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Full-Text Articles in Earth Sciences
The Carbon Budget Impact Of Sagebrush Degradation, Andrew Connor Austreng
The Carbon Budget Impact Of Sagebrush Degradation, Andrew Connor Austreng
Boise State University Theses and Dissertations
More than 20,000 km2 of sagebrush (Artemesia spp.) ecosystems within the Great Basin have been replaced, often following wildfire, by the nonnative winter annual cheatgrass (Bromus tectorum). At a field site in the central Snake River Plain of southern Idaho, the impact of this invasion on the soil carbon (C) reservoir has been evaluated and the potential soil C benefits of bunchgrass (Agropyron cristatum) seeding was assessed. Using a large soil C dataset (n = 850), differences in total organic carbon and root biomass were quantified in immediately-adjacent sagebrush, cheatgrass, and bunchgrass communities. Statistical …
Identifying Controls On Surface Carbon Dioxide Efflux In A Semi-Arid Ecosystem, Katrina Elsie Ladd
Identifying Controls On Surface Carbon Dioxide Efflux In A Semi-Arid Ecosystem, Katrina Elsie Ladd
Boise State University Theses and Dissertations
This study focused on soil respiration, the least constrained process in the terrestrial carbon cycle, and a source of uncertainty for model predicted ecosystem response to climate change. Respiration processes that make up soil respiration respond to environmental influencing factors, temperature, and moisture. Respiration responses vary by site, time of year, and also year to year, confounding determination of individual influence of the factors, making soil respiration difficult to model. This research took advantage of the climate characteristics of a semi-arid system, in order to observe soil temperature and moisture influence on soil respiration. Field measurements of soil surface CO …