Impacts of climatic and atmospheric changes on carbon dynamics in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park

We used the Dynamic Land Ecosystem Model (DLEM) to estimate carbon (C) storage and to analyze the impacts of environmental changes on C dynamics from 1971 to 2001 in Great Smoky Mountain National Park (GRSM). Our simulation results indicate that forests in GRSM have a C density as high as 15.9 kg m−2, about twice the regional average. Total carbon storage in GRSM in 2001 was 62.2 Tg (T = 1012), 54% of which was in vegetation, the rest in the soil detritus pool. Higher precipitation and lower temperatures in the higher elevation forests result in larger total C pool sizes than in forests at lower elevations. During the study period, the CO2 fertilization effect dominated ozone and climatic stresses (temperature and precipitation), and the combination of these multiple factors resulted in net accumulation of 0.9 Tg C in this ecosystem.