1
|
Raiho AM, Paciorek CJ, Dawson A, Jackson ST, Mladenoff DJ, Williams JW, McLachlan JS. 8000-year doubling of Midwestern forest biomass driven by population- and biome-scale processes. Science 2022. [DOI: 10.1126/science.abk3126] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/02/2022]
Abstract
Changes in woody biomass over centuries to millennia are poorly known, leaving unclear the magnitude of terrestrial carbon fluxes before industrial-era disturbance. Here, we statistically reconstructed changes in woody biomass across the upper Midwestern region of the United States over the past 10,000 years using a Bayesian model calibrated to preindustrial forest biomass estimates and fossil pollen records. After an initial postglacial decline, woody biomass nearly doubled during the past 8000 years, sequestering 1800 teragrams. This steady accumulation of carbon was driven by two separate ecological responses to regionally changing climate: the spread of forested biomes and the population expansion of high-biomass tree species within forests. What took millennia to accumulate took less than two centuries to remove: Industrial-era logging and agriculture have erased this carbon accumulation.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- A. M. Raiho
- Department of Biological Sciences, University of Notre Dame, South Bend, IN, USA
- Earth System Science Interdisciplinary Center, University of Maryland, College Park, College Park, MD, USA
| | - C. J. Paciorek
- Department of Statistics, University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, CA, USA
| | - A. Dawson
- Department of General Education, Mount Royal University, Calgary, Alberta, Canada
- Department of Biological Sciences, University of Calgary, Calgary, Alberta, Canada
| | - S. T. Jackson
- US Geological Survey, Southwest and South Central Climate Adaptation Centers, Tucson, AZ, USA
- Department of Geosciences, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ, USA
| | - D. J. Mladenoff
- Department of Forest and Wildlife Ecology, University of Wisconsin–Madison, Madison, WI, USA
| | - J. W. Williams
- Department of Geography, University of Wisconsin–Madison, Madison, WI, USA
- Center for Climatic Research, University of Wisconsin–Madison, Madison, WI, USA
| | - J. S. McLachlan
- Department of Biological Sciences, University of Notre Dame, South Bend, IN, USA
| |
Collapse
|