Abstract

Croplands cover large areas of the globe and contribute significantly to the global carbon cycle. However, like other ecosystems, limited information exists on spatially explicit, ground-based estimates of carbon fluxes. In this study, county-level cropland area and harvest information reported in the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS) from 1972 to 2001 was utilized to calculate the temporal behavior of net primary production (NPP) for croplands across the United States. Production data for individual crops were converted to estimates of NPP using crop-specific factors. Because NASS does not include all crops of interest during all years, only a crop type in a county estimate was included if the entire time series was complete. Incomplete reporting occurred primarily with hay. Trends in crop area, NPP, and total production (area times NPP) exhibited significant spatial variation. The largest increases in production occurred in the Midwest, Great Plains, and Mississippi River Valley regions. Cropland area exhibited a range of trends from large percent increases in counties across the Great Plains and the West to decreases across the South. Generally, NPP increased in counties throughout the United States and for the country as a whole. It was estimated that total coterminous cropland production increased during 1972–2001 from 0.37 to 0.53 Pg C yr⁻¹, a 40% increase over 1972 values. Since total cropland area changed little during the 30-yr period, production increases were driven primarily by gains in NPP.

Abstract

Grass-fueled fires accelerate grassland expansion into dry Hawaiian woodlands by destroying native forests and by producing a disturbance regime that favors grass-dominated plant communities. Knowledge of grassland phenology is a key component of ecosystem assessments and fire management in Hawaii, but diverse topographic relief and poor field-sampling capabilities make ground studies impractical. Remote sensing offers the best approach for large-scale, spatially contiguous measurements of dryland vegetation phenology and fire fuel conditions. A 500-m spatial resolution, 8-day temporal resolution Terra Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) satellite time series of photosynthetic vegetation (PV), nonphotosynthetic vegetation (NPV), and exposed substrate conditions was developed for the island of Hawaii between 2000 and 2004. The results compared favorably with similar measurements of drylands from higher-resolution aircraft data. The satellite time series was compared with available environmental data on precipitation, fire history, and grazing intensity. From these analyses, the temporal patterns of PV and its conversion to NPV and finally to bare substrate were observed. An NPV buildup following fire of 7–8 yr was projected, and more heavily grazed lands were found to exhibit reduced NPV cover, most notably during the summer fire season. These results demonstrate the effects that land use and disturbance history have on fire conditions, and they support the concept that grazed lands managed to reduce litter buildup pose a lower risk of fire across ample geographic scales. Time series of satellite observations with modern analysis techniques can be used with environmental data to support a regional fire-monitoring program throughout Hawaii.

Abstract

Albedo is an important factor affecting global climate, but uncertainty in the sources and magnitudes of albedo change has led to simplistic treatments of albedo in climate models. Here, the authors examine nine years (2000–08) of historical 1-km Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) albedo estimates across South America to advance understanding of the magnitude and sources of large-scale albedo changes. The authors use the magnitude of albedo change from the arc of deforestation along the southeastern edge of the Brazilian Amazon (+2.8%) as a benchmark for comparison. Large albedo increases (>+2.8%) were 2.2 times more prevalent than similar decreases throughout South America. Changes in surface water drove most large albedo changes that were not caused by vegetative cover change. Decreased surface water in the Santa Fe and Buenos Aires regions of Argentina was responsible for albedo increases exceeding that of the arc of deforestation in magnitude and extent. Although variations in the natural flooding regimes were likely the dominant mechanism driving changes in surface water, it is possible that human manipulations through dams and other agriculture infrastructure contributed. This study demonstrates the substantial role that land-cover and surface water change can play in continental-scale albedo trends and suggests ways to better incorporate these processes into global climate models.

