Potential decline in carbon carrying capacity under projected climate-wildfire interactions in the Sierra Nevada.

ABSTRACT: Ecosystem carbon carrying capacity (CCC) is determined by prevailing climate and natural disturbance regimes, conditions that are projected to change significantly. The interaction of changing climate and its effects on disturbance regimes is expected to affect forest regeneration and growth, which may diminish forest carbon (C) stocks and uptake. We modeled landscape C dynamics over 590 years along the latitudinal gradient of the U.S. Sierra Nevada Mountains under climate and area burned by large wildfires projected by late 21^st century. We assumed climate and wildfire stabilize at late-21^st century conditions (2090-2100) to facilitate analysis of lags between warming and changing CCC. We show that compared with historical (1980-2010) climate and wildfire conditions,

SUBMITTER: Liang S 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5445098 | biostudies-literature | 2017 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature