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Contrasting responses of woody and grassland ecosystems to increased CO2 as water supply varies

Journal Article · · Nature Ecology and Evolution
 [1];  [2];  [1];  [3];  [4];  [5];  [6];  [7];  [8];  [9];  [10];  [11];  [12];  [13]
  1. USDA Forest Service, Durham, NH (United States)
  2. Stanford Univ., CA (United States)
  3. Univ. of Leeds (United Kingdom)
  4. Univ. of Nevada, Reno, NV (United States)
  5. Univ. of Tennessee, Knoxville, TN (United States)
  6. Duke Univ., Durham, NC (United States); Univ. of Helsinki (Finland)
  7. Univ. of Minnesota, St. Paul, MN (United States); Univ. of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI (United States); Western Sydney Univ., Penrith, NSW (Australia)
  8. ETH Zurich (Switzerland). Inst. of Agricultural Science; Agroscope, Zurich (Switzerland)
  9. Cleveland State Univ, OH (United States)
  10. Kansas State Univ., Manhattan, KS (United States)
  11. Woodwell Climate Research Center, Falmouth, MA (United States)
  12. Univ. of Delaware, Newark, DE (United States)
  13. Northern Arizona Univ., Flagstaff, AZ (United States)
+ Show Author Affiliations
Experiments show that elevated atmospheric CO2 (eCO2) often enhances plant photosynthesis and productivity, yet this effect varies substantially and may be climate sensitive. Understanding if, where and how water supply regulates CO2 enhancement is critical for projecting terrestrial responses to increasing atmospheric CO2 and climate change. Here, using data from 14 long-term ecosystem-scale CO2 experiments, we show that the eCO2 enhancement of annual aboveground net primary productivity is sensitive to annual precipitation and that this sensitivity differs between woody and grassland ecosystems. During wetter years, CO2 enhancement increases in woody ecosystems but declines in grass-dominated systems. Consistent with this difference, woody ecosystems can increase leaf area index in wetter years more effectively under eCO2 than can grassland ecosystems. Overall, and across different precipitation regimes, woody systems had markedly stronger CO2 enhancement (24%) than grasslands (13%). Finally, we developed an empirical relationship to quantify aboveground net primary productivity enhancement on the basis of changes in leaf area index, providing a new approach for evaluating eCO2 impacts on the productivity of terrestrial ecosystems.
Research Organization:
Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
European Research Council (ERC); National Science Foundation (NSF); USDOE Office of Science (SC), Biological and Environmental Research (BER)
Grant/Contract Number:
AC05-00OR22725
OSTI ID:
1840217
Journal Information:
Nature Ecology and Evolution, Journal Name: Nature Ecology and Evolution Journal Issue: 3 Vol. 6; ISSN 2397-334X
Publisher:
Nature Publishing GroupCopyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English

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Related Subjects

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES
climate-change ecology
plant ecology