FoResp

Project members
Werner Eugster
Sophia Etzold

Research sites
Lägeren
Davos

Related projects
CarboEurope IP
Swiss Fluxnet

Timeplan
2007- 2010

CO2 budget and respiration components in two contrasting forest ecosystems in the Alps: Are there similarities with boreal forests?

Respiration of terrestrial ecosystems is one of the key processes in the global carbon cycle. Thus, the understanding of respiration processes is a prerequisite to predict effects of climate change on ecosystems and their future annual carbon balance. Therefore, the CO2 exchange of two contrasting forest ecosystems representative for Swiss forests are studied with the main emphasis on their respiratory fluxes (i.e., total ecosystem, soil, stem and foliage): a montane mixed forest at Lägeren (CarboEurope IP site) and a subalpine coniferous forest at Davos.

For quantification and partitioning of total CO2 ecosystem fluxes, various techniques were used: eddy covariance technique, combined with measurements of advective fluxes due to sloping terrain. Furthermore, stable isotope analysis as well as closed chamber measurements of different respiratory components were employed.

Publications

Ahrends HE, Etzold S, Kutsch WL, Stoeckli R, Bruegger R, Jeanneret F, Wanner H, Buchmann N, Eugster W (2009) Phenology and carbon dioxide fluxes: use of digital photography for process-based interpretation at the ecosystem scale. Climate Research 39: 261–274

Etzold S, Buchmann N, Eugster W (2010) Contribution of advection to the carbon budget measured by eddy covariance at a steep mountain slope forest in Switzerland. Biogeosciences 7: 2461-2475

van Gorsel E, Delpierre N, Leuning R, Black A, Munger JW, Wofsy S, Aubinet M, Feigenwinter C, Beringer J, Bonal D, Chen B, Chen J, Clement R, Davis KJ, Desai AR, Dragoni D, Etzold S, Gruenwald T, Gu L, Heinesch B, Hutyra LR, Jans WWP, Kutsch W, Law BE, Leclerc MY, Mammarella I, Montagnani L, Noormets A, Rebmann C, Wharton S (2009) Estimating nocturnal ecosystem respiration from the vertical turbulent flux and change in storage of CO₂. Agricultural and Forest Meteorology 149: 1919–1930

Zweifel R, Eugster W, Etzold S, Dobbertin M, Buchmann N, Häsler R (2010) Link between continuous stem radius changes and net ecosystem productivity of a subalpine Norway spruce forest in the Swiss Alps. New Phytologist 187: 819-830