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Hanson, Paul J

Publications and source records attributed to Hanson, Paul J.

SPRUCE Manual Phenology Observations and Photographs Beginning in 2011

This dataset contains periodic (most often weekly during the active season) observations of the phenology of vegetation bud swell, leaf out, leaf off, flowering, fruiting and the nature of snow cover and ice presence from the 2011-2023 growing seasons. These observations are supplemented by the collection of images from periodic photographs of the experimental plots (e.g., panoramic photographs) or images within plots (e.g., pictures of vegetation development or community status within defined ground footprints such as flux collars). A summary of vegetation phenology and snow and ice presence form 2011-2016 is also provided. Related data sets are also available that summarize site phenology (see Related Datasets). This dataset contains 336 phenology notes files in *.pdf format, 2284 phenology photos in *.jpg format, and three companion files containing phenology summaries, methodological, other contextual information. Early observations were conducted throughout the S1-Bog with an emphasis on the southern end of the bog. Observations collected since the spring of 2013 have focused on the southern end of the S1-Bog and the plots 2 through 21 of the SPRUCE experiment. Beginning in 2015 those observations included assessments within the enclosure space surrounding plots 4, 6, 8, 10, 11, 13, 16, 17, 19 and 20. These observations are ongoing, and this dataset will be appended annually.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗

SPRUCE Ground Observations of Phenology in Experimental Plots, 2022

This data set consists of one comma separated (*.csv) file containing phenological transition dates, as derived from direct observations of vegetative and reproductive phenology recorded by a human observer, from the SPRUCE experiment during 2022 (2022-03-28 to 2021-11-17), the seventh full year of whole-ecosystem warming (Hanson et al. 2017). Both spring and autumn phenological events are included. Since April 2016, human observers have been directly tracking the phenology of both woody and herbaceous species on a weekly schedule within the SPRUCE experimental chambers, these data are reported in annual ground observations data sets (see Related Data Sets). The observed date reported here is the first survey date in 2022 on which an event/phenophase was definitively observed. This data set also contains a companion file in HTML (*.html) containing figures showing the relationship between the day of year and temperature treatment for different phenological phases by species for 2022.

SPRUCE experiment, plant phenological phases, Spru↗

SPRUCE Vegetation Phenology in Experimental Plots from Phenocam Imagery, 2015-2022

This data set consists of PhenoCam data from the SPRUCE experiment from the beginning of whole ecosystem warming (Hanson et al. 2017) in August 2015 through March 31 of 2023, with start- and end-of-season phenological transition dates derived through the end of autumn 2022. Digital cameras, or phenocams, installed in each SPRUCE enclosure track seasonal variation in vegetation “greenness”, a proxy for vegetation phenology and associated physiological activity. Three separate regions of interest (ROIs) were defined for each camera field of view, corresponding to different vegetation types and demarcating (1) Picea trees (vegetation type EN, for evergreen needleleaf); (2) Larix trees (vegetation type DN, for deciduous needleleaf); and (3) the mixed shrub layer (vegetation type SH). This data set consists of three sets of data files: 3-day summary product files: One file for each camera and each ROI (i.e. vegetation type), characterizing vegetation color at a 3-day time step Contains 35 files in *.csv format inside a compressed (*.zip) file. Transition date file: Estimates “greenness rising” (spring) and “greenness falling” (autumn) transition dates derived from the smoothed daily green chromatic coordinate (GCC) values, for each camera and each ROI (i.e. vegetation type) Contains one file in *.csv format Snow flag files: Indicate days with snow on trees or snow on ground for each experimental enclosure Contains two files in *.csv format, one for snow on trees and one for snow on ground This data set consists of two sets of companion files: Accompanying HTML files show the 90th quantiles of the mean GCC plotted together with transition dates for each vegetation type and plot. Contains three files in HTML format, one for each vegetation type One additional file in HTML format with the transition dates plotted for each vegetation type, by year R files for processing Phenocam files and flags. Contains five files in R file (*.R) format in one compressed (*.zip) file User Note: All imagery is posted in near-real time to the PhenoCam Project web page (http://phenocam.sr.unh.edu/), where it is publicly available. Scroll to “spruce” in the Gallery or link directly to the 29 SPRUCE cameras at https://tinyurl.com/y7z5mau7. The data reported here are based on the complete camera record from SPRUCE and supersedes the previously released phenocam datasets (see Related Data Sets). The estimated transition dates for previously released datasets may differ slightly (in most cases, by ±3 days or less), because following standard PhenoCam processing protocols (Richardson et al. 2018, Scientific Data), smoothing and interpolation, outlier removal, and transition date estimation are always conducted using the full data record.

