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Climate, vegetation cover, and management create finescale heterogeneity in unirrigated agricultural regions, with important but not well-quantified consequences for spatial and temporal variations in surface CO2, water, and heat fluxes. Eddy covariance fluxes were measured in seven agricultural fields—comprising winter wheat, pasture, and sorghum—in the U.S. Southern Great Plains (SGP) during the 2001–03 growing seasons. Land cover was the dominant source of variation in surface fluxes, with 50%–100% differences between fields planted in winter–spring versus fields planted in summer. Interannual variation was driven mainly by precipitation, which varied more than twofold between years. Peak aboveground biomass and growing season net ecosystem exchange (NEE) of CO2 increased in rough proportion to precipitation. Based on a partitioning of gross fluxes with a regression model, ecosystem respiration increased linearly with gross primary production, but with an offset that increased near the time of seed production. Because the regression model was designed for well-watered periods, it successfully retrieved NEE and ecosystem parameters during the peak growing season and identified periods of moisture limitation during the summer. In summary, the effects of crop type, land management, and water limitation on carbon, water, and energy fluxes were large. Capturing the controlling factors in landscape-scale models will be necessary to estimate the ecological feedbacks to climate and other environmental impacts associated with changing human needs for agricultural production of food, fiber, and energy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Drought and fire are common disturbances to grassland ecosystems. We report two years of eddy covariance ecosystem–atmosphere fluxes and biometric variables measured in nearby burned and unburned pastures in the US Southern Great Plains. Over the course of the experiment, annual precipitation (∼600mmyr−1) was lower than the long term mean (∼860mmyr−1). Soil moisture decreased from productive conditions in March 2005 dry, unproductive conditions during the growing season starting in March 2006. Just prior to the burn in early March 2005, burned and unburned pastures contained 520±60 and 360±40gCm−2 of total above ground biomass (AGB) and litter, respectively. The fire removed approximately 200gCm−2 of litter and biomass. In the 2005 growing season following the burn, maximum green AGB was 450±60 and 270±40gCm−2, with corresponding cumulative annual net ecosystem carbon exchange (NEE) of −330 and −150gCm−2 for the burned and unburned pastures, respectively. In contrast to NEE, cumulative mean sensible heat and water fluxes were approximately equal in both pastures during the growing season, suggesting either an increase in water use efficiency or a decrease in evaporation in the burned relative to the unburned pasture. In the 2006 growing season, dry conditions decreased carbon uptake and latent heat, and increased sensible heat fluxes. Peak AGB was reduced to 210±30gCm−2 and 140±30gCm−2 in the burned and unburned pastures, respectively, while NEE was near zero. These results suggest that the lack of precipitation was responsible for most of the interannual variation in carbon exchange for these un-irrigated prairie pastures. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

AbstractThe eddy covariance technique was employed with a tunable diode laser spectrometer to quantify methane flux from a prairie marsh dominated by Phragmites australis in north-central Nebraska, USA. The observations spanned the entire growing season (April to October) and a wide range of weather conditions, allowing a quantitative assessment of the physical and biological controls of methane emission in this ecosystem. Diel patterns in methane emission varied markedly depending on plant growth stage. Prior to plant emergence above water, the rate of methane emission from the marsh was fairly constant throughout the day. After emergence above water, there was a gradual increase in methane emission after sunrise with a peak in late afternoon. Significant changes in diel patterns were observed after tillering. Then, the diel pattern was characterized by a mid- to late-morning peak and a 2-to 4-fold increase in methane emissions from night to daytime. In early stages of plant growth, molecular diffusion through dead/live plants and the standing water column seemed to be the primary transport mechanism. After tillering, a transition occurred in the transport mechanism from a molecular diffusion to a convective throughflow, which is a rapid and active gas transport driven by pressure differences. The role of convective throughflow became less important as the plants senesced. Integrated methane emission over the six-month measurement period (April–October) was about 64 g CH4 m–2. On an annual basis, we estimate the annual methane emission from this ecosystem to be ≈ 80 g CH4 m–2 and that about 80% of the total methane emission occurred between late April and late October. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Methane (CH4) emissions from natural landscapes constitute roughly half of global CH4 contributions to the atmosphere, yet large uncertainties remain in the absolute magnitude and the seasonality of emission quantities and drivers. Eddy covariance (EC) measurements of CH4 flux are ideal for constraining ecosystem-scale CH4 emissions, including their seasonality, due to quasi-continuous and high temporal resolution of flux measurements, coincident measurements of carbon, water, and energy fluxes, lack of ecosystem disturbance, and increased availability of datasets over the last decade. Here, we 1) describe the newly published dataset, FLUXNET-CH4 Version 1.0, the first global dataset of CH4 EC measurements (available at https://fluxnet.org/data/fluxnet-ch4-community-product/). FLUXNET-CH4 includes half-hourly and daily gap-filled and non gap-filled aggregated CH4 fluxes and meteorological data from 79 sites globally: 42 freshwater wetlands, 6 brackish and saline wetlands, 7 formerly drained ecosystems, 7 rice paddy sites, 2 lakes, and 15 uplands. Then, we 2) evaluate FLUXNET-CH4 representativeness for freshwater wetland coverage globally, because the majority of sites in FLUXNET-CH4 Version 1.0 are freshwater wetlands and because freshwater wetlands are a substantial source of total atmospheric CH4 emissions; and 3) provide the first global estimates of the seasonal variability and seasonality predictors of freshwater wetland CH4 fluxes. Our representativeness analysis suggests that the freshwater wetland sites in the dataset cover global wetland bioclimatic attributes (encompassing energy, moisture, and vegetation-related parameters) in arctic, boreal, and temperate regions, but only sparsely cover humid tropical regions. Seasonality metrics of wetland CH4 emissions vary considerably across latitudinal bands. In freshwater wetlands (except those between 20° S to 20° N) the spring onset of elevated CH4 emissions starts three days earlier, and the CH4 emission season lasts 4 days longer, for each degree C increase in mean annual air temperature. On average, the onset of increasing CH4 emissions lags soil warming by one month, with very few sites experiencing increased CH4 emissions prior to the onset of soil warming. In contrast, roughly half of these sites experience the spring onset of rising CH4 emissions prior to the spring increase in gross primary productivity (GPP). The timing of peak summer CH4 emissions does not correlate with the timing for either peak summer temperature or peak GPP. Our results provide seasonality parameters for CH4 modeling, and highlight seasonality metrics that cannot be predicted by temperature or GPP (i.e., seasonality of CH4 peak). The FLUXNET-CH4 dataset provides an open-access resource for CH4 flux synthesis, has a range of applications, and is unique in that it includes coupled measurements of important CH4 drivers such as GPP and temperature. Although FLUXNET-CH4 could certainly be improved by adding more sites in tropical ecosystems and by increasing the number of site-years at existing sites, it is a powerful new resource for diagnosing and understanding the role of terrestrial ecosystems and climate drivers in the global CH4 cycle. All seasonality parameters are available at https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.4408468. Additionally, raw FLUXNET-CH4 data used to extract seasonality parameters can be downloaded from https://fluxnet.org/data/fluxnet-ch4-community-product/, and a complete list of the 79 individual site data DOIs is provided in Table 2 in the Data Availability section of this document. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Warming in the Arctic has been more apparent in the non-growing season than in the typical growing season. In this context, methane (CH4) emissions in the non-growing season, particularly in the shoulder seasons, account for a substantial proportion of the annual budget. However, CH4 emissions in spring and autumn shoulders are often underestimated by land models and measurements due to limited data availability and unknown mechanisms. This study investigates CH4 emissions during spring thaw and autumn freeze using eddy covariance CH4 measurements from three Arctic sites with multi-year observations. We find that the shoulder seasons contribute to about a quarter (25.6 ± 2.3%, mean ± SD) of annual total CH4 emissions. Our study highlights the three to four times higher contribution of autumn freeze CH4 emission to total annual emission