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Salerno L, Giulio Tonolo F, Camporeale C. A global dataset of carbon pumping by the world's largest tropical rivers. Sci Data 2024; 11:382. [PMID: 38615135 PMCID: PMC11016106 DOI: 10.1038/s41597-024-03201-7] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/21/2023] [Accepted: 03/28/2024] [Indexed: 04/15/2024] Open
Abstract
The eco-morphodynamic activity of large tropical rivers interacts with riparian vegetation causing implications for the carbon cycle within inland waters. Through a multi-temporal analysis of satellite data spanning the years 2000-2019, we analyzed rivers exceeding 200 m in width across the tropical regions, revealing a Carbon Pump mechanism driving an annual mobilization of 12.45 million tons of organic carbon. The study identifies fluvial eco-morphological signatures as proxies for carbon mobilization, emphasizing the link between river migration and carbon dynamics. To enhance accessibility, our results are encapsulated in a visually compelling WebGIS application, offering a comprehensive understanding of the eco-geomorphological influences on the global carbon cycle within large tropical rivers. Our findings are instrumental in determining the carbon intensity of future hydropower dams, thereby contributing to informed decision-making in the realm of sustainable energy infrastructure. This study elucidates the intricate relationships that govern the nexus of tropical river dynamics, riparian ecosystems, and the global carbon cycle.
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Affiliation(s)
- Luca Salerno
- DIATI Department of Environment, Land and Infrastructure Engineering, Politecnico di Torino, Turin, 10129, Italy.
| | - Fabio Giulio Tonolo
- DAD Department of Architecture and Design, Politecnico di Torino, Turin, 10129, Italy
| | - Carlo Camporeale
- DIATI Department of Environment, Land and Infrastructure Engineering, Politecnico di Torino, Turin, 10129, Italy
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Salerno L, Vezza P, Perona P, Camporeale C. Eco-morphodynamic carbon pumping by the largest rivers in the Neotropics. Sci Rep 2023; 13:5591. [PMID: 37019994 PMCID: PMC10076311 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-023-32511-w] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/17/2022] [Accepted: 03/28/2023] [Indexed: 04/07/2023] Open
Abstract
The eco-morphodynamic activity of large tropical rivers in South and Central America is analyzed to quantify the carbon flux from riparian vegetation to inland waters. We carried out a multi-temporal analysis of satellite data for all the largest rivers in the Neotropics (i.e, width > 200 m) in the period 2000-2019, at 30 m spatial resolution. We developed a quantification of a highly efficient Carbon Pump mechanism. River morphodynamics is shown to drive carbon export from the riparian zone and to promote net primary production by an integrated process through floodplain rejuvenation and colonization. This pumping mechanism alone is shown to account for 8.9 million tons/year of carbon mobilization in these tropical rivers. We identify signatures of the fluvial eco-morphological activity that provide proxies for the carbon mobilization capability associated with river activity. We discuss river migration-carbon mobilization nexus and effects on the carbon intensity of planned hydroelectric dams in the Neotropics. We recommend that future carbon-oriented water policies on these rivers include a similar analysis.
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Affiliation(s)
- Luca Salerno
- Department of Environment, Land and Infrastructure Engineering, Politecnico di Torino, Corso Duca degli Abruzzi, Turin, 10129, Italy.
