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Tundra and boreal ecosystems encompass the northern circumpolar permafrost region and are experiencing rapid environmental change with important implications for the global carbon (C) budget. We analysed multi-decadal time series containing 302 annual estimates of carbon dioxide (CO2) flux across 70 permafrost and non-permafrost ecosystems, and 672 estimates of summer CO2 flux across 181 ecosystems. We find an increase in the annual CO2 sink across non-permafrost ecosystems but not permafrost ecosystems, despite similar increases in summer uptake. Thus, recent non-growing-season CO2 losses have substantially impacted the CO2 balance of permafrost ecosystems. Furthermore, analysis of interannual variability reveals warmer summers amplify the C cycle (increase productivity and respiration) at putatively nitrogen-limited sites and at sites less reliant on summer precipitation for water use. Our findings suggest that water and nutrient availability will be important predictors of the C-cycle response of these ecosystems to future warming.

Past efforts to synthesize and quantify the magnitude and change in carbon dioxide (CO2) fluxes in terrestrial ecosystems across the rapidly warming Arctic-boreal zone (ABZ) have provided valuable information but were limited in their geographical and temporal coverage. Furthermore, these efforts have been based on data aggregated over varying time periods, often with only minimal site ancillary data, thus limiting their potential to be used in large-scale carbon budget assessments. To bridge these gaps, we developed a standardized monthly database of Arctic-boreal CO2 fluxes (ABCflux) that aggregates in situ measurements of terrestrial net ecosystem CO2 exchange and its derived partitioned component fluxes: gross primary productivity and ecosystem respiration. The data span from 1989 to 2020 with over 70 supporting variables that describe key site conditions (e.g., vegetation and disturbance type), micrometeorological and environmental measurements (e.g., air and soil temperatures), and flux measurement techniques. Here, we describe these variables, the spatial and temporal distribution of observations, the main strengths and limitations of the database, and the potential research opportunities it enables. In total, ABCflux includes 244 sites and 6309 monthly observations; 136 sites and 2217 monthly observations represent tundra, and 108 sites and 4092 observations represent the boreal biome. The database includes fluxes estimated with chamber (19% of the monthly observations), snow diffusion (3%) and eddy covariance (78%) techniques. The largest number of observations were collected during the climatological summer (June-August; 32%), and fewer observations were available for autumn (September-October; 25%), winter (December-February; 18%), and spring (March-May; 25%). ABCflux can be used in a wide array of empirical, remote sensing and modeling studies to improve understanding of the regional and temporal variability in CO2 fluxes and to better estimate the terrestrial ABZ CO2 budget. ABCflux is openly and freely available online (Virkkala et al., 2021b, 10.3334/ORNLDAAC/1934). Copyright:

Arctic warming is affecting snow cover and soil hydrology, with consequences for carbon sequestration in tundra ecosystems. The scarcity of observations in the Arctic has limited our understanding of the impact of covarying environmental drivers on the carbon balance of tundra ecosystems. In this study, we address some of these uncertainties through a novel record of 119 site-years of summer data from eddy covariance towers representing dominant tundra vegetation types located on continuous permafrost in the Arctic. Here we found that earlier snowmelt was associated with more tundra net CO2 sequestration and higher gross primary productivity (GPP) only in June and July, but with lower net carbon sequestration and lower GPP in August. Although higher evapotranspiration (ET) can result in soil drying with the progression of the summer, we did not find significantly lower soil moisture with earlier snowmelt, nor evidence that water stress affected GPP in the late growing season. Our results suggest that the expected increased CO2 sequestration arising from Arctic warming and the associated increase in growing season length may not materialize if tundra ecosystems are not able to continue sequestering CO2 later in the season.

