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Isotopic Branchpoints: Linkages and Efficiencies in Carbon and Water Budgets
Author(s) -
Marshall John D.,
Laudon Hjalmar,
Mäkelä Annikki,
Peichl Matthias,
Hasselquist Niles,
Näsholm Torgny
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
journal of geophysical research: biogeosciences
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 2169-8961
pISSN - 2169-8953
DOI - 10.1029/2020jg006043
Subject(s) - environmental science , carbon fibers , biomass (ecology) , carbon sequestration , precipitation , isotopes of carbon , stable isotope ratio , organic matter , soil water , soil carbon , total organic carbon , environmental chemistry , earth science , soil science , ecology , chemistry , carbon dioxide , geology , computer science , biology , geography , meteorology , nuclear physics , physics , algorithm , composite number
Forests pass water and carbon through while converting portions to streamflow, soil organic matter, wood production, and other ecosystem services. The efficiencies of these transfers are but poorly quantified. New theory and new instruments have made it possible to use stable isotope composition to provide this quantification of efficiencies wherever there is a measurable difference between the branches of a branchpoint. We present a linked conceptual model that relies on isotopes of hydrogen, carbon, and oxygen to describe these branchpoints along the pathway from precipitation to soil and biomass carbon sequestration and illustrate how it can be tested and generalized.