Authors: Benoy, Glenn; Cash, Kevin; McCauley, Edward; Wrona, Frederick

Source: Environmental Reviews, Volume 15, Number 1, March 2007 , pp. 175-189(15)

Publisher: NRC Research Press

Abstract:

Water-covered lands comprise approximately 30% of the total area of the world's boreal forest biome. Most of these lands are peatlands (i.e., bogs and fens), which store over half of the total carbon in the biome. Because climate warming threatens to alter the carbon stocks of peatlands, much attention has been devoted to understanding the climatic and hydrologic conditions that affect peatland biogeochemistry. However, there are other aquatic systems that are widespread in the boreal forest that also process and store carbon, including lakes and ponds. Although non-peatland aquatic systems cover a much smaller portion of the boreal landscape, they still contain approximately 15% of the total carbon pool for the biome, much of it stored as either profundal or littoral sediments. Further, the carbon dynamics of boreal lakes are dynamically coupled to watershed processes. Excepting major disturbances to boreal catchments, such as forest fires and forest harvest, surface waters are the only locations of net loss of carbon to the atmosphere. Our objectives are to review what is known about factors that affect lake ecosystem carbon dynamics in the boreal forest and to identify areas of study that we deem to be profitable for forecasting the impacts of climate change on carbon pools and flux rates. We primarily focus on the boreal forest of North America, but recognize that our findings may also be relevant for boreal areas of Fennoscandia and Russia. The following research priorities are identified: (i) estimation of carbon pools in profundal and littoral sediments across the boreal forest, (ii) warming experiments that include quantification of ecosystem carbon dynamics in addition to measuring changes to aquatic food web structure, (iii) whole system experiments to understand the hydrologic and biogeochemical conditions by which allochthonous carbon is integrated into aquatic food webs, especially in the context of increased nutrient concentrations associated with a warmer, and possibly drier, climate, as forecast for the southern boreal forest, (iv) watershed-scale assessment of carbon budgets for lakes that straddle transitional zones between the boreal forest and prairie-parkland, temperate forest or tundra, to detect evidence of ecosystem migration, and (v) integration of lacustrine carbon pools and flux rates into carbon budgets at scales that range from local watersheds to the boreal forest biome.

Les superficies terrestres recouvertes d'eau représentent environ 30 % des surfaces totales du biome mondial de la forêt boréale. La majeure partie de ces terres sont des tourbières (c.-à-d. tourbières hautes et tourbières basses), lesquelles emmagasinent plus de la moitié du carbone total de ce biome. Comme le réchauffement global menace l'altérer la masse de carbone accumulée dans les tourbières, on a accordé beaucoup d'attention à la compréhension des conditions climatiques et hydrologiques qui affectent la biogéochimie des tourbières. Cependant, il existe d'autres systèmes aquatiques, largement répandus dans la forêt boréale, qui génèrent et accumulent du carbone, incluant les lacs et les étangs. Bien que les systèmes aquatiques non tourbeux couvrent une plus faible proportion du paysage boréal, ils contiennent tout de même environ 15 % du puit total de carbone de ce biome, en grande partie accumulé sous forme de sédiments profonds ou littoraux. De plus, dans les lacs boréaux, la dynamique du carbone forme un couple intégré avec les processus des bassins versants. Sauf pour les pertes occasionnées par des perturbations majeures, comme l'incendie de forêt ou la récolte, les eaux de surface constituent le seul lieu de perte nette de carbone vers l'atmosphère. Les auteurs présentent une revue de ce qu'on connaît sur les facteurs qui affectent la dynamique du carbone des écosystèmes lacustres de la forêt boréale, et cherchent à identifier les champs d'étude qui semblent prometteurs pour prédire les impacts du changement climatique sur les puits de carbone et leurs taux de flux. On s'attache prioritairement à la forêt boréale de l'Amérique du Nord, tout en reconnaissant que les résultats pourraient également s'avérer utiles dans les régions boréales de la Fennoscandie et de la Russie.

Document Type: Research article

Publication date: 2007-03-01

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• Published since 1993, this annual electronic-only journal presents authoritative reviews on a wide range of environmental science and associated environmental studies topics, with emphasis on the effects on and response of both natural and manmade ecosystems to anthropogenic stress. The authorship and scope are international, with critical reviews submitted and invited on such topics as climate change, harvesting impacts, acid rain, pesticide use, lake acidification, air and marine pollution, ecology of oil spills, biological control, food chain biomagnification, rehabilitation of polluted aquatic systems, erosion, agroforestry, and bio-indicators of environmental stress.
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