BIFoR FACE: Water-soil-vegetation-atmosphere research in a temperate deciduous forest catchment, including under elevated CO2

MacKenzie, A. Rob; Krause, Stefan; Hart, Kris M.; Thomas, Richard P.; Blaen, Philip; Hamilton, Roger; Curioni, Giulio; Quick, Susan; Kourmouli, Angeliki; Hannah, David M.; Comer‐Warner, Sophie; Brekenfeld, Nicolai; Ullah, Sami; Press, M. C.

doi:10.22541/au.160157598.86879557

Cited by 6 publications

(11 citation statements)

References 13 publications

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“…The mean January and July temperatures were 4 and 17 °C, respectively, and the average annual precipitation for the region is 720 mm (650 mm, 669 mm, 646 mm and 818 mm, in 2015, 2017, 2018 and 2019, respectively, when the study was conducted; see Figure 1.). The total N deposition load at the BIFoR FACE site is ~22 Kg N/ha/year (estimate provided by S. Tomlinson at the Centre for Ecology and Hydrology, Edinburgh, UK)(Mackenzie et al, 2021), representing around 15% of the total nitrogen nutrition of temperate deciduous trees (Rennenberg & Dannenmann, 2015).…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Is photosynthetic enhancement sustained through three years of elevated CO₂exposure in 175-year oldQuercus robur?

Gardner

Ellsworth

Crous

et al. 2020

Preprint

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Current carbon cycle models attribute rising atmospheric CO2 as the major driver of the increased terrestrial carbon sink, but with substantial uncertainties. The photosynthetic response of trees to elevated atmospheric CO2 is a necessary step, but not the only one, for sustaining the terrestrial carbon uptake, but can vary diurnally, seasonally and with duration of CO2 exposure. Hence we sought to quantify the photosynthetic response of the canopy-dominant species, Quercus robur, in a mature deciduous forest to elevated CO2 (eCO2) (+150 μmol mol-1 CO2) over the first three years of a long-term free air CO2 enrichment facility at the Birmingham Institute of Forest Research in central England (BIFoR FACE). Over three thousand measurements of leaf gas exchange and related biochemical parameters were conducted in the upper canopy to assess the diurnal and seasonal responses of photosynthesis during the 2nd and 3rd year of eCO2 exposure. Measurements of photosynthetic capacity via biochemical parameters, derived from CO2 response curves, (Vcmax and Jmax) together with leaf nitrogen concentrations from the pre-treatment year to the 3 rd year of eCO2 exposure, were examined. We hypothesized an initial enhancement in light-saturated net photosynthetic rates (Asat) with CO2 enrichment of ≈37% based on theory but also expected photosynthetic capacity would fall over the duration of the study. Over the three-year period, Asat of upper-canopy leaves was 33 ± 8 % higher (mean and standard error) in trees grown in eCO2 compared with ambient CO2 (aCO2), and photosynthetic enhancement decreased with decreasing light. There were no significant effects of CO2 treatment on Vcmax or Jmax, nor leaf nitrogen. Our results suggest that mature Q. robur may exhibit a sustained, positive response to eCO2 without photosynthetic downregulation, suggesting that, with adequate nutrients, there will be sustained enhancement in C assimilated by these mature trees. Further research will be required to understand the location and role of the additionally assimilated carbon.

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Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Is photosynthetic enhancement sustained through three years of elevated CO₂exposure in 175-year oldQuercus robur?

Gardner

Ellsworth

Crous

et al. 2020

Preprint

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“…Performance of the facility was excellent over the course of these experiments, with details and further information available in Refs. [37,32,44].…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…We found that relative rates of fine root proliferation detectably increased under eCO 2 in the first year of treatment and also differed, to a lesser extent, in the second year. Subsequently, the summer of 2018 (July to September) was particularly dry [44] and the trees were recovering from a springtime winter moth (Operophtera brumata) caterpillar infestation (17th May to 3rd June) [51], both of which features may have challenged root proliferation. Some increased growth in the first year could also be attributed to a wounding response due to disturbance from minirhizotron installation four months earlier.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…We found that relative rates of fine root proliferation detectably increased under eCO 2 in the first year of treatment and also differed, to a lesser extent, in the second year. Subsequently, the summer of 2018 (July to September) was particularly dry [44] and the trees were recovering from a springtime (B) Observed fine root production per plot per quarter and total across plots per year (inset) from root observations under eCO 2 (red) and ambient air (blue), with LOESS fits and 95% confidence intervals. Dynamics in quarters 5-8 ( * * * ) display significant differences between eCO 2 and control (likelihood ratio test comparing quadratic models, p = 2.6 × 10 −4 ), though see text for interpretation.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Quantification and uncertainty of root growth stimulation by elevated CO₂in mature temperate deciduous forest

