Fire, hurricane and carbon dioxide: effects on net primary production of a subtropical woodland

    Authors

    B. A. Hungate; F. P. Day; P. Dijkstra; B. D. Duval; C. R. Hinkle; J. A. Langley; J. P. Megonigal; P. Stiling; D. W. Johnson;B. G. Drake

    Comments

    Authors: contact us about adding a copy of your work at STARS@ucf.edu

    Abbreviated Journal Title

    New Phytol.

    Keywords

    disturbance; elevated CO2; fire; global environmental change; hurricane; net primary productivity (NPP); nitrogen cycling; oak woodland; SCRUB-OAK ECOSYSTEM; ELEVATED ATMOSPHERIC CO2; NITROGEN-USE EFFICIENCY; LONG-TERM EXPOSURE; FOREST PRODUCTIVITY; FLORIDA SCRUB; TERRESTRIAL; ECOSYSTEMS; ROOT BIOMASS; SOIL CARBON; ABOVEGROUND BIOMASS; Plant Sciences

    Abstract

    Disturbance affects most terrestrial ecosystems and has the potential to shape their responses to chronic environmental change. Scrub-oak vegetation regenerating from fire disturbance in subtropical Florida was exposed to experimentally elevated carbon dioxide (CO2) concentration (+350ll(-1)) using open-top chambers for 11yr, punctuated by hurricane disturbance in year 8. Here, we report the effects of elevated CO2 on aboveground and belowground net primary productivity (NPP) and nitrogen (N) cycling during this experiment. The stimulation of NPP and N uptake by elevated CO2 peaked within 2yr after disturbance by fire and hurricane, when soil nutrient availability was high. The stimulation subsequently declined and disappeared, coincident with low soil nutrient availability and with a CO2-induced reduction in the N concentration of oak stems. These findings show that strong growth responses to elevated CO2 can be transient, are consistent with a progressively limited response to elevated CO2 interrupted by disturbance, and illustrate the importance of biogeochemical responses to extreme events in modulating ecosystem responses to global environmental change.

    Journal Title

    New Phytologist

    Volume

    200

    Issue/Number

    3

    Publication Date

    1-1-2013

    Document Type

    Article

    Language

    English

    First Page

    767

    Last Page

    777

    WOS Identifier

    WOS:000325555400019

    ISSN

    1469-8137

    Share

    COinS