Informing climate models with rapid chamber measurements of forest carbon uptake

• Models predicting ecosystem carbon dioxide (CO2) exchange under future climate change rely on relatively few real-world tests of their assumptions and outputs. Here, we demonstrate a rapid and cost-effective method to estimateCO2exchange from intact vegetation patches under varying atmospheric CO2concentrations.We find that net ecosys-tem CO2uptake (NEE) in a boreal forest rose linearly by 4.7  0.2% of the current ambient rate for every 10 ppmCO2increase, with no detectable influence of foliar biomass, season, or nitrogen (N) fertilization. The lack of any clearshort-term NEE response to fertilization in such an N-limited system is inconsistent with the instantaneous downreg-ulation of photosynthesis formalized in many global models. Incorporating an alternative mechanism with consider-able empirical support – diversion of excess carbon to storage compounds – into an existing earth system modelbrings the model output into closer agreement with our field measurements. A global simulation incorporating thismodified model reduces a long-standing mismatch between the modeled and observed seasonal amplitude of atmo-spheric CO2. Wider application of this chamber approach would provide critical data needed to further improvemodeled projections of biosphere–atmosphere CO2exchange in a changing climate.

Ämnesord

NATURVETENSKAP  -- Geovetenskap och miljövetenskap (hsv//swe)

NATURAL SCIENCES  -- Earth and Related Environmental Sciences (hsv//eng)

LANTBRUKSVETENSKAPER  -- Lantbruksvetenskap, skogsbruk och fiske -- Skogsvetenskap (hsv//swe)

AGRICULTURAL SCIENCES  -- Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries -- Forest Science (hsv//eng)

NATURVETENSKAP  -- Geovetenskap och miljövetenskap -- Miljövetenskap (hsv//swe)

NATURAL SCIENCES  -- Earth and Related Environmental Sciences -- Environmental Sciences (hsv//eng)

Nyckelord

boreal forest

earth system model

model-data integration

nutrient limitation

photosynthetic downregulation

Pinussylvestris

boreal forest

earth system model

model-data integration

nutrient limitation

photosynthetic downregulation

Pinus sylvestris

Publikations- och innehållstyp

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