CARBON FLOW AND STORAGE 

 IN A FOREST ECOSYSTEM 



DAVID E. REICHLE, BLAINE E. DINGER, NELSON T. EDWARDS, W. F. HARRIS, 



and PHILLIP SOLLINS 



Ecosystem Analysis Program, Environmental Sciences Division, Oak Ridge 



National Laboratory, Oak Ridge, Tennessee 



ABSTRACT 



Results reported in this paper are the initial synthesis of data on ecosystem dynamics of 

 carbon in a temperate deciduous forest. A model of the annual budget is developed for a 

 mesic Liriodendron Utlipifera forest which quantifies pools of carbon in ecosystem 

 components and annual fluxes of carbon within the system. Gross primary production and 

 net primary production by the forest were 1626 and 685 g C irf 2 year" 1 , respectively. Total 

 ecosystem respiration of 1465 g C/m 2 was divided between autotrophic (941) and 

 heterotrophic (524) sources. Total biomass was 8.32 X 10 3 g C/m 2 , with an aboveground to 

 belowground ratio of 4.2. Detrital mass (dead organic matter) in the forest ecosystem of 

 12,850 g C/m 2 substantially exceeded biomass. The forest carbon model is used to evaluate 

 the storage, turnover, and atmospheric exchange of carbon by a forested landscape. 



The chemical energy of organic molecules is the foundation on which the 

 life-support system of the biosphere is based. From the photosynthetic fixation 

 of carbon dioxide to the bioenergetic bases of all physiological processes in 

 plants and animals, carbon is the common denominator of living systems. 

 Biological systems, from organisms to regional ecosystems, are coupled by 

 carbon circulation through a common atmospheric pool. But even now the 

 importance of different ecosystems in influencing the rates and balances of these 

 cycles is not definitely known. Although data are becoming available which 

 suggest that terrestrial ecosystems, especially forests, have been underestimated 

 in previous assessments of global carbon cycles (see Whittaker and Likens, 

 1972), it has been difficult to assess recent trends of carbon exchange and to 

 extrapolate more than a few years into the future (Olson, 1970). 



The biosphere may be studied at various levels of resolution, but analysis of 

 the basic biological processes affecting the carbon cycle is dependent on an 

 understanding of the driving forces of ecosystem components of the landscape, 



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