Abstract
Disturbances are increasing globally due to anthropogenic changes in land use and climate. This study determines whether a disturbance that affects the physiology of individual trees can be used to predict the response of the ecosystem by weighing two competing hypothesis at annual time scales: (a) changes in ecosystem fluxes are proportional to observable patterns of mortality or (b) to explain ecosystem fluxes the physiology of dying trees must also be incorporated. We evaluate these hypotheses by analyzing 6 years of eddy covariance flux data collected throughout the progression of a spruce beetle (Dendroctonus rufipennis) epidemic in a Wyoming Engelmann spruce (Picea engelmannii)-subalpine fir (Abies lasiocarpa) forest and testing for changes in canopy conductance (gc), evapotranspiration (ET), and net ecosystem exchange (NEE) of CO2.
Keywords
gas exchange,
tree mortality,
spruce bark beetles
Citation
Frank, John M.; Massman, William J.; Ewers, Brent E.; Huckaby, Laurie S.; Negron, Jose F. 2014. Ecosystem CO2/H2O fluxes are explained by hydraulically limited gas exchange during tree mortality from spruce bark beetles. Journal of Geophysical Research: Biogeosciences. 119(6): 1095-1215.
