Bruce A. Hungate | Search USGS

USGS2015

Water from air: An overlooked source of moisture in arid and semiarid regions

Water drives the functioning of Earth’s arid and semiarid lands. Drylands can obtain water from sources other than precipitation, yet little is known about how non-rainfall water inputs influence dryland communities and their activity. In particular, water vapor adsorption – movement of atmospheric water vapor into soil when soil air is drier than the overlying air – likely occurs often in drylands, yet its effects on ecosystem processes are not known. By adding 18 O-enriched water vapor to the atmosphere of a closed system, we documented the conversion of water vapor to soil liquid water across a temperature range typical of arid ecosystems. This phenomenon rapidly increased soil moisture and stimulated microbial carbon (C) cycling, and the flux of water vapor to soil had a stronger impact than temperature on microbial activity. In a semiarid grassland, we also observed that non-rainfall water inputs stimulated microbial activity and C cycling. Together these data suggest that, during rain-free periods, atmospheric moisture in drylands may significantly contribute to variation in soil water content, thereby influencing ecosystem processes. The simple physical process of adsorption of water vapor to soil particles, forming liquid water, represents an overlooked but potentially important contributor to C cycling in drylands.

Scientific Reports↗

USGS2011

Responses of ecosystem carbon cycling to climate change treatments along an elevation gradient

Global temperature increases and precipitation changes are both expected to alter ecosystem carbon (C) cycling. We tested responses of ecosystem C cycling to simulated climate change using field manipulations of temperature and precipitation across a range of grass-dominated ecosystems along an elevation gradient in northern Arizona. In 2002, we transplanted intact plant–soil mesocosms to simulate warming and used passive interceptors and collectors to manipulate precipitation. We measured daytime ecosystem respiration (ER) and net ecosystem C exchange throughout the growing season in 2008 and 2009. Warming generally stimulated ER and photosynthesis, but had variable effects on daytime net C exchange. Increased precipitation stimulated ecosystem C cycling only in the driest ecosystem at the lowest elevation, whereas decreased precipitation showed no effects on ecosystem C cycling across all ecosystems. No significant interaction between temperature and precipitation treatments was observed. Structural equation modeling revealed that in the wetter-than-average year of 2008, changes in ecosystem C cycling were more strongly affected by warming-induced reduction in soil moisture than by altered precipitation. In contrast, during the drier year of 2009, warming induced increase in soil temperature rather than changes in soil moisture determined ecosystem C cycling. Our findings suggest that warming exerted the strongest influence on ecosystem C cycling in both years, by modulating soil moisture in the wet year and soil temperature in the dry year.

Arizona↗