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Thomas Holst

Researcher

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Strong isoprene emission response to temperature in tundra vegetation

Author

  • Roger Seco
  • Thomas Holst
  • Cleo L Davie-Martin
  • Tihomir Simin
  • Alex Guenther
  • Norbert Pirk
  • Janne Rinne
  • Riikka Rinnan

Summary, in English

Emissions of biogenic volatile organic compounds (BVOCs) are a crucial component of biosphere-atmosphere interactions. In northern latitudes, climate change is amplified by feedback processes in which BVOCs have a recognized, yet poorly quantified role, mainly due to a lack of measurements and concomitant modeling gaps. Hence, current Earth system models mostly rely on temperature responses measured on vegetation from lower latitudes, rendering their predictions highly uncertain. Here, we show how tundra isoprene emissions respond vigorously to temperature increases, compared to model results. Our unique dataset of direct eddy covariance ecosystem-level isoprene measurements in two contrasting ecosystems exhibited Q10 (the factor by which the emission rate increases with a 10 °C rise in temperature) temperature coefficients of up to 20.8, that is, 3.5 times the Q10 of 5.9 derived from the equivalent model calculations. Crude estimates using the observed temperature responses indicate that tundra vegetation could enhance their isoprene emissions by up to 41% (87%)-that is, 46% (55%) more than estimated by models-with a 2 °C (4 °C) warming. Our results demonstrate that tundra vegetation possesses the potential to substantially boost its isoprene emissions in response to future rising temperatures, at rates that exceed the current Earth system model predictions.

Department/s

  • LTH Profile Area: Aerosols
  • Dept of Physical Geography and Ecosystem Science
  • BECC: Biodiversity and Ecosystem services in a Changing Climate

Publishing year

2022-09-20

Language

English

Pages

2118014119-2118014119

Publication/Series

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America

Volume

119

Issue

38

Document type

Journal article

Publisher

National Academy of Sciences

Topic

  • Physical Geography
  • Climate Research

Keywords

  • Butadienes
  • Ecosystem
  • Hemiterpenes
  • Temperature
  • Tundra
  • Volatile Organic Compounds

Status

Published

ISBN/ISSN/Other

  • ISSN: 1091-6490