Climate warming causes photobiont degradation and carbon starvation in a boreal climate sentinel lichen

Premise

The long-term potential for acclimation by lichens to changing climates is poorly known, despite their prominent roles in forested ecosystems. Although often considered “extremophiles,” lichens may not readily acclimate to novel climates well beyond historical norms. In a previous study (Smith et al., 2018), Evernia mesomorpha transplants in a whole-ecosystem climate change experiment showed drastic mass loss after 1 yr of warming and drying; however, the causes of this mass loss were not addressed.

Methods

We examined the causes of this warming-induced mass loss by measuring physiological, functional, and reproductive attributes of lichen transplants.

Results

Severe loss of mass and physiological function occurred above +2°C of experimental warming. Loss of algal symbionts (“bleaching”) and turnover in algal community compositions increased with temperature and were the clearest impacts of experimental warming. Enhanced CO₂ had no significant physiological or symbiont composition effects. The functional loss of algal photobionts led to significant loss of mass and specific thallus mass (STM), which in turn reduced water-holding capacity (WHC). Although algal genotypes remained detectable in thalli exposed to higher stress, within-thallus photobiont communities shifted in composition toward greater diversity.

Conclusions

The strong negative impacts of warming and/or lower humidity on Evernia mesomorpha were driven by a loss of photobiont activity. Analogous to the effects of climate change on corals, the balance of symbiont carbon metabolism in lichens is central to their resilience to changing conditions.     

Spring phenology in boreal Eurasia over a nearly century time scale

It has been widely reported that tree leaves have tended to appear earlier in many regions of the northern hemisphere in the last few decades, reflecting climate warming. Satellite observations revealed an 8-day advance in leaf appearance date between 1982 and 1991 in northern latitudes. In situ observations show that leaf appearance dates in Europe have advanced by an average of 6.3 days from 1959 to 1996. Modelling of leaf appearance on the basis of temperature also shows a marked advance in temperate and boreal regions from 1955 to 2002. However, before 1955, reported studies of phenological variations are restricted to local scale. Modelling, ground observations and satellite observations are here combined to analyse phenological variations in Eurasian taiga over nearly a century. The trend observed by remote sensing consists mainly in a shift at the end of the 1980s, reflecting a shift in winter and spring temperature. In western boreal Eurasia, a trend to earlier leaf appearance is evident since the mid-1930s, although it is discontinuous. In contrast, the strong advance in leaf appearance detected over Central Siberia using satellite data in 1982–1991 is strengthened by late springs in 1983–1984; moreover, in this region the green-up timing has displayed successive trends with opposite signs since 1920. Thus, such strong trend is not unusual if considered locally. However, the recent advance is unique in simultaneously affecting most of the Eurasian taiga, the leaf appearance dates after 1990 being the earliest in nearly a century in most of the area.     

Carbon storage in forest soil of Finland. 2. Size and regional pattern

For confidently estimating the amount of carbon stored in boreal forestsoil, better knowledge of smaller regions is needed. In order to estimatethe amount of soil C in forests on mineral soil in Finland, i.e. excludingpeatland forests, and illustrate the regional patterns of the storage,statistical models were first made for the C densities of the organic and0–1 m mineral soil layers. A forest type, which indicated siteproductivity, and the effective temperature sum were used asexplanatory variables of the models. In addition, a constant C densitywas applied for the soil layer below the depth of 1 m on sortedsediments. Using these models the C densities were calculated for atotal of 46673 sites of the National Forest Inventory (NFI). The amountof the soil C was then calculated in two ways: 1) weighting the Cdensities of the NFI sites by the land area represented by these sites and2) interpolating the C densities of the NFI sites for 4 ha blocks to coverthe whole land area of Finland and summing up the blocks on forestedmineral soil. The soil C storage totalled 1109 Tg and 1315 Tg, whencalculated by the areal weighting and the interpolated blocks,respectively. Of that storage, 28% was in the organic layer, 68% inthe 0–1 m mineral soil layer and 4% in the layer below 1 m. The totalsoil C equals more than two times the amount of C in tree biomass and20% of the amount of C in peat in Finland. Soil C maps made usingthe interpolated blocks indicated that the largest soil C reserves arelocated in central parts of southern Finland. The C storage of theorganic layer was assessed to be overestimated at largest by 13% andthat of the 0–1 m mineral soil layer by 29%. The largest error in theorganic layer estimate is associated with the effects of forest harvestingand in the mineral soil estimate with the stone content of the soil.     

