Flux assimilation

Fluxes are linear functions of reservoir contents. Reservoir size and the residence time of the carbon in the reservoir are the parameters used in the functions. Between the ocean and the atmosphere and within the ocean, fluxes rates are calculated theoretically using size of the reservoir, surface area of contact between reservoirs, concentration of CO2, partial pressures of CO2, temperature, and solubility as factors. The flux of carbon into the vegetation reservoir is a function of the size of the carbon pool and a fertilization effect of increased CO2 concentration in the atmosphere. Flux from vegetation into the atmosphere is a function of respiration rates estimated by Whittaker and Likens (79) and the decomposition of short-lived organic matter which was assumed to be half of the gross assimilation or equal to the amount transferred to dead organic matter. Carbon in organic matter that decomposes slowly is transferred... 

Once the model was complete, it was adjusted to a steady state condition and tested using historic carbon isotope data from the atmosphere, oceans and polar ice. Several important parameters were calculated and chosen at this stage. Sensitivity analysis indicated that results dispersal of the missing carbon - were significantly influenced by the size of the vegetation carbon pool, its assimilation rate, the concentration of preindustrial atmospheric carbon used, and the CO2 fertilization factor. The model was also sensitive to several factors related to fluxes between ocean reservoirs. 

The cycles of carbon and the other main plant nutrients are coupled in a fundamental way by the involvement of these elements in photosynthetic assimilation and plant growth. Redfield (1934) and several others have shown that there are approximately constant proportions of C, N, S, and P in marine plankton and land plants ("Redfield ratios") see Chapter 10. This implies that the exchange flux of one of these elements between the biota reservoir and the atmosphere - or ocean - must be strongly influenced by the flux of the others. 

Fig. 1. Rates of CO2 assimilation, A (/miol s ) leaf conductance, g (mol m s ) intercellular partial pressure of CO2, Pi (Pa) soil water potential and leaf water potential, xp (MPa) during gas-exchange measurements of a 30-day-old cotton plant, plotted against day after watering was withheld. Measurements were made with 2 mmol m sec" photon flux density, 30 °C leaf temperature, and 2.0 kPa vapour pressure difference between leaf and air (S.C. Wong, unpublished data).

Fig. 2. Rates of CO2 assimilation,. 4, and leaf conductances, g, as functions of intercellular partial pressure of CO2, p in Zea mays on various days after withholding watering. Measurements made with 9.5,19.0,30.5, and 38.0 Pa ambient partial pressure of CO2, 2 mmol m" s" photon flux density, 30 °C leaf temperature, and 2.0 kPa vapour pressure differences between leaf and air. Closed symbols represent measurements with 30.5 Pa ambient partial pressure of COj. Leaf water potentials were 0.05, - 0.2, - 0.5 and - 0.8 MPa on day 0, 4, 11 and 14, respectively (after Wong et al., 1985).

Several authors have applied in situ pulse labeling of plants (grasses and crops) with C-CO2 under field conditions with the objective of quantifying the gross annual fluxes of carbon (net assimilation, shoot and root turnover, and decomposition) in production grasslands and so assess the net input of carbon (total input minus root respiration minus microbial respiration on the basis of rhizodeposition and soil organic matter) and carbon fixation in soil under ambient climatic conditions in the field. 

Murray JW, Downs JN, Stroms S, Wei C-L, Jannasch HW (1989) Nutrient assimilation, export production and scavenging in the eastern equatorial Pacific. Deep-Sea Res 36 1471-1489 Murray JW, Young J, Newton J, Dunne J, Chapin T, Paul B, McCarthy JJ (1996) Export flux of particulate organic carbon from the Central Equatorial Pacific determined using a combined drifting trap- " Th approach. Deep-Sea Res II43 (4-6) 1095-1132... 

Several studies have measured DFAA concentrations and turnover (see Chapter 4 and Munster, 1993), but here we concentrate on those that compare DFAA uptake with bacterial production. The fraction of bacterial production supported by DFAA is one index for the relative importance of amino acids, not only in supporting bacterial growth but also in the overall flux of DOM. ( Flux is used here to indicate both production and uptake in a quasi-steady state.) If DOM concentrations are constant, DOM production will equal total uptake rates by microbes there is no evidence of photo-oxidation of amino acids and of the other compounds discussed here (see Chapter 10). Total uptake includes respiration and assimilation into biomass. Here assimilation is defined as the appearance of a radioactive compound in cells (both cellular LMW and HMW pools) respiration is excluded. 

Nearly all of the studies mentioned above compared assimilation of radiolabeled monomers with bacterial biomass production as estimated by leucine or thymidine incorporation. To examine the total flux of monomers and DOM we must consider respiration. 

Of course, an accurate assessment of the fluxes of chemical elements in the atmosphere-vegetation-soil system is only possible with a detailed inventory of land covers. For instance, Fang et al. (2001) have undertaken such an inventory for seven time periods over the territory of China, including both planted and natural forests. It was shown that a maximum rate (0.035 PgCyr-1) of carbon assimilation from the atmosphere was observed between 1989 and 1993. Under this, different types of forest had various time periods for a maximum rate of carbon assimilation. This confirms... 

A change of CO2 concentration in the atmosphere affects through feedbacks the carbon fluxes at the boundaries of natural media. The efficiency of carbon assimilation from the atmosphere by the ocean decreases with growing atmospheric C02 concentration due to the decreasing buffer capacity of its carbonate system. 

Estimation of the extent to which the World Ocean assimilates C02 from the atmosphere, as in the case of land, is only possible by spatially integrating the difference between fluxes H s and Hc. Table 3.15 gives average estimates of this difference. Even with these rough estimates, we can see the mosaic character of the role of various... 

The surface part of the sulfur cycle is connected with the functioning of the atmosphere-vegetation-soil system. Plants adsorb sulfur from the atmosphere in the form of S02 (fluxes C7 and C22) and assimilate sulfur from the soil in the form of SO4 (flux C15). In the hierarchy of soil processes, two levels can be selected defining the sulfur reservoirs as dead organics and S04 in soil . The transitions between them are described by flux C16 = b2STL, where the coefficient b2 = b2, b2 2 reflects the rate b2 of transition of sulfur contained in dead organics into the form assimilated by vegetation The coefficient b2>2 indicates the content of sulfur in dead plants. 

The nitrogen supplies on land consist of the assimilable nitrogen in the soil VS2 0.19-104tkm-2, in plants (12 1091), and living organisms (0.2 1091). A diversity of nitrogen fluxes is formed here of the processes of nitrification, denitrification, ammonification, fixation, and river run-off. The intensities of these fluxes depend on climatic conditions, temperature regime, moisture, as well as the chemical and physical properties of soil. Many qualitative and quantitative characteristics of these dependences have been described in the literature (Hellebrandt et al., 2003). Let us consider some of them. 

Figure 13.20 Temporal variation in CO2 fluxes at three stations in the Hudson River estuary. Positive values represent production of CC and negative values are consumption. CO2 consumption represents the sum of net primary production (NPP) integrated over the photic zone and dark assimilation integrated over the surface mixed layer. Error bars represent 1 standard deviation. (Modified from Taylor et al., 2003.)...

Fig. 1. Redox metabolism in Saccharomyces cerevisiae during anaerobic growth on glucose. The ethanol yield is lowered by the production of biomass and glycerol. The glycerol flux, x, can be decreased, and the ethanol yield thereby increased if the stoichiometric coefficient a for biomass formation is reduced, e.g., by having nitrogen assimilation via an NADH-depen-dent glutamate dehydrogenase [10]...

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