There is a concern that carbon flux partitioning methods may suffer from spurious correlation because derived values of canopy photosynthesis and ecosystem respiration both contain common information on net carbon fluxes at annual time scales. We found, on average, that the correlation between gross photosynthesis and ecosystem respiration, using day–night sampling, was close to minus… More
Given that forests represent the primary terrestrial sink for atmospheric CO2, projections of future carbon (C) storage hinge on forest responses to climate variation. Models of gross primary production (GPP) responses to water stress are commonly based on remotely sensed changes in canopy ‘greenness’ (e.g., normalized difference vegetation index; NDVI). However, many forests have low… More
Predicted decreases in water availability across the temperate forest biome have the potential to offset gains in carbon (C) uptake from phenology trends, rising atmospheric CO2, and nitrogen deposition. While it is well established that severe droughts reduce the C sink of forests by inducing tree mortality, the impacts of mild but chronic water stress… More
We just closed out our water year for the Tonzi and Vaira Ranches, and despite enduring another drought year, these systems seem well adapted to long dry periods. Here are the preliminary sums site season_yr annual_NEE annual_Reco annual_GPP Vaira 2014 -159.2 481.9 641.1 Tower 2014 -145.6 713.1 858.5