Open AccessBiotic Processes Regulating the Carbon Balance of Desert Ecosystems - Final Report
Author(s) -
Robert S. Nowak,
Stanley D. Smith,
Donald L. Evans,
Kiona Ogle,
Lynn Fenstermaker
Publication year - 2012
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Reports
DOI - 10.2172/1109125
Subject(s) - desert (philosophy) , ecosystem , environmental science , carbon fibers , carbon dioxide , ecology , atmospheric sciences , biology , geology , materials science , philosophy , epistemology , composite number , composite material
Our results from the 10-year elevated atmospheric CO{sub 2} concentration study at the Nevada Desert FACE (Free-air CO{sub 2} Enrichment) Facility (NDFF) indicate that the Mojave Desert is a dynamic ecosystem with the capacity to respond quickly to environmental changes. The Mojave Desert ecosystem is accumulating carbon (C), and over the 10-year experiment, C accumulation was significantly greater under elevated [CO{sub 2}] than under ambient, despite great fluctuations in C inputs from year to year and even apparent reversals in which [CO{sub 2}] treatment had greater C accumulations