According to a recent study titled “Environmental drivers of increased ecosystem respiration in a warming tundra”, the warming planet may alter the characteristics of tundra environments and could transform them from carbon sinks to carbon sources.
Key highlights
- The study revealed that the warming climate may assist ecosystem respiration, which will result in the release of carbon into the atmosphere.
- Ecosystem respiration is the sum of all respiration occurring by the living organisms in a specific ecosystem.
- Rising temperatures change the biogeochemistry of an area, affecting local soil by altering nitrogen levels and pH, the researchers found.
- Arctic and alpine tundra ecosystems are known to be large reservoirs of organic carbon. The increase in activity was due to an increase in both plant and microbial respiration, resulting in the release of carbon.
- The scientists found that the tundra regions with higher nitrogen limitations and sites that stimulated plant and microbial turnover show more sensitivity to warming through respiration responses.
Tundra ecosystems
- Tundra ecosystems are treeless regions found in the Arctic and on the tops of mountains, where the climate is cold and windy, and rainfall is scant.
- Tundra lands are covered with snow for much of the year, but summer brings bursts of wildflowers.
- Features of Tundra: Low biotic diversity, Simple vegetation structure, Limitation of drainage, Short season of growth and reproduction, Energy and nutrients in the form of dead organic material, Large population oscillations.
