Impacts of natural and human-induced disturbances on carbon dynamics in Northern Eurasia

Shvidenko, A. & Shchepashchenko, D. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7814-4990 (2012). Impacts of natural and human-induced disturbances on carbon dynamics in Northern Eurasia. AGU Fall Meeting, ePoster B41B-0267 (December 2012)

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Abstract

Disturbance regimes (DR) of vegetation ecosystems of Northern Eurasia (NE, limited to Russian territories) are represented by complicated and interacting sets of natural and human-induced disturbances (D). We present a unified classification of D and DR in major land cover classes of Northern Eurasia (forests, agriculture, wetlands, shrubs & grasses), their connections to succession regularities, and minimal informative set of indicators, which are able to describe both specifics of individual types of D and their impacts on annual carbon budget. The assessment of extent, severity and consequences of D was done based on an Integrated Land Information System for Russia, which accumulated all relevant spatially distributed information including multi-sensor and multi-temporal remote sensing concept, in situ measurements and ground data from diverse inventories and surveys. Major emissions caused by D are produced by consumption of plant products (agriculture and forestry), wild fire, and biotic D (basically insect outbreaks). For example, the annual flux due to human consumption of plant products is estimated at 170 Tg C yr-1. Wild fire in 1998-2010 enveloped 106.9 x 106 ha-1, on average 8.23 x 106 ha-1 yr-1, with variation from 4.2 to 17.3 x 106 ha-1 yr-1. Average direct carbon emissions due to wildfire were estimated to be at 121.0 Tg C yr-1, including 84.6% as C-CO2, 8.2% C-CO, C-CH4 - 1.1%, C-NMHC - 1.2%, organic carbon - 1.2% and black carbon - 0.1%, particulate matter 3.5%, of which PM2.5 - 1.2%. About 2/3 of burnt area and carbon emissions were on forest land. While the area of fire on wetlands was only 7.3%, this land class delivered 15.2% of the total fire emissions. Emissions caused by biotic D (accounted for forests only) is estimated at 50.8 Tg C yr-1. Overall, direct emissions due to D amounted at about 350 Tg C yr-1, or ~7% of annual Net Primary Production of terrestrial ecosystems of Russia. These data do not include long-term consequences of D, which are significant in some classes of land cover (particularly in forests due to significant post-fire die-back). On-going climate change accelerates extent, severity and emissions of natural D. Evident synergism is observed between negative impacts of climate change on DR and unregulated anthropogenic pressure that accompanies industrial development of northern territories. The presentation discusses impacts of D on the long-term carbon dynamics, as well as uncertainties and completeness of carbon account due to D.

Item Type: Other
Research Programs: Ecosystems Services and Management (ESM)
Bibliographic Reference: AGU Fall Meeting, ePoster B41B-0267 (December 2012)
Depositing User: IIASA Import
Date Deposited: 15 Jan 2016 08:47
Last Modified: 27 Aug 2021 17:22
URI: https://pure.iiasa.ac.at/10118

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