Ecosystem Responses to Recent Climate Change and Fire Disturbance at Northern High Latitudes
Scott
Goetz, Woods Hole Research Center, sgoetz@whrc.org
(Presenting)
Michelle
Mack, University of Florida, Gainsville, mcmack@ufl.edu
Kevin
Gurney, Purdue University, kgurney@purdue.edu
James
T
Randerson, University of California, Irvine, jranders@uci.edu
Vegetation composition at high latitudes plays a critical role in climate and, in turn, is strongly affected by climate. The increased frequency of fires expected as a result of climate warming at high latitudes will feedback positively to further warming by releasing carbon to the atmosphere, but will also feedback negatively by increasing surface albedo. The net effect is complex because the severity of fire affects the trajectory of both carbon stocks and albedo change following fire, and these are likely to differ between high latitude ecosystems in North America and northern Eurasian. Here we use growth trajectories, productivity trends and regional carbon fluxes to characterize these fire- and climate-driven changes.
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