'One physical system': Tansley's ecosystem as Earth's critical zone.

The New Phytologist
Daniel deB Richter, Sharon A Billings

Abstract

Integrative concepts of the biosphere, ecosystem, biogeocenosis and, recently, Earth's critical zone embrace scientific disciplines that link matter, energy and organisms in a systems-level understanding of our remarkable planet. Here, we assert the congruence of Tansley's (1935) venerable ecosystem concept of 'one physical system' with Earth science's critical zone. Ecosystems and critical zones are congruent across spatial-temporal scales from vegetation-clad weathering profiles and hillslopes, small catchments, landscapes, river basins, continents, to Earth's whole terrestrial surface. What may be less obvious is congruence in the vertical dimension. We use ecosystem metabolism to argue that full accounting of photosynthetically fixed carbon includes respiratory CO₂ and carbonic acid that propagate to the base of the critical zone itself. Although a small fraction of respiration, the downward diffusion of CO₂ helps determine rates of soil formation and, ultimately, ecosystem evolution and resilience. Because life in the upper portions of terrestrial ecosystems significantly affects biogeochemistry throughout weathering profiles, the lower boundaries of most terrestrial ecosystems have been demarcated at depths too shallow to...Continue Reading

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Citations

Oct 31, 2015·Science·Robert S Anderson
Apr 14, 2015·The New Phytologist·Dan Binkley
Feb 18, 2016·The Science of the Total Environment·Elisabeth N Bui
Feb 19, 2017·The Science of the Total Environment·Yong-Guan ZhuBo-Jie Fu
Aug 26, 2018·Ecology·A B Berdanier, J S Clark
Jan 9, 2020·The New Phytologist·Todd E DawsonKelsey Crutchfield-Peters
Aug 29, 2019·PloS One·Zachary S BrecheisenDaniel deB Richter
Sep 27, 2018·Carbon Balance and Management·Meghan PawlowskiSusan E Crow
Sep 20, 2017·Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America·Ying FanCarlos Otero-Casal

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