| | - Paolo Vezza
- Department of Environment, Land and Infrastructure Engineering, Politecnico di Torino, Corso Duca degli Abruzzi, Turin, 10129, Italy
| | - Paolo Perona
- Platform of Hydraulic Constructions PL-LCH, Institute of Civil Engineering (IIC), School of Architecture, Civil and Environmental Engineering (ENAC), EPFL, Lausanne, Switzerland
| | - Carlo Camporeale
- Department of Environment, Land and Infrastructure Engineering, Politecnico di Torino, Corso Duca degli Abruzzi, Turin, 10129, Italy
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Saraiva SO, Rutherfurd ID, Kaufmann PR, Leal CG, Macedo DR, Pompeu PS. Wood stock in neotropical streams: Quantifying and comparing instream wood among biomes and regions. PLoS One 2022; 17:e0275464. [PMID: 36197927 PMCID: PMC9534444 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0275464] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/29/2022] [Accepted: 09/16/2022] [Indexed: 11/05/2022] Open
Abstract
Instream wood plays important chemical, physical and ecological functions in aquatic systems, benefiting biota directly and indirectly. However, human activities along river corridors have disrupted wood recruitment and retention, usually leading to reductions in the amount of instream wood. In the tropics, where wood is believed to be more transient, the expansion of agriculture and infrastructure might be reducing instream wood stock even more than in the better studied temperate streams. However, research is needed to augment the small amount of information about wood in different biomes and ecosystems of neotropical streams. Here we present the first extensive assessment of instream wood loads and size distributions in streams of the wet-tropical Amazon and semi-humid-tropical Cerrado (the Brazilian savanna). We also compare neotropical wood stocks with those in temperate streams, first comparing against data from the literature, and then from a comparable dataset from temperate biomes in the USA. Contrary to our expectations, Amazon and Cerrado streams carried similar wood loads, which were lower than the world literature average, but similar to those found in comparable temperate forest and savanna streams in the USA. Our results indicate that the field survey methods and the wood metric adopted are highly important when comparing different datasets. But when properly compared, we found that most of the wood in temperate streams is made-up of a small number of large pieces, whereas wood in neotropical streams is made up of a larger number of small pieces that produce similar total volumes. The character of wood volumes among biomes is linked more to the delivery, transport and decomposition mechanisms than to the total number of pieces. Future studies should further investigate the potential instream wood drivers in neotropical catchments in order to better understand the differences and similarities here detected between biomes and climatic regions.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sarah O. Saraiva
- Programa de Pós-graduação em Ecologia Aplicada, Universidade Federal de Lavras, Lavras, Minas Gerais, Brazil
- * E-mail:
| | - Ian D. Rutherfurd
- School of Geography, Earth, and Atmospheric Sciences, Faculty of Science, The University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
| | - Philip R. Kaufmann
- U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Office of Research and Development, Center for Public Health and Environmental Assessment, Pacific Ecological Systems Division, and Department of Fisheries, Wildlife and Conservation Sciences, Oregon State University, Corvallis, Oregon, United States of America
| | - Cecília G. Leal
- Escola Superior de Agricultura Luiz de Queiroz (ESALQ), Universidade de São Paulo, Piracicaba, São Paulo, Brazil
- Lancaster Environment Centre, Lancaster University, Lancaster, Lancashire, United Kingdom
| | - Diego R. Macedo
- Departamento de Geografia, Instituto de Geociências, Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais, Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais, Brazil
| | - Paulo S. Pompeu
- Departamento de Ecologia e Conservação, Instituto de Ciências Naturais, Universidade Federal de Lavras, Lavras, Minas Gerais, Brazil
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Wohl E, Kramer N, Ruiz-Villanueva V, Scott DN, Comiti F, Gurnell AM, Piegay H, Lininger KB, Jaeger KL, Walters DM, Fausch KD. The Natural Wood Regime in Rivers. Bioscience 2019. [DOI: 10.1093/biosci/biz013] [Citation(s) in RCA: 71] [Impact Index Per Article: 14.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/12/2022] Open
Affiliation(s)
- Ellen Wohl
- Department of Geosciences, Colorado State University, Fort Collins
| | - Natalie Kramer
- Department of Geosciences, Colorado State University, Fort Collins
| | | | - Daniel N Scott
- Department of Earth and Space Sciences, University of Washington, Seattle
| | - Francesco Comiti
- Faculty of Science and Technology, Free University of Bozen-Bolzano, Italy
| | - Angela M Gurnell
- School of Geography, Queen Mary University London, United Kingdom
| | | | | | - Kristin L Jaeger
