| Managed forest ecosystems are important in quantifying landscape-level exchanges of carbon. These ecosystems are primary components in most landscapes, but their roles in sequestering carbon throughout various successional stages remain poorly understood. This research aims to further our understanding of carbon sequestration, with a focus on ecosystems in different successional stages and under different disturbance regimes in managed landscapes. To evaluate a series of hypotheses related to carbon flux, I (1) examined soil respiration rates across six dominant ecosystems in northern Wisconsin, USA; (2) constructed a model to demonstrate how the net ecosystem productivity (NEP) of a forested landscape can be regulated from a spatial perspective, and (3) constructed a model to simulate the landscape-scale interactions of net primary productivity and respiration on NEP. In short, the goal of this study was to acquire a more complete understanding of carbon fluxes over time and within landscapes through the use of field-based studies and modeling activities. Through this research, it became clear that alternative management regimes play a leading role in determining to what extent a landscape sequesters C. Furthermore, at the landscape level, land managers should take into account the dominate age class when considering these areas for C sequestration. |