Abstract

The Brazilian Amazon forest and cerrado savanna encompasses a region of enormous ecological, climatic, and land-use variation. Satellite remote sensing is the only tractable means to measure the biophysical attributes of vegetation throughout this region, but coarse-resolution sensors cannot resolve the details of forest structure and land-cover change deemed critical to many land-use, ecological, and conservation-oriented studies. The Carnegie Landsat Analysis System (CLAS) was developed for studies of forest and savanna structural attributes using widely available Landsat Enhanced Thematic Mapper Plus (ETM+) satellite data and advanced methods in automated spectral mixture analysis. The methodology of the CLAS approach is presented along with a study of its sensitivity to atmospheric correction errors. CLAS is then applied to a mosaic of Landsat images spanning the years 1999–2001 as a proof of concept and capability for large-scale, very high resolution mapping of the Amazon and bordering cerrado savanna. A total of 197 images were analyzed for fractional photosynthetic vegetation (PV), nonphotosynthetic vegetation (NPV), and bare substrate covers using a probabilistic spectral mixture model. Results from areas without significant land use, clouds, cloud shadows, and water bodies were compiled by the Brazilian state and vegetation class to understand the baseline structural typology of forests and savannas using this new system. Conversion of the satellite-derived PV data to woody canopy gap fraction was made to highlight major differences by vegetation and ecosystem classes. The results indicate important differences in fractional photosynthetic cover and canopy gap fraction that can now be accounted for in future studies of land-cover change, ecological variability, and biogeochemical processes across the Amazon and bordering cerrado regions of Brazil.

Abstract

In the Brazilian Amazon, selective logging is second only to forest conversion in its extent. Conversion to pasture or agriculture tends to reduce soil nutrients and site productivity over time unless fertilizers are added. Logging removes nutrients in bole wood, enough that repeated logging could deplete essential nutrients over time. After a single logging event, nutrient losses are likely to be too small to observe in the large soil nutrient pools, but disturbances associated with logging also alter soil properties. Selective logging, particularly reduced-impact logging, results in consistent patterns of disturbance that may be associated with particular changes in soil properties. Soil bulk density, pH, carbon (C), nitrogen (N), phosphorus (P), calcium (Ca), magnesium (Mg), potassium (K), iron (Fe), aluminum (Al), δ ¹³C, δ ¹⁵N, and P fractionations were measured on the soils of four different types of logging-related disturbances: roads, decks, skids, and treefall gaps. Litter biomass and percent bare ground were also determined in these areas. To evaluate the importance of fresh foliage inputs from downed tree crowns in treefall gaps, foliar nutrients for mature forest trees were also determined and compared to that of fresh litterfall. The immediate impacts of logging on soil properties and how these might link to the longer-term estimated nutrient losses and the observed changes in soils were studied.

In the most disturbed areas, roads and decks, the authors found litter biomass removed and reduced soil C, N, P, particularly organic P, and δ ¹³C. Soils were compacted and often experienced reducing conditions in the deck areas, resulting in higher pH, Ca, and Mg. No increases in soil nutrients were observed in the treefall gaps despite the flush of nutrient-rich fresh foliage in the tree crown that is left behind after the bole wood is removed. Observed nutrient losses are most likely caused by displacement of the litter layer. Increases in soil pH, Ca, and Mg occur in areas with reducing conditions (decks and roads) and may result from Fe reduction, freeing exchange sites that can then retain these cations. Calculations suggest that nutrient inputs from crown foliage in treefall gaps are probably too small to detect against the background level of nutrients in the top soils. The logging disturbances with the greatest spatial extent, skids and gaps, have the smallest immediate effect on soil nutrients, while those with the smallest spatial extent, roads and decks, have the largest impact. The changes observed 3–6 months after logging were similar to those measured 16 yr after logging, suggesting some interesting linkages between the mechanisms causing the immediate change and those maintaining these changes over time. The direct impacts on soil properties appear less important than the loss of nutrients in bole wood in determining the sustainability of selective logging. Medium-to-low intensity selective logging with a sufficiently long cutting cycle may be sustainable in these forests.