- US Geological Survey, Washington Water Science Center, Tacoma, Washington
| | - David M Walters
- US Geological Survey, Columbia Environmental Research Center, Columbia, Missouri
| | - Kurt D Fausch
- Department of Fishery and Wildlife Conservation Biology, Colorado State University, Fort Collins
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Voelker SL, Stambaugh MC, Renée Brooks J, Meinzer FC, Lachenbruch B, Guyette RP. Evidence that higher [CO 2] increases tree growth sensitivity to temperature: a comparison of modern and paleo oaks. Oecologia 2017; 183:1183-1195. [PMID: 28220301 DOI: 10.1007/s00442-017-3831-6] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/21/2016] [Accepted: 01/29/2017] [Indexed: 12/13/2022]
Abstract
To test tree growth sensitivity to temperature under different ambient CO2 concentrations, we determined stem radial growth rates as they relate to variation in temperature during the last deglacial period, and compare these to modern tree growth rates as they relate to spatial variation in temperature across the modern species distributional range. Paleo oaks were sampled from Northern Missouri, USA and compared to a pollen-based, high-resolution paleo temperature reconstruction from Northern Illinois, USA. Growth data were from 53 paleo bur oak log cross sections collected in Missouri. These oaks were preserved in river and stream sediments and were radiocarbon-dated to a period of rapid climate change during the last deglaciation (10.5 and 13.3 cal kyr BP). Growth data from modern bur oaks were obtained from increment core collections paired with USDA Forest Service Forest Inventory and Analysis data collected across the Great Plains, Midwest, and Upper Great Lakes regions. For modern oaks growing at an average [CO2] of 330 ppm, growth sensitivity to temperature (i.e., the slope of growth rate versus temperature) was about twice that of paleo oaks growing at an average [CO2] of 230 ppm. These data help to confirm that leaf-level predictions that photosynthesis and thus growth will be more sensitive to temperature at higher [CO2] in mature trees-suggesting that tree growth forest productivity will be increasingly sensitive to temperature under projected global warming and high-[CO2] conditions.
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Affiliation(s)
- Steven L Voelker
- Department of Plants, Soils and Climate, Utah State University, Logan, UT, 84322, USA.
| | - Michael C Stambaugh
- Department of Forestry, University of Missouri, 203ABNR Building, Columbia, MO, 65211, USA
| | - J Renée Brooks
- National Health and Environmental Effects Research Laboratory (NHEERL), Western Ecology Division, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, 200 SW 35th Street, Corvallis, OR, 97333, USA
| | - Frederick C Meinzer
- Pacific Northwest Research Station, U.S.D.A. Forest Service, 3200 Jefferson Way, Corvallis, OR, 97330, USA
| | - Barbara Lachenbruch
- Department of Forest Ecosystems, Society, Oregon State University, Corvallis, OR, 97330, USA
| | - Richard P Guyette
- Department of Forestry, University of Missouri, 203ABNR Building, Columbia, MO, 65211, USA
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Biomass, Carbon and Nutrient Storage in a 30-Year-Old Chinese Cork Oak (Quercus Variabilis) Forest on the South Slope of the Qinling Mountains, China. FORESTS 2015. [DOI: 10.3390/f6041239] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/16/2022]
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Shi PJ, Huang JG, Hui C, Grissino-Mayer HD, Tardif JC, Zhai LH, Wang FS, Li BL. Capturing spiral radial growth of conifers using the superellipse to model tree-ring geometric shape. FRONTIERS IN PLANT SCIENCE 2015; 6:856. [PMID: 26528316 PMCID: PMC4606055 DOI: 10.3389/fpls.2015.00856] [Citation(s) in RCA: 19] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/01/2015] [Accepted: 09/28/2015] [Indexed: 05/09/2023]
Abstract
Tree-rings are often assumed to approximate a circular shape when estimating forest productivity and carbon dynamics. However, tree rings are rarely, if ever, circular, thereby possibly resulting in under- or over-estimation in forest productivity and carbon sequestration. Given the crucial role played by tree ring data in assessing forest productivity and carbon storage within a context of global change, it is particularly important that mathematical models adequately render cross-sectional area increment derived from tree rings. We modeled the geometric shape of tree rings using the superellipse equation and checked its validation based on the theoretical simulation and six actual cross sections collected from three conifers. We found that the superellipse better describes the geometric shape of tree rings than the circle commonly used. We showed that a spiral growth trend exists on the radial section over time, which might be closely related to spiral grain along the longitudinal axis. The superellipse generally had higher accuracy than the circle in predicting the basal area increment, resulting in an improved estimate for the basal area. The superellipse may allow better assessing forest productivity and carbon storage in terrestrial forest ecosystems.
