Author(s)

Christopher Potter

NASA Ames Research Center, Mountain View, USA.

A simulation model to estimate net primary productivity (NPP) has been combined with in situ measurements of soil carbon dioxide (CO₂) emissions and leaf litter pools in three coast redwood forest stands on the central California coast. Monthly NPP was predicted from the CASA model using 250-meter resolution vegetation index (VI) inputs. Annual NPP was predicted to vary from 380 g·C·m^-2·yr^-1 to 648 g·C·m^-2·yr^-1 at central coast redwood sites over the years 2007 to 2010. Measured soil respiration rates at between 0.5 to 2.2 g·C·m^-2·d^-1 were slightly below the range of measurements previously reported for a second-growth mixed (redwood and Douglas-fir) conifer forests. Although warm monthly temperatures at the southern-most redwood forest sites evidently results in elevated stress levels to sustained redwood growth into the dry summer months of June and July, these redwood stands appear to sequester CO₂ from that atmosphere into forest biomass for a net positive ecosystem carbon balance each year.

Carbon; Forest Ecosystems; Remote Sensing; MODIS

Potter, C. (2012) Net primary production and carbon cycling in coast redwood forests of central California. Open Journal of Ecology, 2, 147-153. doi: 10.4236/oje.2012.23018.