Historically inconsistent productivity and respiration fluxes in the global terrestrial carbon cycle

Jian, Jinshi; Bailey, Vanessa L.; Dorheim, Kalyn R.; Konings, Alexandra G.; Hao, Dalei; Shiklomanov, Alexey N.; Snyder, Abigail C.; Steele, Meredith; Teramoto, Munemasa; Vargas, Rodrigo; Bond-Lamberty, Benjamin

doi:10.1038/s41467-022-29391-5

Historically inconsistent productivity and respiration fluxes in the global terrestrial carbon cycle

Journal Article · Fri Apr 01 00:00:00 EDT 2022 · Nature Communications

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-022-29391-5· OSTI ID:1863556

Jian, Jinshi ^[1]; ^[2]; ^[3]; Konings, Alexandra G. ^[4]; Hao, Dalei ^[2]; Shiklomanov, Alexey N. ^[5]; Snyder, Abigail C. ^[3]; Steele, Meredith ^[6]; Teramoto, Munemasa ^[7]; Vargas, Rodrigo ^[8]; ^[3]

Northwest A&F University, Yangling (China); Univ. of Maryland, College Park, MD (United States); University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing (China)
Pacific Northwest National Lab. (PNNL), Richland, WA (United States)
Univ. of Maryland, College Park, MD (United States)
Stanford Univ., CA (United States)
NASA Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC), Greenbelt, MD (United States)
Virginia Polytechnic Inst. and State Univ. (Virginia Tech), Blacksburg, VA (United States)
National Institute for Environmental Studies (NIES), Tsukuba (Japan); Tottori University (Japan)
Univ. of Delaware, Newark, DE (United States)

The terrestrial carbon cycle is a major source of uncertainty in climate projections. Its dominant fluxes, gross primary productivity (GPP), and respiration (in particular soil respiration, R_S), are typically estimated from independent satellite-driven models and upscaled in situ measurements, respectively. We combine carbon-cycle flux estimates and partitioning coefficients to show that historical estimates of global GPP and R_S are irreconcilable. When we estimate GPP based on R_S measurements and some assumptions about R_S:GPP ratios, we found the resulted global GPP values (bootstrap mean $${149}^{+29}_{-23}$$ Pg C yr^⁻1) are significantly higher than most GPP estimates reported in the literature ($${113}^{+18}_{-18}$$ Pg C yr^⁻1). Similarly, historical GPP estimates imply a soil respiration flux (Rs_GPP, bootstrap mean of $${68}^{+10}_{-8}$$ Pg C yr^⁻1) statistically inconsistent with most published R_S values ($${87}^{+9}_{-8}$$ Pg C yr^⁻1), although recent, higher, GPP estimates are narrowing this gap. Furthermore, global R_S:GPP ratios are inconsistent with spatial averages of this ratio calculated from individual sites as well as CMIP6 model results. This discrepancy has implications for our understanding of carbon turnover times and the terrestrial sensitivity to climate change. Future efforts should reconcile the discrepancies associated with calculations for GPP and Rs to improve estimates of the global carbon budget.

View Accepted Manuscript (DOE)

Research Organization:: Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL), Richland, WA (United States)

Sponsoring Organization:: USDOE Office of Science (SC), Biological and Environmental Research (BER); Second Tibetan Plateau Scientific Expedition and Research Program (STEP); Chinese Academy of Sciences; National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)

Grant/Contract Number:: AC05-76RL01830

OSTI ID:: 1863556

Alternate ID(s):: OSTI ID: 1863557

Report Number(s):: PNNL-SA-153170

Journal Information:: Nature Communications, Journal Name: Nature Communications Journal Issue: 1 Vol. 13; ISSN 2041-1723

Publisher:: Nature Publishing GroupCopyright Statement

Country of Publication:: United States

Language:: English

References (60)

Spatiotemporal patterns of terrestrial gross primary production: A review: GPP Spatiotemporal Patterns Anav, Alessandro; Friedlingstein, Pierre; Beer, Christian Reviews of Geophysics, Vol. 53, Issue 3 https://doi.org/10.1002/2015RG000483	journal	August 2015
Reconciling Carbon-cycle Concepts, Terminology, and Methods Chapin, F. S.; Woodwell, G. M.; Randerson, J. T. Ecosystems, Vol. 9, Issue 7 https://doi.org/10.1007/s10021-005-0105-7	journal	November 2006
Soil and atmosphere influences on the spectra of partial canopies Huete, A. R.; Jackson, R. D. Remote Sensing of Environment, Vol. 25, Issue 1 https://doi.org/10.1016/0034-4257(88)90043-0	journal	June 1988
Global land cover mapping from MODIS: algorithms and early results Friedl, M. A.; McIver, D. K.; Hodges, J. C. F. Remote Sensing of Environment, Vol. 83, Issue 1-2 https://doi.org/10.1016/S0034-4257(02)00078-0	journal	November 2002
Inter-annual variability in carbon dioxide exchange of an oak/grass savanna and open grassland in California Ma, Siyan; Baldocchi, Dennis D.; Xu, Liukang Agricultural and Forest Meteorology, Vol. 147, Issue 3-4 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.agrformet.2007.07.008	journal	December 2007
Comparing ecosystem and soil respiration: Review and key challenges of tower-based and soil measurements Barba, Josep; Cueva, Alejandro; Bahn, Michael Agricultural and Forest Meteorology, Vol. 249 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.agrformet.2017.10.028	journal	February 2018
Ecosystem functional diversity and the representativeness of environmental networks across the conterminous United States Villarreal, Samuel; Guevara, Mario; Alcaraz-Segura, Domingo Agricultural and Forest Meteorology, Vol. 262 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.agrformet.2018.07.016	journal	November 2018
The surface-atmosphere exchange of carbon dioxide in tropical rainforests: Sensitivity to environmental drivers and flux measurement methodology Fu, Zheng; Gerken, Tobias; Bromley, Gabriel Agricultural and Forest Meteorology, Vol. 263 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.agrformet.2018.09.001	journal	December 2018
Uncertainty analysis of multiple global GPP datasets in characterizing the lagged effect of drought on photosynthesis Xie, Xinyao; Li, Ainong; Tan, Jianbo Ecological Indicators, Vol. 113 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecolind.2020.106224	journal	June 2020
Contribution of soil respiration to the global carbon equation Xu, Ming; Shang, Hua Journal of Plant Physiology, Vol. 203 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jplph.2016.08.007	journal	September 2016
Improvements of the MODIS terrestrial gross and net primary production global data set Zhao, Maosheng; Heinsch, Faith Ann; Nemani, Ramakrishna R. Remote Sensing of Environment, Vol. 95, Issue 2 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rse.2004.12.011	journal	March 2005
Satellite-derived LAI products exhibit large discrepancies and can lead to substantial uncertainty in simulated carbon and water fluxes Liu, Yibo; Xiao, Jingfeng; Ju, Weimin Remote Sensing of Environment, Vol. 206 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rse.2017.12.024	journal	March 2018
New Techniques and Data for Understanding the Global Soil Respiration Flux Bond‐Lamberty, Ben Earth's Future, Vol. 6, Issue 9 https://doi.org/10.1029/2018EF000866	journal	September 2018
Future Global Soil Respiration Rates Will Swell Despite Regional Decreases in Temperature Sensitivity Caused by Rising Temperature Jian, Jinshi; Steele, Meredith K.; Day, Susan D. Earth's Future, Vol. 6, Issue 11 https://doi.org/10.1029/2018EF000937	journal	November 2018
The International Land Model Benchmarking (ILAMB) System: Design, Theory, and Implementation Collier, Nathan; Hoffman, Forrest M.; Lawrence, David M. Journal of Advances in Modeling Earth Systems, Vol. 10, Issue 11 https://doi.org/10.1029/2018MS001354	journal	November 2018
Spatial Predictions and Associated Uncertainty of Annual Soil Respiration at the Global Scale Warner, D. L.; Bond‐Lamberty, B.; Jian, J. Global Biogeochemical Cycles, Vol. 33, Issue 12 https://doi.org/10.1029/2019GB006264	journal	December 2019
Collar Properties and Measurement Time Confer Minimal Bias Overall on Annual Soil Respiration Estimates in a Global Database Jian, Jinshi; Gough, Christopher; Sihi, Debjani Journal of Geophysical Research: Biogeosciences, Vol. 125, Issue 12 https://doi.org/10.1029/2020JG006066	journal	December 2020
Representativeness of FLUXNET Sites Across Latin America Villarreal, Samuel; Vargas, Rodrigo Journal of Geophysical Research: Biogeosciences, Vol. 126, Issue 3 https://doi.org/10.1029/2020JG006090	journal	March 2021
TURC: A diagnostic model of continental gross primary productivity and net primary productivity Ruimy, Anne; Dedieu, Gérard; Saugier, Bernard Global Biogeochemical Cycles, Vol. 10, Issue 2 https://doi.org/10.1029/96GB00349	journal	June 1996
Annual carbon cost of autotrophic respiration in boreal forest ecosystems in relation to species and climate Ryan, Michael G.; Lavigne, Michael B.; Gower, Stith T. Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres, Vol. 102, Issue D24 https://doi.org/10.1029/97JD01236	journal	December 1997
Temperature sensitivity of soil carbon decomposition and feedbacks to climate change Davidson, Eric A.; Janssens, Ivan A. Nature, Vol. 440, Issue 7081 https://doi.org/10.1038/nature04514	journal	March 2006
Temperature-associated increases in the global soil respiration record Bond-Lamberty, Ben; Thomson, Allison Nature, Vol. 464, Issue 7288 https://doi.org/10.1038/nature08930	journal	March 2010
Interannual variability in the oxygen isotopes of atmospheric CO2 driven by El Niño Welp, Lisa R.; Keeling, Ralph F.; Meijer, Harro A. J. Nature, Vol. 477, Issue 7366 https://doi.org/10.1038/nature10421	journal	September 2011
Large historical growth in global terrestrial gross primary production Campbell, J. E.; Berry, J. A.; Seibt, U. Nature, Vol. 544, Issue 7648 https://doi.org/10.1038/nature22030	journal	April 2017
Complexity revealed in the greening of the Arctic Myers-Smith, Isla H.; Kerby, Jeffrey T.; Phoenix, Gareth K. Nature Climate Change, Vol. 10, Issue 2 https://doi.org/10.1038/s41558-019-0688-1	journal	January 2020
Widespread inhibition of daytime ecosystem respiration Keenan, Trevor F.; Migliavacca, Mirco; Papale, Dario Nature Ecology & Evolution, Vol. 3, Issue 3 https://doi.org/10.1038/s41559-019-0809-2	journal	February 2019
Globally rising soil heterotrophic respiration over recent decades Bond-Lamberty, Ben; Bailey, Vanessa L.; Chen, Min Nature, Vol. 560, Issue 7716 https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-018-0358-x	journal	August 2018
Potential bias of daily soil CO2 efflux estimates due to sampling time Cueva, Alejandro; Bullock, Stephen H.; López-Reyes, Eulogio Scientific Reports, Vol. 7, Issue 1 https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-017-11849-y	journal	September 2017
A considerable fraction of soil-respired CO2 is not emitted directly to the atmosphere Sánchez-Cañete, Enrique P.; Barron-Gafford, Greg A.; Chorover, Jon Scientific Reports, Vol. 8, Issue 1 https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-018-29803-x	journal	September 2018
Interannual variability in global soil respiration, 1980-94 Raich, James W.; Potter, Christopher S.; Bhagawati, Dwipen Global Change Biology, Vol. 8, Issue 8 https://doi.org/10.1046/j.1365-2486.2002.00511.x	journal	August 2002
Carbon residence time dominates uncertainty in terrestrial vegetation responses to future climate and atmospheric CO ₂ Friend, Andrew D.; Lucht, Wolfgang; Rademacher, Tim T. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Vol. 111, Issue 9 https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1222477110	journal	December 2013
Global and time-resolved monitoring of crop photosynthesis with chlorophyll fluorescence Guanter, L.; Zhang, Y.; Jung, M. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Vol. 111, Issue 14 https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1320008111	journal	March 2014