Abstract

Selective logging is an extensive land use in the Brazilian Amazon region. The soil–atmosphere fluxes of nitrous oxide (N₂O), nitric oxide (NO), methane (CH₄), and carbon dioxide (CO₂) are studied on two soil types (clay Oxisol and sandy loam Ultisol) over two years (2000–01) in both undisturbed forest and forest recently logged using reduced impact forest management in the Tapajos National Forest, near Santarem, Para, Brazil. In undisturbed forest, annual soil–atmosphere fluxes of N₂O (mean ± standard error) were 7.9 ± 0.7 and 7.0 ± 0.6 ng N cm⁻² h⁻¹ for the Oxisol and 1.7 ± 0.1 and 1.6 ± 0.3 ng N cm⁻² h⁻¹ for the Ultisol for 2000 and 2001, respectively. The annual fluxes of NO from undisturbed forest soil in 2001 were 9.0 ± 2.8 ng N cm⁻² h⁻¹ for the Oxisol and 8.8 ± 5.0 ng N cm⁻² h⁻¹ for the Ultisol. Consumption of CH₄ from the atmosphere dominated over production on undisturbed forest soils. Fluxes averaged −0.3 ± 0.2 and −0.1 ± 0.9 mg CH₄ m⁻² day⁻¹ on the Oxisol and −1.0 ± 0.2 and −0.9 ± 0.3 mg CH₄ m⁻² day⁻¹ on the Ultisol for years 2000 and 2001. For CO₂ in 2001, the annual fluxes averaged 3.6 ± 0.4 μmol m⁻² s⁻¹ on the Oxisol and 4.9 ± 1.1 μmol m⁻² s⁻¹ on the Ultisol. We measured fluxes over one year each from two recently logged forests on the Oxisol in 2000 and on the Ultisol in 2001. Sampling in logged areas was stratified from greatest to least ground disturbance covering log decks, skid trails, tree-fall gaps, and forest matrix. Areas of strong soil compaction, especially the skid trails and logging decks, were prone to significantly greater emissions of N₂O, NO, and especially CH₄. In the case of CH₄, estimated annual emissions from decks reached extremely high rates of 531 ± 419 and 98 ± 41 mg CH₄ m⁻² day⁻¹, for Oxisol and Ultisol sites, respectively, comparable to wetland emissions in the region. We calculated excess fluxes from logged areas by subtraction of a background forest matrix or undisturbed forest flux and adjusted these fluxes for the proportional area of ground disturbance. Our calculations suggest that selective logging increases emissions of N₂O and NO from 30% to 350% depending upon conditions. While undisturbed forest was a CH₄ sink, logged forest tended to emit methane at moderate rates. Soil–atmosphere CO₂ fluxes were only slightly affected by logging. The regional effects of logging cannot be simply extrapolated based upon one site. We studied sites where reduced impact harvest management was used while in typical conventional logging ground damage is twice as great. Even so, our results indicate that for N₂O, NO, and CH₄, logging disturbance may be as important for regional budgets of these gases as other extensive land-use changes in the Amazon such as the conversion of forest to cattle pasture.

The physical interpretation of simultaneous multiangle observations represents a relatively new approach to remote sensing of terrestrial geophysical and biophysical parameters. Multiangle measurements enable retrieval of physical scene characteristics, such as aerosol type, cloud morphology and height, and land cover (e.g., vegetation canopy type), providing improved albedo accuracies as well as compositional, morphological, and structural information that facilitates addressing many key climate, environmental, and ecological issues. While multiangle data from wide field-of-view scanners have traditionally been used to build up directional “signatures” of terrestrial scenes through multitemporal compositing, these approaches either treat the multiangle variation as a problem requiring correction or normalization or invoke statistical assumptions that may not apply to specific scenes. With the advent of a new generation of global imaging spectroradiometers capable of acquiring simultaneous visible/near-IR multiangle observations, namely, the Along-Track Scanning Radiometer-2, the Polarization and Directionality of the Earth's Reflectances instrument, and the Multiangle Imaging SpectroRadiometer, both qualitatively new approaches as well as quantitative improvements in accuracy are achievable that exploit the multiangle signals as unique and rich sources of diagnostic information. This paper discusses several applications of this technique to scientific problems in terrestrial atmospheric and surface geophysics and biophysics.