title: Differentiating moss from higher plants is critical in studying the carbon cycle of the boreal biome.
abstract: The satellite-derived normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI), which is used for estimating gross primary production (GPP), often includes contributions from both mosses and vascular plants in boreal ecosystems. For the same NDVI, moss can generate only about one-third of the GPP that vascular plants can because of its much lower photosynthetic capacity. Here, based on eddy covariance measurements, we show that the difference in photosynthetic capacity between these two plant functional types has never been explicitly included when estimating regional GPP in the boreal region, resulting in a substantial overestimation. The magnitude of this overestimation could have important implications regarding a change from a current carbon sink to a carbon source in the boreal region. Moss abundance, associated with ecosystem disturbances, needs to be mapped and incorporated into GPP estimates in order to adequately assess the role of the boreal region in the global carbon cycle.
authors: 1] State Key Laboratory of Earth Surface Processes and Resource Ecology, Beijing Normal University, Beijing 100875/Zhuhai 519087, China [2] State Key Laboratory of Cryospheric Sciences, Cold and Arid Regions Environmental and Engineering Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Lanzhou, Gansu 730000, China [3].
authors: Wenping
authors: W
authors: Yuan
authors: 1] U.S. Geological Survey, Earth Resources Observation and Science Center, Sioux Falls, South Dakota 57198, USA [2].
authors: Shuguang
authors: S
authors: Liu
authors: 1] State Key Laboratory of Earth Surface Processes and Resource Ecology, Beijing Normal University, Beijing 100875/Zhuhai 519087, China [2].
authors: Wenjie
authors: W
authors: Dong
authors: 1] State Key Laboratory of Remote Sensing Science, Jointly Sponsored by Beijing Normal University and Institute of Remote Sensing Applications, Chinese Academy of Sciences, College of Global Change and Earth System Science, Beijing 100875, China [2] Department of Geography, University of Maryland, College Park, Maryland 20742, USA.
authors: Shunlin
authors: S
authors: Liang
authors: College of Urban and Environmental Sciences, Peking University, Beijing 100871, China.
authors: Shuqing
authors: S
authors: Zhao
authors: Department of Geography, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada M5S 3G3.
authors: Jingming
authors: J
authors: Chen
authors: State Key Laboratory of Earth Surface Processes and Resource Ecology, Beijing Normal University, Beijing 100875/Zhuhai 519087, China.
authors: Wenfang
authors: W
authors: Xu
authors: State Key Laboratory of Remote Sensing Science, Jointly Sponsored by Beijing Normal University and Institute of Remote Sensing Applications, Chinese Academy of Sciences, College of Global Change and Earth System Science, Beijing 100875, China.
authors: Xianglan
authors: X
authors: Li
authors: Climate Research Division, Environment Canada, Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada S7N 3H5.
authors: Alan
authors: A
authors: Barr
authors: University of British Columbia, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada V6T 1Z4.
authors: T
authors: T
authors: Andrew Black
authors: State Engineering Laboratory of Southern Forestry Applied Ecology and Technology, Central South University of Forestry and Technology, Changsha, Hunan 410004, China.
authors: Wende
authors: W
authors: Yan
authors: Department of Earth System Science, University of California, Irvine, California 92697-3100, USA.
authors: Mike L
authors: ML
authors: Goulden
authors: Department of Forest Sciences, P.O. Box 27, FI-00014 University of Helsinki, Finland.
authors: Liisa
authors: L
authors: Kulmala
authors: Department of Earth and Ecosystem Sciences, Lund University, Sölvegatan 12 223 62, Sweden.
authors: Anders
authors: A
authors: Lindroth
authors: Centre d'Étude de la Forêt, Faculté de foresterie, de géographie et de géomatique, Université Laval, Québec, Canada G1V 0A6.
authors: Hank A
authors: HA
authors: Margolis
authors: International Forest Informatics Laboratory, Forestry and Forest Products Research Institute, Ibaraki 305-8687, Japan.
authors: Yojiro
authors: Y
authors: Matsuura
authors: Wageningen UR, Alterra, Earth System Science and Climate Change Group, PO Box 47, 6700 AA Wageningen, The Netherlands.
authors: Eddy
authors: E
authors: Moors
authors: Department of Hydrology and Geo-Environmental Sciences, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, 1081 HV Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
authors: Michiel
authors: M
authors: van der Molen
authors: Graduate School of Bioagricultural Sciences, Nagoya University, Furo-cho, Chikusa-ku, Nagoya 464-8601, Japan.
authors: Takeshi
authors: T
authors: Ohta
authors: Department of Chemical and Biochemical Engineering, Technical University of Denmark, DK-2800 Kongens Lyngby, Denmark.
authors: Kim
authors: K
authors: Pilegaard
authors: Sukachev Laboratory of Biocenology, Severtsov Institute of Ecology and Evolution RAS, Leninsky pr.33, Moscow 119071, Russia.
authors: Andrej
authors: A
authors: Varlagin
authors: Department of Physics, P.O. Box 48, FI-00014, University of Helsinki, Finland.
authors: Timo
authors: T
authors: Vesala
mesh_terms: D044002:Bryophyta; D002244:Carbon; D057486:Carbon Cycle; D002245:Carbon Dioxide; D017753:Ecosystem; D008954:Models, Biological; D010788:Photosynthesis; D010944:Plants; D066188:Taiga
chemical_list: D002245:Carbon Dioxide; D002244:Carbon