High sensitivity of future global warming to land carbon cycle processes Booth, Ben B. B.; Jones, Chris D.; Collins, Mat Environmental Research Letters, Vol. 7, Issue 2 https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/7/2/024002	journal	April 2012
Regional contribution to variability and trends of global gross primary productivity Chen, Min; Rafique, Rashid; Asrar, Ghassem R. Environmental Research Letters, Vol. 12, Issue 10 https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/aa8978	journal	September 2017
A new NDVI measure that overcomes data sparsity in cloud-covered regions predicts annual variation in ground-based estimates of high arctic plant productivity Karlsen, Stein Rune; Anderson, Helen B.; van der Wal, René Environmental Research Letters, Vol. 13, Issue 2 https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/aa9f75	journal	February 2018
The sensitivity of soil respiration to soil temperature, moisture, and carbon supply at the global scale Hursh, Andrew; Ballantyne, Ashley; Cooper, Leila Global Change Biology, Vol. 23, Issue 5 https://doi.org/10.1111/gcb.13489	journal	October 2016
Reduced solar-induced chlorophyll fluorescence from GOME-2 during Amazon drought caused by dataset artifacts Zhang, Yao; Joiner, Joana; Gentine, Pierre Global Change Biology, Vol. 24, Issue 6 https://doi.org/10.1111/gcb.14134	journal	April 2018
Constraining estimates of global soil respiration by quantifying sources of variability Jian, Jinshi; Steele, Meredith K.; Thomas, R. Quinn Global Change Biology, Vol. 24, Issue 9 https://doi.org/10.1111/gcb.14301	journal	June 2018
Spatial biases of information influence global estimates of soil respiration: How can we improve global predictions? Stell, Emma; Warner, Daniel; Jian, Jinshi Global Change Biology, Vol. 27, Issue 16 https://doi.org/10.1111/gcb.15666	journal	May 2021
CO ₂ balance of boreal, temperate, and tropical forests derived from a global database Luyssaert, S.; Inglima, I.; Jung, M. Global Change Biology, Vol. 13, Issue 12 https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-2486.2007.01439.x	journal	December 2007
A historical meta-analysis of global terrestrial net primary productivity: are estimates converging?: A HISTORICAL META-ANALYSIS OF GLOBAL LAND NPP Ito, Akihiko Global Change Biology, Vol. 17, Issue 10 https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-2486.2011.02450.x	journal	May 2011
Large contribution from anthropogenic warming to an emerging North American megadrought Williams, A. Park; Cook, Edward R.; Smerdon, Jason E. Science, Vol. 368, Issue 6488 https://doi.org/10.1126/science.aaz9600	journal	April 2020
FLUXNET: A New Tool to Study the Temporal and Spatial Variability of Ecosystem–Scale Carbon Dioxide, Water Vapor, and Energy Flux Densities Baldocchi, Dennis; Falge, Eva; Gu, Lianhong Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society, Vol. 82, Issue 11 https://doi.org/10.1175/1520-0477(2001)082<2415:FANTTS>2.3.CO;2	journal	November 2001
Forest annual carbon cost: a global-scale analysis of autotrophic respiration Piao, Shilong; Luyssaert, Sebastiaan; Ciais, Philippe Ecology, Vol. 91, Issue 3 https://doi.org/10.1890/08-2176.1	journal	March 2010
Global Primary Production: A Remote Sensing Approach Prince, Stephen D.; Goward, Samuel N. Journal of Biogeography, Vol. 22, Issue 4/5 https://doi.org/10.2307/2845983	journal	July 1995
Effects of Forest Canopy Vertical Stratification on the Estimation of Gross Primary Production by Remote Sensing Lin, Shangrong; Li, Jing; Liu, Qinhuo Remote Sensing, Vol. 10, Issue 9 https://doi.org/10.3390/rs10091329	journal	August 2018
Mapping Photosynthesis Solely from Solar-Induced Chlorophyll Fluorescence: A Global, Fine-Resolution Dataset of Gross Primary Production Derived from OCO-2 Li, Xing; Xiao, Jingfeng Remote Sensing, Vol. 11, Issue 21, p. 2563 https://doi.org/10.3390/rs11212563	journal	October 2019