Effect of long term cropping on availability of Cu,Mn and Zn in soil following clearing of a boreal forest

Temporal changes in labile soil Cu, Mn and Zn were measured for up to 23 years after conversion of a boreal forest to the following crop production systems: (i) continuous barley, (ii) continuous legume and (iii) continuous bromegrass for hay, and (iv) barley/legume-bromegrass hay rotation. Decreases in labile Mn and Zn were greater than can be accounted for by crop offtake except for the continuous grass treatment. Some Mn and Zn was probably converted to less labile forms due mostly to reduction in soil organic matter associated with soil cultivation and some cropping systems. Labile copper was increased slightly with time under agriculture.     

Carbon storage in forest soil of Finland. 1. Effect of thermoclimate

A total of 30 coniferous forest sites representing two productivityclasses, forest types, were investigated on a temperature gradient(effective temperature sum using +5^°C threshold 800–1300degree-days and annual mean temperature –0.6–+3.9^°C) inFinland for studying the effect of thermoclimate on the soil C storage.Other soil forming factors were standardized within the forest types sothat the variation in the soil C density could be related to temperature.According to the applied regression model, the C density of the 0–1 mmineral soil layer increased 0.266 kg m^–2 for every 100 degree-dayincrease in the temperature sum, and the layer contained 57% and28% more C under the warmest conditions of the gradient comparedto the coolest in the less and more productive forest type, respectively.Accordingly, this soil layer was estimated to contain 23 more C ina new equilibrium with a 4^°C higher annual meantemperature in Finland. The C density of the organic layer was notassociated with temperature. Both soil layers contained more C at thesites of the more productive forest type, and the forest type explained36% and 70% of the variation in the C density of the organic and 0–1m layers, respectively. Within the forest types, the temperature sumaccounted for 33–41% of the variation in the 0–1 m layer. Theseresults suggest that site productivity is a cause for the large variation inthe soil C density within the boreal zone, and relating the soil C densityto site productivity and temperature would help to estimate the soil Creserves more accurately in the boreal zone.     

Physical and chemical limnology of northern boreal lakes, Wood Buffalo National Park, northern Alberta and the Northwest Territories, Canada

Physical and chemical variables were measured in 35 lakes from Wood Buffalo National Park, northern Alberta and the Northwest Territories, Canada. Of these lakes, 22 were sinkholes, situated on limestone and gypsum, five were situated on the Canadian Shield and eight were shallow 'muskeg' lakes located on calcareous shales. All of the lakes were small to moderate in size. For each of the 35 lakes, 37 environmental variables were measured. Principal component analysis (PCA) revealed that underlying geology strongly influenced limnic properties. Shield lakes were characterized by higher concentrations of A1 and Fe, and lower pH values, specific conductivities and concentrations of ions such as, Ca, SO4, Li, Mg and Na, than either the sinkhole or the muskeg lakes. The muskeg lakes were differentiated from the sinkhole lakes by decreased Secchi depth owing to higher concentrations of dissolved organic carbon (DOC) and greater productivity, as evidenced by high concentrations of particulate organic carbon (POC) and chlorophyll a. Nitrogen (NH3 and NO2) was also notably higher at these sites. The 22 sinkhole lakes were further classified by the type of surrounding vegetation. Six vegetation groups were recognized: (1) spruce; (2) pine; (3) mixed; (4) shrubs/poplar; (5) recently burned and (6) rocky. These vegetation groups largely reflect fire history, but also differences in soils and drainage. Unlike geology, surrounding vegetation, and therefore recent fire history, generally had little influence on limnic properties. PCA showed that of the six vegetation groups, only the spruce lake group, which was characterized by high levels of DIC, was distinct. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.