Forest response to elevated CO2 is conserved across a broad range of productivity
- ORNL
- University of Illinois
- University of Antwerp
- University of Tuscia
- Michigan Technological University
- Duke University
- Boston University
- U.S. Department of Agriculture Forest Service
- University of Wales
- USDA Forest Service
- Institute of Agro-Environmental and Forest Biology
Climate change predictions derived from coupled carbon-climate models are highly dependent on assumptions about feedbacks between the biosphere and atmosphere. One critical feedback occurs if C uptake by the biosphere increases in response to the fossil-fuel driven increase in atmospheric [CO{sub 2}] ('CO{sub 2} fertilization'), thereby slowing the rate of increase in atmospheric [CO{sub 2}]. Carbon exchanges between the terrestrial biosphere and atmosphere are often first represented in models as net primary productivity (NPP). However, the contribution of CO{sub 2} fertilization to the future global C cycle has been uncertain, especially in forest ecosystems that dominate global NPP, and models that include a feedback between terrestrial biosphere metabolism and atmospheric [CO{sub 2}] are poorly constrained by experimental evidence. We analyzed the response of NPP to elevated CO{sub 2} ({approx}550 ppm) in four free-air CO{sub 2} enrichment experiments in forest stands. We show that the response of forest NPP to elevated [CO{sub 2}] is highly conserved across a broad range of productivity, with a stimulation at the median of 23 {+-} 2%. At low leaf area indices, a large portion of the response was attributable to increased light absorption, but as leaf area indices increased, the response to elevated [CO{sub 2}] was wholly caused by increased light-use efficiency. The surprising consistency of response across diverse sites provides a benchmark to evaluate predictions of ecosystem and global models and allows us now to focus on unresolved questions about carbon partitioning and retention, and spatial variation in NPP response caused by availability of other growth limiting resources.
- Research Organization:
- Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL); Oak Ridge National Environmental Research Park
- Sponsoring Organization:
- SC USDOE - Office of Science (SC)
- DOE Contract Number:
- AC05-00OR22725
- OSTI ID:
- 989626
- Journal Information:
- Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, Journal Name: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America Journal Issue: 50 Vol. 102; ISSN 1091-6490; ISSN 0027-8424
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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