The response of global NPP and vegetation storage to changes in climate and atmospheric CO[sub 2]

Conference · Wed Jun 01 04:00:00 EDT 1994 · Bulletin of the Ecological Society of America; (United States)

OSTI ID:7272104

King, A W; Post, W M; Wullschleger, S D ^[1]

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1. Oak Ridge National Laboratory, TN (United States)

Carbon storage in terrestrial ecosystems is a consequence of balance and imbalance between processes of net primary production (NPP) and decomposition of dead organic matter. These processes are affected by climate, and thus any significant change in climate is likely to alter terrestrial carbon storage. Here, were explore the sensitivity of global NPP and vegetation carbon to changes in atmospheric CO[sub 2] and climate with a global model of carbon storage in terrestrial ecosystems. A model of NPP is coupled with a carbon allocation model. NPP is a function of climate and atmospheric CO[sub 2]. We employ the model at a spatial scale of 0.5[degrees] latitude and 0.5[degrees] longitude. With no change in climate, a doubling of atmospheric CO[sub 2] from 280 ppm to 560 ppm increases equilibrium global NPP (NPP[degrees]) by 13-27% depending upon the choice of CO[sub 2] response function. The same doubling of atmospheric CO[sub 2] increases equilibrium global vegetation carbon (GVC[degrees]) by 13-31%. Changes in climate from a set of five atmospheric GCMs yield increases in NPP[degrees] and GVC[degrees] and GVC[degrees] of 8-13%. Combined changes in climate and atmospheric CO[sub 2] increase NPP[degrees] by 24-37% and GVC[degrees] by 24-39%. We present maps of the altered distributions of NPP[degrees] and GVC[degrees].

• OSTI ID: 7272104
• Report Number(s): CONF-940894--
• Conference Information: Journal Name: Bulletin of the Ecological Society of America; (United States) Journal Volume: 75:2
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

560300* -- Chemicals Metabolism & Toxicology
560400 -- Other Environmental Pollutant Effects
63 RADIATION, THERMAL, AND OTHER ENVIRON. POLLUTANT EFFECTS ON LIVING ORGS. AND BIOL. MAT.
BIOLOGICAL EFFECTS
CARBON
CARBON COMPOUNDS
CARBON CYCLE
CARBON DIOXIDE
CARBON OXIDES
CHALCOGENIDES
CLIMATIC CHANGE
ECOLOGICAL CONCENTRATION
ECOSYSTEMS
ELEMENTS
GENERAL CIRCULATION MODELS
GLOBAL ASPECTS
MATHEMATICAL MODELS
MATTER
NONMETALS
ORGANIC MATTER
OXIDES
OXYGEN COMPOUNDS
PRODUCTION
TERRESTRIAL ECOSYSTEMS