From Forest to Lake: Effect of Hydroelectric Reservoir Impoundment on the Net Ecosystem Exchange of CO²

Marie-Eve Lemieux* - McGill University
Ian B. Strachan - McGill University
Nigel T. Roulet - McGill University

Energy production and its related greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions have gained interest over the past decade both for environmental and economic reasons. The Province of Quebec in Canada currently meets almost all of its domestic electricity needs from hydroelectrical power generation and has potential for much future development. Although hydroelectricity is generally believed to be an environmentally-safe way to generate power, it has been suggested that the creation of reservoirs does affect the biosphere-atmosphere exchange on a local scale through the release of GHG such as methane and carbon dioxide. With much of the research to date done in tropical reservoirs, a research project has been initiated to study the net change in GHG exchange resulting from the inundation of a boreal forest ecosystem located at Eastmain-1 in the James Bay (Quebec). To accomplish this, eddy covariance towers were installed in pre- and post-flooded forest locations and are used to measure continuously the CO² exchange. Results indicate that the net ecosystem exchange of the pre-flooded site is simlar to that of previously studied northern boreal black spruce forest.  The flooded forest (reservoir) is a net source of CO². The overarching goal of this research is to determine the direction and magnitude of net CO² fluxes for the pre- and post-flooded environments. This presentation will discuss the initial findings of this project.

Cliquer ici pour visualiser le poster

Retour à l'index des résumés