{"title":"Different topographic and climatic contexts associated carbon hotspots in a carbon-dense ecoregion","authors":"Trevor A. Carter, Brian Buma","doi":"10.1002/ecs2.70363","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<p>Forested landscapes have the potential to help offset global carbon emissions. However, current global models do not, nor are they intended to, capture the fine-scale variability of the distributions of carbon in aboveground or belowground stocks or their simultaneous variability. Regional investigations are necessary to resolve patterns in carbon that can guide policy and planning, but regional maps that quantify multiple carbon pools are scarce. We quantified the spatial relationships of aboveground and belowground carbon stocks to understand their simultaneous variability across the forested area of the perhumid ecoregion of the Pacific Coastal Temperate Rainforest. Further, we identified topo-climatic contexts associated with unique patterns in both aboveground and belowground carbon stocks by conducting an overlay analysis across the entire ecoregion. We utilized previously published estimates of carbon stocks based on extensive governmental data and machine learning techniques to model simultaneous spatial relationships of aboveground and belowground carbon stocks and generate a map for a high carbon region. We employed Pearson's correlations as well as ANOVA and Tukey honestly significant difference (HSD) tests for comparisons of topography and climate. Approximately 25% (2.6 million ha) of the area across the perhumid ecoregion had similar trends in aboveground and belowground stocks (convergence). Likewise, 20% of the ecoregion had opposite trends of aboveground and belowground stocks (divergence), and 56% of the ecoregion experienced no relationship (moderate conditions) between aboveground and belowground stocks. Convergence areas consist of carbon hotspots associated with 1.3 million ha and 794 Mg C ha<sup>−1</sup> on average, or carbon cold spots associated with 1.2 million ha and 224 Mg C ha<sup>−1</sup>. Areas with convergence, divergence, and moderate carbon stocks all had unique associations with slope, elevation, aspect, mean annual precipitation, and annual mean temperature. High levels of aboveground carbon were associated with steeper slopes, while high levels of belowground carbon were associated with high levels of precipitation. The interactions between slope, precipitation, and temperature correspond with carbon convergence and divergence, likely due to water accumulation which impacts the decomposition of organic matter in soil. These data are critical to regional planning and carbon policy and inform expectations for future carbon storage as the climate changes.</p>","PeriodicalId":48930,"journal":{"name":"Ecosphere","volume":"16 8","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.9000,"publicationDate":"2025-08-05","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1002/ecs2.70363","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Ecosphere","FirstCategoryId":"93","ListUrlMain":"https://esajournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/ecs2.70363","RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"环境科学与生态学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q2","JCRName":"ECOLOGY","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
Forested landscapes have the potential to help offset global carbon emissions. However, current global models do not, nor are they intended to, capture the fine-scale variability of the distributions of carbon in aboveground or belowground stocks or their simultaneous variability. Regional investigations are necessary to resolve patterns in carbon that can guide policy and planning, but regional maps that quantify multiple carbon pools are scarce. We quantified the spatial relationships of aboveground and belowground carbon stocks to understand their simultaneous variability across the forested area of the perhumid ecoregion of the Pacific Coastal Temperate Rainforest. Further, we identified topo-climatic contexts associated with unique patterns in both aboveground and belowground carbon stocks by conducting an overlay analysis across the entire ecoregion. We utilized previously published estimates of carbon stocks based on extensive governmental data and machine learning techniques to model simultaneous spatial relationships of aboveground and belowground carbon stocks and generate a map for a high carbon region. We employed Pearson's correlations as well as ANOVA and Tukey honestly significant difference (HSD) tests for comparisons of topography and climate. Approximately 25% (2.6 million ha) of the area across the perhumid ecoregion had similar trends in aboveground and belowground stocks (convergence). Likewise, 20% of the ecoregion had opposite trends of aboveground and belowground stocks (divergence), and 56% of the ecoregion experienced no relationship (moderate conditions) between aboveground and belowground stocks. Convergence areas consist of carbon hotspots associated with 1.3 million ha and 794 Mg C ha−1 on average, or carbon cold spots associated with 1.2 million ha and 224 Mg C ha−1. Areas with convergence, divergence, and moderate carbon stocks all had unique associations with slope, elevation, aspect, mean annual precipitation, and annual mean temperature. High levels of aboveground carbon were associated with steeper slopes, while high levels of belowground carbon were associated with high levels of precipitation. The interactions between slope, precipitation, and temperature correspond with carbon convergence and divergence, likely due to water accumulation which impacts the decomposition of organic matter in soil. These data are critical to regional planning and carbon policy and inform expectations for future carbon storage as the climate changes.
森林景观有可能帮助抵消全球碳排放。然而,目前的全球模式没有,也不打算捕捉地上或地下储量中碳分布的精细尺度变异性或它们的同步变异性。区域调查对于解决可以指导政策和规划的碳模式是必要的,但是量化多个碳库的区域地图很少。我们量化了地上和地下碳储量的空间关系,以了解它们在太平洋沿海温带雨林过湿润生态区森林区域的同步变化。此外,我们通过对整个生态区域进行覆盖分析,确定了与地上和地下碳储量独特模式相关的地形气候背景。我们利用先前公布的基于大量政府数据和机器学习技术的碳储量估计,模拟地上和地下碳储量的同时空间关系,并生成高碳地区的地图。我们采用Pearson相关、ANOVA和Tukey诚实显著差异(HSD)检验来比较地形和气候。大约25%(260万公顷)的过湿润生态区在地上和地下储量方面具有相似的趋势(趋同)。同样,20%的生态区地上和地下储量呈相反趋势(分化),56%的生态区地上和地下储量没有关系(中等)。辐合区由碳热点(平均面积为130万公顷和794 Mg C ha - 1)和碳冷点(平均面积为120万公顷和224 Mg C ha - 1)组成。辐合区、辐散区和中等碳储量区与坡度、高程、坡向、年平均降水量和年平均气温均有独特的关联。高水平的地上碳与更陡峭的斜坡有关,而高水平的地下碳与高水平的降水有关。坡度、降水和温度之间的相互作用对应于碳的辐合和辐散,这可能是由于水分的积累影响了土壤有机质的分解。这些数据对区域规划和碳政策至关重要,并为随着气候变化对未来碳储量的预期提供信息。
期刊介绍:
The scope of Ecosphere is as broad as the science of ecology itself. The journal welcomes submissions from all sub-disciplines of ecological science, as well as interdisciplinary studies relating to ecology. The journal''s goal is to provide a rapid-publication, online-only, open-access alternative to ESA''s other journals, while maintaining the rigorous standards of peer review for which ESA publications are renowned.