Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: http://dx.doi.org/10.25673/57123
Title: Estimates of energy partitioning, evapotranspiration, and net ecosystem exchange of CO2 for an urban lawn and a tallgrass prairie in the Denver metropolitan area under contrasting conditions
Author(s): Thienelt, Thomas S.
Anderson, Dean E.
Issue Date: 2021
Type: Article
Language: English
Abstract: Lawns as a landcover change substantially alter evapotranspiration, CO2, and energy exchanges and are of rising importance considering their spatial extent. We contrast eddy covariance (EC) flux measurements collected in the Denver, Colorado, USA metropolitan area in 2011 and 2012 over a lawn and a xeric tallgrass prairie. Close linkages between seasonal vegetation development, energy fluxes, and net ecosystem exchange (NEE) of CO2 were found. Irrigation of the lawn modified energy and CO2 fluxes and greatly contributed to differences observed between sites. Due to greater water inputs (precipitation + irrigation) at the lawn in this semi-arid climate, energy partitioning at the lawn was dominated by latent heat (LE) flux. As a result, evapotranspiration (ET) of the lawn was more than double that of tallgrass prairie (2011: 639(±17) mm vs. 302(±9) mm; 2012: 584(±15) mm vs. 265(±7) mm). NEE for the lawn was characterized by a longer growing season, higher daily net uptake of CO2, and growing season NEE that was also more than twice that of the prairie (2011: −173(±23) g C m−2 vs. -81(±10) g C m−2; 2012: −73(±22) g C m−2 vs. -21(±8) g C m−2). During the drought year (2012), temperature and water stress greatly influenced the direction and magnitude of CO2 flux at both sites. The results suggest that lawns in Denver can function as carbon sinks and conditionally contribute to the mitigation of carbon emissions - directly by CO2 uptake and indirectly through effects of evaporative cooling on microclimate and energy use.
URI: https://opendata.uni-halle.de//handle/1981185920/59074
http://dx.doi.org/10.25673/57123
Open Access: Open access publication
License: (CC BY 4.0) Creative Commons Attribution 4.0(CC BY 4.0) Creative Commons Attribution 4.0
Sponsor/Funder: Publikationsfonds MLU
Journal Title: Urban Ecosystems
Publisher: Springer Science + Business Media B.V
Publisher Place: Dordrecht [u.a.]
Volume: 24
Original Publication: 10.1007/s11252-021-01108-4
Page Start: 1201
Page End: 1220
Appears in Collections:Open Access Publikationen der MLU

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