Hydrological (in)stability in Southern Siberia during the Younger Dryas and early Holocene

Southern Siberia is currently undergoing rapid warming, inducing changes in vegetation, loss of permafrost, and impacts on the hydrodynamics of lakes and rivers. Lake sediments are key archives of environmental change and contain a record of ecosystem variability, as well as providing proxy indicators of wider environmental and climatic change. Investigating how hydrological systems have responded to past shifts in climate can provide essential context for better understanding future ecosystem changes in Siberia. Oxygen isotope ratios within lacustrine records provide fundamental information on past variability in hydrological systems. Here we present a new oxygen isotope record from diatom silica (ẟ18Odiatom) at Lake Baunt (55°11′15″N, 113°01,45″E), in the southern part of eastern Siberia, and consider how the site has responded to climate changes between the Younger Dryas and Early to Mid Holocene (ca. 12.4 to 6.2 ka cal BP). Excursions in ẟ18Odiatom are influenced by air temperature and the seasonality, quantity, and source of atmospheric precipitation. These variables are a function of the strength of the Siberian High, which controls temperature, the proportion and quantity of winter versus summer precipitation, and the relative dominance of Atlantic versus Pacific air masses. A regional comparison with other Siberian ẟ18Odiatom records, from lakes Baikal and Kotokel, suggests that ẟ18Odiatom variations in southern Siberia reflect increased continentality during the Younger Dryas, delayed Early Holocene warming in the region, and substantial climate instability between ~10.5 to ~8.2 ka cal BP. Unstable conditions during the Early Holocene thermal optimum most likely reflect localised changes from glacial melting. Taking the profiles from three very different lakes together, highlight the influence of site specific factors on the individual records, and how one site is not indicative of the region as a whole. Overall, the study documents how sensitive this important region is to both internal and external forcing

New procedure for the simulation of belowground competition can improve the performance of forest simulation models

The major part of existing models of belowground competition in mixed forest stands is limited in explaining the spatial distribution of roots as a response to competitive pressure from neighbours and heterogeneity of soil properties. We are presenting a new spatially explicit and multi-layered discrete model of belowground competition, RootInt (ROOTs INTake). It describes spatial distribution of belowground biomass and allows simulation of competition between trees for soil nutrients. The tree-specific area of root zone is calculated on the basis of stem diameter, with site-specific modifiers to account for the effect of soil fertility and moisture. The shape of root zone is dependent on the amount of available nitrogen in the current cell, distance between this cell and the stem base, and the mass of roots of other plants. RootInt was incorporated into ecosystem model EFIMOD to refine the existing description of belowground competition in forest stands with multiple cohorts and tree species. The results of simulation showed that bringing more complexity into structure of stand (including initial spatial locations of trees, species composition and age structure, vertical structure of canopy) resulted in higher spatial variation in competition intensity, as well as in higher rates of resource uptake. This indicates that stands with complex canopy structure had high plasticity in their root systems and were adapted to intensive competition for soil resources.201