SPRUCE Experiment, Marcell Experimental Forest, Sp↗

Organic Matter Transformation in the Peat Column at Marcell Experimental Forest: Humification and Vertical Stratification

A large-scale ecosystem manipulation (Spruce and Peatland Responses under Climatic and Environmental Change, SPRUCE) is being constructed in the Marcell Experimental Forest, Minnesota, USA, to determine the effects of climatic forcing on ecosystem processes in northern peatlands. Prior to the initiation of the manipulation, we characterized the solid-phase peat to a depth of 2 meters using a variety of techniques, including peat C:N ratios, 13C and 15N isotopic composition, Fourier Transform Infrared (FT IR), and 13C Nuclear Magnetic Resonance spectroscopy (13C NMR). FT IR determined peat humification-levels increased rapidly between and 75 cm, indicating a highly reactive zone. We observed a rapid drop in the abundance of O-alkyl-C, carboxyl-C, and other oxygenated functionalities within this zone and a concomitant increase in the abundance of alkyl- and nitrogen-containing compounds. Below 75-cm, minimal change was observed except that aromatic functionalities accumulated with depth. Incubation studies revealed the highest methane production rates and greatest CH4:CO2 ratios within this and 75 cm zone. Hydrology and surface vegetation played a role in belowground carbon cycling. Radiocarbon signatures of microbial respiration products in deeper porewaters resembled the signatures of dissolved organic carbon rather than solid phase peat, indicating that more recently photosynthesized organic matter fueled the bulk of subsurface microbial respiration. Oxygen-containing functionalities, especially O-alkyl-C, appear to serve as an excellent proxy for soil decomposition rate, and in addition should be a sensitive indicator of the response of the solid phase peat to the climatic manipulation.

FT-IR spectroscopy↗

Comprehensive ecosystem model-experiment synthesis using multiple datasets at two temperate forest free-air CO2 enrichment experiments: model performance and compensating biases

Free Air CO2 Enrichment (FACE) experiments provide a remarkable wealth of data to test the sensitivities of terrestrial ecosystem models (TEMs). In this study, a broad set of 11 TEMs were compared to 22 years of data from two contrasting FACE experiments in temperate forests of the south eastern US the evergreen Duke Forest and the deciduous Oak Ridge forest. We evaluated the models' ability to reproduce observed net primary productivity (NPP), transpiration and Leaf Area index (LAI) in ambient CO2 treatments. Encouragingly, many models simulated annual NPP and transpiration within observed uncertainty. Daily transpiration model errors were often related to errors in leaf area phenology and peak LAI. Our analysis demonstrates that the simulation of LAI often drives the simulation of transpiration and hence there is a need to adopt the most appropriate of hypothesis driven methods to simulate and predict LAI. Of the three competing hypotheses determining peak LAI (1) optimisation to maximise carbon export, (2) increasing SLA with canopy depth and (3) the pipe model the pipe model produced LAI closest to the observations. Modelled phenology was either prescribed or based on broader empirical calibrations to climate. In some cases, simulation accuracy was achieved through compensating biases in component variables. For example, NPP accuracy was sometimes achieved with counter-balancing biases in nitrogen use efficiency and nitrogen uptake. Combined analysis of parallel measurements aides the identification of offsetting biases; without which over-confidence in model abilities to predict ecosystem function may emerge, potentially leading to erroneous predictions of change under future climates.

Walker, Anthony P↗