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The global wilderness seminar for government
agencies: a meeting at the crossroads of wildlands stewardship
Roeper, Nancy; Landres, Peter; Fisher, Don. 2006. The global wilderness seminar for government agencies: a meeting at the crossroads of wildlands stewardship. International Journal of Wilderness 12(2): 45-46.
Temperate and boreal forest ecosystems contain a large part of the carbon stored on land, in the form of both biomass and soil organic matter. Increasing atmospheric [CO 2 ], increasing temperature, elevated nitrogen deposition and intensified management will change this C store. Well documented single-factor responses of net primary production are: higher photosynthetic rate (the main [CO 2 ] response); increasing length of growing season (the main temperature response); and higher leaf-area index (the main N deposition and partly [CO 2 ] response). Soil organic matter will increase with increasing litter input, although priming may decrease the soil C stock initially, but litter quality effects should be minimal (response to [CO 2 ], N deposition, and temperature); will decrease because of increasing temperature; and will increase because of retardation of decomposition with N deposition, although the rate of decomposition of high-quality litter can be increased and that of low-quality litter decreased. Single-factor responses can be misleading because of interactions between factors, in particular those between N and other factors, and indirect effects such as increased N availability from temperature-induced decomposition. In the long term the strength of feedbacks, for example the increasing demand for N from increased growth, will dominate over short-term responses to single factors. However, management has considerable potential for controlling the C store.
Key words: carbon balance, carbon dioxide (CO 2), climate change, fertilization, global warming
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Publications: The global wilderness seminar for government agencies:
a meeting at the crossroads of wildlands stewardship
Electronic Publish Date: March 30, 2007
Last Update: March
30, 2007