Quantification of forest degradation and belowground carbon dynamics: ongoing challenges for monitoring, reporting and verification activities for REDD+ Vargas, Rodrigo; Paz, Fernando; de Jong, Ben Carbon Management, Vol. 4, Issue 6 https://doi.org/10.4155/cmt.13.63	journal	December 2013
Atmospheric measurements of the terrestrial O₂ : CO₂ exchange ratio of a midlatitude forest Battle, Mark O.; Munger, J. William; Conley, Margaret Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics, Vol. 19, Issue 13 https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-19-8687-2019	journal	January 2019
Scientific impact of MODIS C5 calibration degradation and C6+ improvements Lyapustin, A.; Wang, Y.; Xiong, X. Atmospheric Measurement Techniques, Vol. 7, Issue 12 https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-7-4353-2014	journal	January 2014
Global spatiotemporal distribution of soil respiration modeled using a global database Hashimoto, S.; Carvalhais, N.; Ito, A. Biogeosciences, Vol. 12, Issue 13 https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-12-4121-2015	journal	January 2015
Predicting carbon dioxide and energy fluxes across global FLUXNET sites with regression algorithms Tramontana, Gianluca; Jung, Martin; Schwalm, Christopher R. Biogeosciences, Vol. 13, Issue 14 https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-13-4291-2016	journal	January 2016
Global satellite-driven estimates of heterotrophic respiration Konings, Alexandra G.; Bloom, A. Anthony; Liu, Junjie Biogeosciences, Vol. 16, Issue 11 https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-16-2269-2019	journal	January 2019
Estimating global gross primary productivity using chlorophyll fluorescence and a data assimilation system with the BETHY-SCOPE model Norton, Alexander J.; Rayner, Peter J.; Koffi, Ernest N. Biogeosciences, Vol. 16, Issue 15 https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-16-3069-2019	journal	January 2019
Scaling carbon fluxes from eddy covariance sites to globe: synthesis and evaluation of the FLUXCOM approach Jung, Martin; Schwalm, Christopher; Migliavacca, Mirco Biogeosciences, Vol. 17, Issue 5 https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-17-1343-2020	journal	January 2020
A global database of soil respiration data Bond-Lamberty, B.; Thomson, A. Biogeosciences, Vol. 7, Issue 6 https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-7-1915-2010	journal	January 2010
Global Carbon Budget 2019 Friedlingstein, Pierre; Jones, Matthew W.; O'Sullivan, Michael Earth System Science Data, Vol. 11, Issue 4 https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-11-1783-2019	journal	January 2019
Overview of the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project Phase 6 (CMIP6) experimental design and organization Eyring, Veronika; Bony, Sandrine; Meehl, Gerald A. Geoscientific Model Development, Vol. 9, Issue 5 https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-9-1937-2016	journal	January 2016
CDO User Guide Schulzweida, Uwe Zenodo https://doi.org/10.5281/ZENODO.3539275	text	January 2019
A new NDVI measure that overcomes data sparsity in cloud-covered regions predicts annual variation in ground-based estimates of high arctic plant productivity Karlsen, Stein Rune; Anderson, Helen B.; Wal, René Van Der Institute of Physics (IOP) https://doi.org/10.5446/39374	audiovisual	January 2018

Similar Records

Terrestrial photosynthesis inferred from plant carbonyl sulfide uptake

Journal Article · Wed Oct 16 00:00:00 EDT 2024 · Nature (London) · OSTI ID:3002225

Temperature-associated increases in the global soil respiration record

Journal Article · Thu Mar 25 00:00:00 EDT 2010 · Nature, 464(7288):579-582 · OSTI ID:978926

Related Subjects

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES

Historically inconsistent productivity and respiration fluxes in the global terrestrial carbon cycle

Citation Formats

References (60)

Similar Records

Related Subjects