Ziegler

Kulawska

Kourmouli

et al. 2021

Preprint

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Increasing CO2 levels are a major global challenge, and the extent to which increasing anthropogenic CO2 emissions can be mitigated by natural carbon sinks remains poorly understood. The uptake of elevated CO2 (eCO2) by the terrestrial biosphere, and subsequent sequestration as biomass in ecosystems, may act as a negative feedback in the carbon budget, but remains hard to quantify in natural ecosystems. Here, we combine large-scale field observations of fine root stocks and flows, derived from belowground imaging and soil cores, with image analysis, stochastic modelling, and statistical inference, to elucidate belowground root dynamics in a mature temperate deciduous forest under free-air CO2 enrichment to 150ppm above ambient levels. Using over 67k frames of belowground observation, we observe that eCO2 leads to relatively faster root production (a peak volume fold change of 4.52 ± 0.44 eCO2 versus 2.58 ± 0.21 control). We identify an increase in existing root elongation relative to root mass decay as the likely causal mechanism for this acceleration. Direct physical analysis of biomass and width measurements from 552 root systems recovered from soil cores support this picture, with lengths and widths of fine roots significantly increasing under eCO2 . We use dynamic measurements to estimate fine root contributions to net primary productivity, finding an increase under eCO2, with an estimated mean annual 204 ± 93 g dw m-2 yr-1 eCO2 versus 140 ± 60 g dw m-2 yr-1 control. We also quantify and discuss the uncertainties in such productivity measurements. This multi-faceted approach thus sheds quantitative light on the challenging characterisation of the eCO2 response of root biomass in mature temperate forests.

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“…The BIFoR FACE experiment is located in a 19.1 hectare mature oak forest in Staffordshire. The overall aim of the FACE experiment is to mimic the effects of anthropogenic climate change by increasing the CO2 concentrations in areas of the forest by 150 ppm above ambient (~400 ppm) (MacKenzie et al, 2020;Norby et al, 2016). This set-up is one of only two FACE experiments in mature forests worldwide and it provides a unique experiment to study mature temperate woodland.…”

Section: Bifor Facementioning

confidence: 99%

Mass concentrations of autumn bioaerosol in a mature temperate woodland Free Air Carbon Dioxide Enrichment (FACE) experiment: investigating the role of meteorology and carbon dioxide levels

Baird

Bannister

MacKenzie

et al. 2021

Preprint

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Abstract. Forest environments contain a wide variety of airborne biological particles (bioaerosols), including pollen, fungal spores, bacteria, viruses, plant detritus and soil particles. Forest bioaerosol plays a number of important roles related to plant and livestock health, human disease and allergenicity, forest and wider ecology, and are thought to influence biosphere/atmosphere interactions via warm and cold cloud formation. Despite the importance of bioaerosols, there are few measurements of forest aerosol, and there is a lack of understanding of how climate change will affect forest bioaerosol in the future. We installed low-cost optical particle counters (OPCs) to measure particles in the size range between 1 and 10 μm, where bioaerosols will likely dominate the particle mass concentration, for a period of two months in Autumn 2018 at the Birmingham Institute of Forest Research (BIFoR) Free Air Carbon Dioxide Enrichment (FACE) facility. The BIFoR FACE facility fumigates three 700 m2 areas of the forest with an additional 150 ppm CO2 above ambient with minimal impacts on other potential environmental drivers such as temperature, humidity, and wind. This experimental set-up enabled us to investigate the effect of environmental variables, including elevated CO2 (eCO2), on bioaerosol concentrations, and to evaluate the performance of the low-cost OPCs in a forested environment. Operating the low-cost OPCs during Autumn 2018, we aimed to capture predominantly the fungal bioaerosol season. Across the experimental duration, the OPCs captured both temporal and spatial variation in bioaerosol concentrations. Aerosol concentrations were affected by changing temperatures and wind speeds, but, contrary to our initial hypothesis, not by relative humidity. We detected no effect of the eCO2 treatment on total bioaerosol concentrations, but a potential suppression of high concentration bioaerosol events was detected under eCO2. In-canopy atmospheric dispersion modelling indicates that the median spore dispersion distance is sufficiently small that there is little mixing between treatment and control experiments. Our data demonstrate the suitability of low-cost OPCs, interpreted with due caution, for use in forests, and so opens the possibility of forest bioaerosol monitoring in a wider range of habitats, to a wider range of researchers at a modest cost.

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BIFoR FACE: Water-soil-vegetation-atmosphere research in a temperate deciduous forest catchment, including under elevated CO2

Cited by 6 publications

References 13 publications

Is photosynthetic enhancement sustained through three years of elevated CO₂exposure in 175-year oldQuercus robur?

Is photosynthetic enhancement sustained through three years of elevated CO₂exposure in 175-year oldQuercus robur?

Quantification and uncertainty of root growth stimulation by elevated CO₂in mature temperate deciduous forest

Mass concentrations of autumn bioaerosol in a mature temperate woodland Free Air Carbon Dioxide Enrichment (FACE) experiment: investigating the role of meteorology and carbon dioxide levels

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BIFoR FACE: Water-soil-vegetation-atmosphere research in a temperate deciduous forest catchment, including under elevated CO2

Cited by 6 publications

References 13 publications

Is photosynthetic enhancement sustained through three years of elevated CO2exposure in 175-year oldQuercus robur?

Is photosynthetic enhancement sustained through three years of elevated CO2exposure in 175-year oldQuercus robur?

Quantification and uncertainty of root growth stimulation by elevated CO2in mature temperate deciduous forest

Mass concentrations of autumn bioaerosol in a mature temperate woodland Free Air Carbon Dioxide Enrichment (FACE) experiment: investigating the role of meteorology and carbon dioxide levels

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About

Is photosynthetic enhancement sustained through three years of elevated CO₂exposure in 175-year oldQuercus robur?

Is photosynthetic enhancement sustained through three years of elevated CO₂exposure in 175-year oldQuercus robur?

Quantification and uncertainty of root growth stimulation by elevated CO₂in mature temperate deciduous forest