than that of spring thaw. Autumn freeze exhibits significantly higher CH4 flux (0.88 ± 0.03 mg m-2 hr-1) than spring thaw (0.48 ± 0.04 mg m-2 hr-1). The mean duration of autumn freeze (58.94 ± 26.39 days) is significantly longer than that of spring thaw (20.94 ± 7.79 days), which predominates the much higher cumulative CH4 emission during autumn freeze (1,212.31 ± 280.39 mg m-2 year-1) than that during spring thaw (307.39 ± 46.11 mg m-2 year-1). Near-surface soil temperatures cannot completely reflect the freeze-thaw processes in deeper soil layers and appears to have a hysteresis effect on CH4 emissions from early spring thaw to late autumn freeze. Therefore, it is necessary to consider commonalities and differences in CH4 emissions during spring thaw versus autumn freeze to accurately estimate CH4 source from tundra ecosystems for evaluating carbon-climate feedback in Arctic. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Johnson grass (Sorghum halepense (L.) Pers.) is rapidly spreading throughout the continental United States (U.S.). Thus, determining magnitudes and seasonal dynamics of carbon dioxide (CO 2) and water vapor (H 2 O) fluxes in Johnson grass is crucial to understand regional changes in hydrology and carbon balance. Using eddy covariance (EC), CO 2 and H 2 O fluxes were measured from June 2017 to October 2019 over a rainfed Johnson grass field in central Oklahoma. Hay was harvested from late May to early July each year, with biomass yield ~7.5 t ha−1. Weekly averaged daily integrated net ecosystem CO 2 exchange (NEE), gross primary production (GPP), and evapotranspiration (ET) reached −8.28 ± 0.76 g C m−2, 20.02 ± 1.62 g C m−2, and 5.42 ± 0.26 mm, respectively. Ecosystem water use efficiency (EWUE) and ecosystem light use efficiency (ELUE) ranged from 3.22 to 3.93 g C mm−1 ET and 0.34 to 0.41 g C mol−1 PAR (photosynthetically active radiation), respectively, during peak growths. Based on aggregated fluxes for each month over the three years (2017–2019), cumulative annual NEE was −434 ± 112 g C m−2, indicating a carbon gain by the Johnson grass field. Cumulative annual ET (858 ± 72 mm) was ~86% of the average annual rainfall (996 ± 100 mm). Results showed Johnson grass could be a carbon sink from May to September in the U.S. Southern Great Plains. Both NEE and ET did not decline up to air temperature (T a) of ~33 °C and vapor pressure deficit (VPD) of ~2 kPa, suggesting optimum T a of ≥33 °C and VPD of ≥2 kPa for the fluxes. Results indicated that Johnson grass might be well suited for dryland production in the region. Additionally, these findings provide initial baseline information on CO 2 fluxes and ET for Johnson grass relative to other forage species in the region. Unlabelled Image • First work to thoroughly study dynamics of CO 2 and H 2 O fluxes in Johnson grass. • Johnson grass harvested for hay showed large carbon uptake potential at annual scales. • Johnson grass could be a carbon sink in the southern plains during May–Sept period. • CO 2 uptake did not decrease up to air temperature of ~33 °C. • Cumulative annual ET (858 ± 72 mm) was ~86% of the average annual rainfall. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: We analyzed net CO2 exchange data from 13 flux tower sites with 27 site-years of measurements over maize and wheat fields across midcontinent North America. A numerically robust “light-soil temperature-VPD”-based method was used to partition the data into photosynthetic assimilation and ecosystem respiration components. Year-round ecosystem-scale ecophysiological parameters of apparent quantum yield, photosynthetic capacity, convexity of the light response, respiration rate parameters, ecological light-use efficiency, and the curvature of the VPD-response of photosynthesis for maize and wheat crops were numerically identified and interpolated/extrapolated. This allowed us to gap-fill CO2 exchange components and calculate annual totals and budgets. VPD-limitation of photosynthesis was systematically observed in grain crops of the region (occurring from 20 to 120 days during the growing season, depending on site and year), determined by the VPD regime and the numerical value of the curvature parameter of the photosynthesis-VPD-response, σ VPD. In 78% of the 27 site-years of observations, annual gross photosynthesis in these crops significantly exceeded ecosystem respiration, resulting in a net ecosystem production of up to 2100g CO2 m−2 year−1. The measurement-based photosynthesis, respiration, and net ecosystem production data, as well as the estimates of the ecophysiological parameters, provide an empirical basis for parameterization and validation of mechanistic models of grain crop production in this economically and ecologically important region of North America. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]