Vegetation matters: Correcting chamber carbon flux measurements using plant volumes

Phoebe Alice Morton; Andreas Heinemeyer

doi:10.1016/j.scitotenv.2018.05.192

Vegetation matters: Correcting chamber carbon flux measurements using plant volumes

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

Abstract

Chamber carbon flux measurements are routinely used to assess ecosystem carbon sink/source dynamics. Often these point measurements enclose considerable vegetation biomass, with fluxes upscaled in space and time for each vegetation type. Here we assess the importance of including the volume of peatland dwarf shrub vegetation in chamber flux calculations and outline a simple but effective method of assessing plant volumes. We show that inclusion of plant volumes significantly affects fluxes and that this effect becomes greater as the proportion of chamber volume occupied by plants increases. Moreover, we demonstrate that, with an initial destructive laboratory assessment for each plant species and a little practice at volume estimation, plant volumes can be accurately assessed non-destructively in the field.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	769–772
Number of pages	4
Journal	Science of the Total Environment
Volume	639
Early online date	25 May 2018
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2018.05.192
Publication status	Published - 15 Oct 2018

Bibliographical note

Keywords

Net ecosystem exchange
vegetation volume
carbon cycling
chamber flux measurements
Calluna vulgaris
peatlands

Access to Document

10.1016/j.scitotenv.2018.05.192

Morton & Heinemeyer NEE Revised manuscript with no changes marked
© 2018 The Authors.
Accepted author manuscript, 601 KB

Cite this

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title = "Vegetation matters: Correcting chamber carbon flux measurements using plant volumes",

abstract = "Chamber carbon flux measurements are routinely used to assess ecosystem carbon sink/source dynamics. Often these point measurements enclose considerable vegetation biomass, with fluxes upscaled in space and time for each vegetation type. Here we assess the importance of including the volume of peatland dwarf shrub vegetation in chamber flux calculations and outline a simple but effective method of assessing plant volumes. We show that inclusion of plant volumes significantly affects fluxes and that this effect becomes greater as the proportion of chamber volume occupied by plants increases. Moreover, we demonstrate that, with an initial destructive laboratory assessment for each plant species and a little practice at volume estimation, plant volumes can be accurately assessed non-destructively in the field.",

keywords = "Net ecosystem exchange, vegetation volume, carbon cycling, chamber flux measurements, Calluna vulgaris, peatlands",

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AU - Heinemeyer, Andreas

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AB - Chamber carbon flux measurements are routinely used to assess ecosystem carbon sink/source dynamics. Often these point measurements enclose considerable vegetation biomass, with fluxes upscaled in space and time for each vegetation type. Here we assess the importance of including the volume of peatland dwarf shrub vegetation in chamber flux calculations and outline a simple but effective method of assessing plant volumes. We show that inclusion of plant volumes significantly affects fluxes and that this effect becomes greater as the proportion of chamber volume occupied by plants increases. Moreover, we demonstrate that, with an initial destructive laboratory assessment for each plant species and a little practice at volume estimation, plant volumes can be accurately assessed non-destructively in the field.

KW - Net ecosystem exchange

KW - vegetation volume

KW - carbon cycling

KW - chamber flux measurements

KW - Calluna vulgaris

KW - peatlands

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JO - Science of the Total Environment

JF - Science of the Total Environment

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