Open AccessQuantifying ecosystem‐atmosphere carbon exchange with a 14C label
Author(s) -
Trumbore Susan,
Gaudinski Julia B.,
Hanson Paul J.,
Southon John R.
Publication year - 2002
Publication title -
eos, transactions american geophysical union
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.316
H-Index - 86
eISSN - 2324-9250
pISSN - 0096-3941
DOI - 10.1029/2002eo000187
Subject(s) - ecosystem , terrestrial ecosystem , atmosphere (unit) , autotroph , carbon cycle , environmental science , respiration , photosynthesis , ecology , carbon fibers , soil respiration , carbon sink , atmospheric sciences , terrestrial plant , environmental chemistry , biology , chemistry , botany , geography , meteorology , geology , genetics , materials science , bacteria , composite number , composite material
The role of terrestrial ecosystems as sources or sinks for carbon to the atmosphere and their contribution to inter‐annual variations in atmospheric CO 2 remain hotly‐debated topics. Carbon enters terrestrial ecosystems through a single process, photosynthesis, but it is returned to the atmosphere by the combined metabolic activity of plants, animals, and microbes (Figure l). The largest uncertainties in our understanding of terrestrial carbon cycling are in these return processes, especially how CO 2 losses from ecosystems are divided among respiration by living plants—termed autotrophic respiration—versus microbial and faunal decomposition of plant residues—termed heterotrophic respiration (Figure 1); and how seasonal and climatic factors that change plant physiological status and soil conditions influence that partitioning.