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Forests dominate carbon (C) exchanges between the terrestrial biosphere and the atmosphere on land. In the long term, the net carbon flux between forests and the atmosphere has been significantly impacted by changes in forest cover area and structure due to ecological disturbances and management activities. Current empirical approaches for estimating net ecosystem productivity (NEP) rarely conside
Weathering rates are of considerable importance in estimating the acidification sensitivity and recovery capacity of soil and are thus important in the assessment of the sustainability of forestry in a time of changing climate and growing demands for forestry products. In this study, we modelled rates of weathering in mineral soil at two forested sites in southern Sweden included in a monitoring n
Climate change will bring about a consistent increase in temperatures. Annual precipitation rates are also expected to increase in boreal countries, but the seasonal distribution will be uneven, and several areas in the boreal zone will experience wetter winters and drier summers. This study uses the dynamic forest ecosystem model ForSAFE to estimate the combined effect of changes in temperature a
Key message: A 6–9 month backward time shift of the carbon uptake gave the highest correlation between annual biomass increment and carbon uptake in this old even aged forest. Abstract: Plants’ carbon uptake and allocation to different biomass compartments is an important process for both wood production and climate mitigation. Measurements of the net ecosystem carbon dioxide exchange between ecos
Tropical savannas comprise mixed woodland grassland ecosystems in which trees and grasses compete for water resources thereby maintaining the spatial structuring of this ecosystem. A global change in rainfall climatology may impact the structure of tropical savanna ecosystems by favouring woody plants, relative to herbaceous vegetation. Her
We present a method for remote sensing based monitoring of changes in dryland ecosystem functioning based on the assumption that an altered vegetation rainfall relationship (VRR) indicates changes in vegetation biophysical processes, potentially leading to changes in ecosystem functioning. We describe the VRR through a linear regression between integrated rainfall and vegetation productivity (usin
Extreme climate events and nonsustainable land use are important drivers altering the functioning of European ecosystems, resulting in loss of the services provided. Yet a consensus method for regular continental scale assessment of ecosystem condition in relation to land degradation (LD) is still lacking. Here, we propose a new remote sensing-based approach allowing for improved, repeated assessm
In late summer-early autumn, trees undergo growth cessation culminating in bud set. For a wide range of plants, including Populus, photoperiod is considered as the primary environmental cue determining timing of growth cessation and shoot to bud transition. However, studies on Populus have revealed temperature influence on seasonal growth cessation and bud set. In this study we examine the role of
The magnitude of soil and sediment erosion and accumulation processes can profoundly affect landscape development and hamper efficient management of natural resources. Consequently, estimating the rates and causes of these processes is essential, particularly in remote regions, for prediction of changes in landform and river evolution and pr
Faced with environmental degradation, governments worldwide are developing policies to safeguard ecosystem services (ES). Many ES models exist to support these policies, but they are generally poorly validated, especially at large scales, which undermines their credibility. To address this gap, we describe a study of multiple models of five ES, which we validate at an unprecedented scale against 1
We have analyzed decade-long methane flux data set from a boreal fen, Siikaneva, together with data on environmental parameters and carbon dioxide exchange. The methane flux showed seasonal cycle but no systematic diel cycle. The highest fluxes were observed in July–August with average value of 73 nmol m−2 s−1. Wintertime fluxes were small but positive, with January–March average of 6.7 nmol m−2 s
Land degradation in drylands has been investigated extensively over recent decades and several remote sensing based techniques attempt to decouple the human influence from the natural climate variability, but are contested in literature. We introduce a novel approach termed SeRGS-TREND that is designed to monitor land degradation by suppressing the impact from climate variability and highlight veg
Global change may substantially affect biodiversity and ecosystem functioning but little is known about its effects on essential biotic interactions. Since different environmental drivers rarely act in isolation it is important to consider interactive effects. Here, we focus on how two key drivers of anthropogenic environmental change, climate change and the introduction of alien species, affect p
Carboxylic acids (CAs), amino acids (AAs) and carbohydrates (CHs) in dissolved free forms can be readily assimilated by aquatic bacteria and metabolized at high growth efficiencies. Previous studies have shown that these low-molecular-weight (LMW) substrates are released by phytoplankton but also that unidentified LMW compounds of terrestrial origin is a subsidy for bacterial metabolism in unprodu
Synthesis Prediction and management of species responses to climate change is an urgent but relatively young research field. Therefore, climate change ecology must by necessity borrow from other fields. Invasion ecology is particularly well-suited to informing climate change ecology because both invasion ecology and climate change ecology address the trajectories of rapidly changing novel systems.
Soil water chemistry in forest soils over 20years was studied at nine sites in southern Sweden. The aim was to investigate the recovery from acidification and the influence of strong sea salt episodes that occur in the region. All sites but one showed signs of recovery from acidification along with the reduced sulphur deposition, but the recovery progress was slow and the soil water was in most ca
We have measured the land-atmosphere CO2 exchange using the eddy covariance technique in a high Arctic tundra heath in northeast Greenland (Zackenberg). On the basis of 11 years of measurements (2000-2010), it was found that snow cover dynamics was important for the CO2 exchange. The start of CO2 uptake period correlated significantly with timing of snowmelt. Furthermore, for years with deep and l
