B1. Biogeochemistry of boreal ecosystems
Temperatures are rising more rapidly at high latitudes than anywhere else on Earth. Boreal ecosystem processes are impacted by climate change, both directly through shorter winters and longer, warmer summers and indirectly, through increases in disturbances including wildfire, permafrost thaw and outbreaks of invasive insects. This sensitive region stores massive quantities of carbon in the soil and biomass, and thus climate driven changes to ecosystem processes may shift the carbon balance in important ways. There is a critical need to understand controls on boreal biogeochemical processes, in order to understand where systems are resilient to climate change and where systems may be shifting to a new regime. This session invites contributions in terrestrial and aquatic biogeochemistry that provide insight into boreal region ecosystem processes, particularly those with a focus on impacts of climate change and climate-related disturbances. We welcome studies that use field observation, experimental manipulation, long-term data analysis, remote sensing or models to provide new insight into biogeochemistry in the boreal region.