Estimates of winter (snow-covered non-growing season) CO2 fluxes across the Arctic region vary by a factor of 3.5, with considerable variation between measured and simulated fluxes. Measurements of snow properties, soil temperatures, and net ecosystem exchange (NEE) at Trail Valley Creek, NWT, Canada, allowed for the evaluation of simulated winter NEE in a tundra environment with the Community Land Model (CLM5.0). Default CLM5.0 parameterisations did not adequately simulate winter NEE in this tundra environment, with near-zero NEE (< 0.01 gCm-2d-1) simulated between November and mid-May. In contrast, measured NEE was broadly positive (indicating net CO2 release) from snow-cover onset until late April. Changes to the parameterisation of snow thermal conductivity, required to correct for a cold soil temperature bias, reduced the duration for which no NEE was simulated. Parameter sensitivity analysis revealed the critical role of the minimum soil moisture threshold of decomposition (Ψmin) in regulating winter soil respiration. The default value of this parameter (Ψmin) was too high, preventing simulation of soil respiration for the vast majority of the snow-covered season. In addition, the default rate of change of soil respiration with temperature (Q10) was too low, further contributing to poor model performance during winter. As Ψmin and Q10 had opposing effects on the magnitude of simulated winter soil respiration, larger negative values of Ψmin and larger positive values of Q10 are required to simulate wintertime NEE more adequately. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Estimates of winter (snow-covered non-growing season) CO2 fluxes across the Arctic region vary by a factor of three and a half, with considerable variation between measured and simulated fluxes. Measurements of snow properties, soil temperatures and net ecosystem exchange (NEE) at Trail Valley Creek, NWT, Canada, allowed evaluation of simulated winter NEE in a tundra environment with the Community Land Model (CLM5.0). Default CLM5.0 parameterisations did not adequately simulate winter NEE in this tundra environment, with near-zero NEE (< 0.01 g C m-2 d-1) simulated between November and mid-May. In contrast, measured NEE was broadly positive (indicating net CO2 release) from snow cover onset until late April. Changes to the parameterisation of snow thermal conductivity, required to correct for a cold soil temperature bias, reduced the duration for which no NEE was simulated. Parameter sensitivity analysis revealed the critical role of the minimum soil moisture threshold on decomposition (min) in regulating winter soil respiration. The default value of this parameter (min) was too high, preventing simulation of soil respiration for the vast majority of the snow-covered season. In addition, the default rate of change of soil respiration with temperature (Q10) was too low, further contributing to poor model performance during winter. As min and Q10 had opposing effects on the magnitude of simulated winter soil respiration, larger negative values of min and larger positive values of Q10 are required to simulate wintertime NEE more adequately. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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Results demonstrate that the transcriptional coactivator OcaB of B lymphocytes targets kappa light chains of immunoglobulins and influences their transcription in vivo. Furthermore, OcaB is essential for V(D)J mediated recombination of a subset of kappa genes.

The Arctic is warming more rapidly than other regions of the world leading to ecosystem change including shifts in vegetation communities, permafrost degradation and alteration of tundra surface-atmosphere energy and carbon (C) fluxes, among others. However, year-round C and energy flux measurements at high-latitude sites remain rare. This poses a challenge for evaluating the impacts of climate change on Arctic tundra ecosystems and for developing and evaluating process-based models, which may be used to predict regional and global energy and C feedbacks to the climate system. Our study used 14 years of seasonal eddy covariance (EC) measurements of carbon dioxide (CO2), water and energy fluxes and winter soil chamber CO2 flux measurements at a dwarf-shrub tundra site underlain by continuous permafrost in Canada's Southern Arctic ecozone to evaluate the incorporation of shrub plant functional types (PFTs) in the Canadian Land Surface Scheme Including biogeochemical Cycles (CLASSIC), the land surface component of the Canadian Earth System Model. In addition to new PFTs, a modification of the efficiency with which water evaporates from the ground surface was applied. This modification addressed a high ground evaporation bias that reduced