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Affiliation(s)
- Pei-Jian Shi
- Co-Innovation Centre for Sustainable Forestry in Southern China, Bamboo Research Institute, Nanjing Forestry UniversityNanjing, China
- Key Laboratory of Vegetation Restoration and Management of Degraded Ecosystems, South China Botanical Garden, Chinese Academy of SciencesGuangzhou, China
| | - Jian-Guo Huang
- Key Laboratory of Vegetation Restoration and Management of Degraded Ecosystems, South China Botanical Garden, Chinese Academy of SciencesGuangzhou, China
- Provincial Key Laboratory of Applied Botany, South China Botanical Garden, Chinese Academy of SciencesGuangzhou, China
- *Correspondence: Jian-Guo Huang
| | - Cang Hui
- Department of Mathematical Sciences, Centre for Invasion Biology, Stellenbosch UniversityMatieland, South Africa
- Mathematical and Physical Biosciences, African Institute for Mathematical SciencesCape Town, South Africa
| | | | - Jacques C. Tardif
- Centre for Forest Interdisciplinary Research, University of WinnipegWinnipeg, MB, Canada
| | - Li-Hong Zhai
- Key Laboratory of Vegetation Restoration and Management of Degraded Ecosystems, South China Botanical Garden, Chinese Academy of SciencesGuangzhou, China
- Provincial Key Laboratory of Applied Botany, South China Botanical Garden, Chinese Academy of SciencesGuangzhou, China
| | - Fu-Sheng Wang
- Co-Innovation Centre for Sustainable Forestry in Southern China, Bamboo Research Institute, Nanjing Forestry UniversityNanjing, China
| | - Bai-Lian Li
- Ecological Complexity and Modelling Laboratory, Department of Botany and Plant Sciences, University of California, RiversideRiverside, CA, USA
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Landscape Influences on Ecosystem Function: Local and Routing Control of Oxygen Dynamics in a Floodplain Aquifer. Ecosystems 2013. [DOI: 10.1007/s10021-013-9717-5] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/26/2022]
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Freeman C, Fenner N, Shirsat AH. Peatland geoengineering: an alternative approach to terrestrial carbon sequestration. PHILOSOPHICAL TRANSACTIONS. SERIES A, MATHEMATICAL, PHYSICAL, AND ENGINEERING SCIENCES 2012; 370:4404-4421. [PMID: 22869805 DOI: 10.1098/rsta.2012.0105] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/01/2023]
Abstract
Terrestrial and oceanic ecosystems contribute almost equally to the sequestration of ca 50 per cent of anthropogenic CO(2) emissions, and already play a role in minimizing our impact on Earth's climate. On land, the majority of the sequestered carbon enters soil carbon stores. Almost one-third of that soil carbon can be found in peatlands, an area covering just 2-3% of the Earth's landmass. Peatlands are thus well established as powerful agents of carbon capture and storage; the preservation of archaeological artefacts, such as ancient bog bodies, further attest to their exceptional preservative properties. Peatlands have higher carbon storage densities per unit ecosystem area than either the oceans or dry terrestrial systems. However, despite attempts over a number of years at enhancing carbon capture in the oceans or in land-based afforestation schemes, no attempt has yet been made to optimize peatland carbon storage capacity or even to harness peatlands to store externally captured carbon. Recent studies suggest that peatland carbon sequestration is due to the inhibitory effects of phenolic compounds that create an 'enzymic latch' on decomposition. Here, we propose to harness that mechanism in a series of peatland geoengineering strategies whereby molecular, biogeochemical, agronomical and afforestation approaches increase carbon capture and long-term sequestration in peat-forming terrestrial ecosystems.
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Affiliation(s)
- Christopher Freeman
- Wolfson Carbon Capture Laboratory, School of Biological Sciences, Bangor University, Bangor LL57 2UW, UK
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Voelker SL, Noirot-Cosson PE, Stambaugh MC, McMurry ER, Meinzer FC, Lachenbruch B, Guyette RP. Spring temperature responses of oaks are synchronous with North Atlantic conditions during the last deglaciation. ECOL MONOGR 2012. [DOI: 10.1890/11-0848.1] [Citation(s) in RCA: 18] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/18/2022]
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