange of CO2 in a Mid-Latitude Forest

S. C. Wofsy 1, M. L. Goulden 1, J. W. Munger 1, S.-M. Fan 1, P. S. Bakwin 1, B. C. Daube 1, S. L. Bassow 2, and F. A. Bazzaz 2

1 Division of Applied Science and Department of Earth and Planetary Science, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA 02138
2 Department of Organismic and Evolutionary Biology, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA 02138

The eddy correlation method was used to measure the net ecosystem exchange of carbon dioxide continuously from April 1990 to December 1991 in a deciduous forest in central Massachusetts. The annual net uptake was 3.7 ± 0.7 metric tons of carbon per hectare per year. Ecosystem respiration, calculated from the relation between nighttime exchange and soil temperature, was 7.4 metric tons of carbon per hectare per year, implying gross ecosystem production of 11.1 metric tons of carbon per hectare per year. The observed rate of accumulation of carbon reflects recovery from agricultural development in the 1800s. Carbon uptake rates were notably larger than those assumed for temperate forests in global carbon studies. Carbon storage in temperate forests can play an important role in determining future concentrations of atmospheric carbon dioxide.

Submitted on December 4, 1992
Accepted on March 23, 1993


THIS ARTICLE HAS BEEN CITED BY OTHER ARTICLES:
Stand-level gas-exchange responses to seasonal drought in very young versus old Douglas-fir forests of the Pacific Northwest, USA.
S. Wharton, M. Schroeder, K. Bible, M. Falk, and K. T. Paw U (2009)
Tree Physiol 29, 959-974
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Conditional inversion to estimate parameters from eddy-flux observations.
X. Wu, Y. Luo, E. Weng, L. White, Y. Ma, and X. Zhou (2009)
J Plant Ecol 2, 55-68
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Response of a Deciduous Forest to the Mount Pinatubo Eruption: Enhanced Photosynthesis.
L. Gu, D. D. Baldocchi, S. C. Wofsy, J. W. Munger, J. J. Michalsky, S. P. Urbanski, and T. A. Boden (2003)
Science 299, 2035-2038
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Modeling Heat, Water Vapor, and Carbon Dioxide Flux Distribution Inside Canopies Using Turbulent Transport Theories.
G. Katul and M. Siqueira (2002)
Vadose Zone J. 1, 58-67
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Factors Controlling Long- and Short-Term Sequestration of Atmospheric CO2 in a Mid-latitude Forest.
C. C. Barford, S. C. Wofsy, M. L. Goulden, J. W. Munger, E. H. Pyle, S. P. Urbanski, L. Hutyra, S. R. Saleska, D. Fitzjarrald, and K. Moore (2001)
Science 294, 1688-1691
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Changes in Forest Biomass Carbon Storage in China Between 1949 and 1998.
J. Fang, A. Chen, C. Peng, S. Zhao, and L. Ci (2001)
Science 292, 2320-2322
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Evapotranspiration in a Prairie Ecosystem: Effects of Grazing by Cattle.
D. J. Bremer, L. M. Auen, J. M. Ham, and C. E. Owensby (2001)
Agron. J. 93, 338-348
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Plant Physiology of the "Missing" Carbon Sink.
C. B. Field (2001)
Plant Physiology 125, 25-28
   Full Text »
North American Carbon Sink.
E. A. Holland, S. Brown;, C. S. Potter, S. A. Klooster;, S. Fan, M. Gloor, J. Mahlman, S. Pacala, J. Sarmiento, T. Takahashi, et al. (1999)
Science 283, 1815a-1815
   Full Text »
A Large Terrestrial Carbon Sink in North America Implied by Atmospheric and Oceanic Carbon Dioxide Data and Models.
S. Fan, M. Gloor, J. Mahlman, S. Pacala, J. Sarmiento, T. Takahashi, and P. Tans (1998)
Science 282, 442-446
   Abstract »    Full Text »
Potential responses of soil organic carbon to global environmental change.
S. E. Trumbore (1997)
PNAS 94, 8284-8291
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Carbon Dioxide Uptake by an Undisturbed Tropical Rain Forest in Southwest Amazonia, 1992 to 1993.
J. Grace, J. Lloyd, J. McIntyre, A. C. Miranda, P. Meir, H. S. Miranda, C. Nobre, J. Moncrieff, J. Massheder, Y. Malhi, et al. (1995)
Science 270, 778-780
   Abstract »    PDF »
Plant Growth-Rate Dependence of Detrital Carbon Storage in Ecosystems.
J. Cebrian and C. M. Duarte (1995)
Science 268, 1606-1608
   Abstract »    PDF »
Carbon Pools and Flux of Global Forest Ecosystems.
R. K. Dixon, R. K. Dixon, A. M. Solomon, S. Brown, R. A. Houghton, M. C. Trexier, and J. Wisniewski (1994)
Science 263, 185-190
   Abstract »    PDF »


To Advertise     Find Products

Science. ISSN 0036-8075 (print), 1095-9203 (online)