model performance when soils became very dry, limited heat flow into the ground and reduced plant productivity through water stress effects. Compared to the grass and tree PFTs previously used by CLASSIC to represent the vegetation in Arctic permafrost-affected regions, simulations with the new shrub PFTs better capture the physical and biogeochemical impact of shrubs on the magnitude and seasonality of energy and CO2 fluxes at the dwarf-shrub tundra evaluation site. The revised model, however, tends to overestimate gross primary productivity, particularly in spring, and overestimated late winter CO2 emissions. On average, annual net ecosystem CO2 exchange was positive for all simulations, suggesting this site was a net CO2 source of 18 ± 4 g C m-2 year-1 using shrub PFTs, 15 ± 6 g C m-2 year-1 using grass PFTs, and 25 ± 5 g C m-2 year-1 using tree PFTs. These results highlight the importance of using appropriate PFTs in process-based models to simulate current and future Arctic surface-atmosphere interactions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Over the past decade, British Columbia (BC), has experienced the largest mountain pine beetle (MPB) outbreak on record. This study used the eddy-covariance (EC) technique to examine the impact of the MPB attack on evapotranspiration ( E) and associated canopy characteristics of two lodgepole pine stands with secondary structure (trees, saplings and seedlings surviving the attack) located in central BC. MPB-06, an 85-year-old almost pure stand of pine trees, was first attacked in 2006, and by 2010, ~80% of the trees had been killed. MPB-03, a 110-year-old stand with an overstory consisting of over 90% pine and a developed sub-canopy, was first attacked in 2003 and by 2007 had > 95% pine canopy mortality. EC measurements began in August 2006 at MPB-06 and in March 2007 at MPB-03, and continued for four years. Annual total E ranged from 226 mm to 237 mm at MPB-06, and from 280 to 297 mm at MPB-03, showing relatively little year-to-year change at both sites over the four years. Increased E from the accelerated growth of the surviving vegetation (secondary structure, shrubs and herbs) compensated for reduction in E due to the death of the overstory. Monthly average daytime canopy conductance, the Priestley-Taylor ( α), and the canopy-atmosphere decoupling coefficient (Ω) steadily increased during the growing season reaching approximate maximum values of 5 mm s−1, 0.75 and 0.12, respectively. Potential evapotranspiration was approximated using a vapour pressure deficit-dependent α obtained at high soil water content. Calculated water deficits indicated some water-supply limitation to the surviving trees and understory at both sites. Rates of root zone drainage during the growing season were low relative to precipitation. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Long-term atmospheric CO 2 concentration records have suggested a reduction in the positive effect of warming on high-latitude carbon uptake since the 1990s. A variety of mechanisms have been proposed to explain the reduced net carbon sink of northern ecosystems with increased air temperature, including water stress on vegetation and increased respiration over recent decades. However, the lack of consistent long-term carbon flux and in situ soil moisture data has severely limited our ability to identify the mechanisms responsible for the recent reduced carbon sink strength. In this study, we used a record of nearly 100 site-years of eddy covariance data from 11 continuous permafrost tundra sites distributed across the circumpolar Arctic to test the temperature (expressed as growing degree days, GDD) responses of gross primary production (GPP), net ecosystem exchange (NEE), and ecosystem respiration (ER) at different periods of the summer (early, peak, and late summer) including dominant tundra vegetation classes (graminoids and mosses, and shrubs). We further tested GPP, NEE, and ER relationships with soil moisture and vapor pressure deficit to identify potential moisture limitations on plant productivity and net carbon exchange. Our results show a decrease in GPP with rising GDD during the peak summer (July) for both vegetation classes, and a significant relationship between the peak summer GPP and soil moisture after statistically controlling for GDD in a partial correlation analysis. These results suggest that tundra ecosystems might not benefit from increased temperature as much as suggested by several terrestrial biosphere models, if decreased soil moisture limits the peak summer plant productivity, reducing the ability of these ecosystems to sequester carbon during the summer., (© 2022 The Authors. Global Change Biology published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.)