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Cross-scale convergence in the carbon balance of managed boreal forests in Northern Sweden

Peichl, Matthias ; Martínez-García, Eduardo ; Chi, Jinshu ; Kljun, Natascha LU orcid ; Klosterhalfen, Anne ; Larson, Johannes ; Laudon, Hjalmar ; Lundmark, Tomas ; Monteil, Guillaume LU orcid and Nilsson, Mats B. , et al. (2026) In Agricultural and Forest Meteorology 377.
Abstract

Boreal forests are globally important carbon (C) sinks, but strategies for maximising their climate benefit remain under debate. Major uncertainties in this discussion arise from contrasting sink-source estimates, which largely emanate from inherent limitations of standard measurement techniques to distinct spatio-temporal scales. Here, we use a spatially-nested measurement framework that integrates bottom-up (forest-plot inventory and chamber-based fluxes) and top-down (eddy-covariance; atmospheric observations and atmospheric transport modelling) approaches to reconcile the C balance of actively managed boreal forests in Northern Sweden across plot-, ecosystem-, landscape-, and regional scales during 2016–2018. We found that 3-year... (More)

Boreal forests are globally important carbon (C) sinks, but strategies for maximising their climate benefit remain under debate. Major uncertainties in this discussion arise from contrasting sink-source estimates, which largely emanate from inherent limitations of standard measurement techniques to distinct spatio-temporal scales. Here, we use a spatially-nested measurement framework that integrates bottom-up (forest-plot inventory and chamber-based fluxes) and top-down (eddy-covariance; atmospheric observations and atmospheric transport modelling) approaches to reconcile the C balance of actively managed boreal forests in Northern Sweden across plot-, ecosystem-, landscape-, and regional scales during 2016–2018. We found that 3-year mean estimates of the net ecosystem production (NEP) across plot-, landscape-, and regional scales did not differ significantly, converging into a mean (± 95 % confidence interval) C sink of 118 ± 27 g C m-2 yr-1. We also noted a convergence across these scales for the 3-means of the NEP components, i.e., gross primary production (908 ± 48 g C m-2 yr-1) and ecosystem respiration (790 ± 40 g C m-2 yr-1). However, estimates of the inter-annual variations in NEP and its components were inconsistent among most scales and measurement approaches. Furthermore, our results indicate a scale-dependency in the NEP response to the 2018 European summer drought, with a greater reduction of NEP observed in bottom-up compared to top-down estimates. Thus, this study consolidates the C sink-strength of managed boreal forests and advocates the need for cross-scale assessments to constrain forest C cycle-climate feedbacks.

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publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
keywords
Boreal forest landscape, Carbon sequestration, Climate change mitigation, Forest management, Scale-dependence, Spatially-nested monitoring
in
Agricultural and Forest Meteorology
volume
377
article number
110926
publisher
Elsevier
external identifiers
  • scopus:105022236874
ISSN
0168-1923
DOI
10.1016/j.agrformet.2025.110926
language
English
LU publication?
yes
additional info
Publisher Copyright: © 2025
id
5b3a1c80-1100-4a4a-8205-d2ce8325d82e
date added to LUP
2025-12-03 17:29:02
date last changed
2025-12-05 09:17:23
@article{5b3a1c80-1100-4a4a-8205-d2ce8325d82e,
  abstract     = {{<p>Boreal forests are globally important carbon (C) sinks, but strategies for maximising their climate benefit remain under debate. Major uncertainties in this discussion arise from contrasting sink-source estimates, which largely emanate from inherent limitations of standard measurement techniques to distinct spatio-temporal scales. Here, we use a spatially-nested measurement framework that integrates bottom-up (forest-plot inventory and chamber-based fluxes) and top-down (eddy-covariance; atmospheric observations and atmospheric transport modelling) approaches to reconcile the C balance of actively managed boreal forests in Northern Sweden across plot-, ecosystem-, landscape-, and regional scales during 2016–2018. We found that 3-year mean estimates of the net ecosystem production (NEP) across plot-, landscape-, and regional scales did not differ significantly, converging into a mean (± 95 % confidence interval) C sink of 118 ± 27 g C m<sup>-2</sup> yr<sup>-1</sup>. We also noted a convergence across these scales for the 3-means of the NEP components, i.e., gross primary production (908 ± 48 g C m<sup>-2</sup> yr<sup>-1</sup>) and ecosystem respiration (790 ± 40 g C m<sup>-2</sup> yr<sup>-1</sup>). However, estimates of the inter-annual variations in NEP and its components were inconsistent among most scales and measurement approaches. Furthermore, our results indicate a scale-dependency in the NEP response to the 2018 European summer drought, with a greater reduction of NEP observed in bottom-up compared to top-down estimates. Thus, this study consolidates the C sink-strength of managed boreal forests and advocates the need for cross-scale assessments to constrain forest C cycle-climate feedbacks.</p>}},
  author       = {{Peichl, Matthias and Martínez-García, Eduardo and Chi, Jinshu and Kljun, Natascha and Klosterhalfen, Anne and Larson, Johannes and Laudon, Hjalmar and Lundmark, Tomas and Monteil, Guillaume and Nilsson, Mats B. and Sathyanadh, Anusha and Scholze, Marko and Wallerman, Jörgen and Zhao, Peng}},
  issn         = {{0168-1923}},
  keywords     = {{Boreal forest landscape; Carbon sequestration; Climate change mitigation; Forest management; Scale-dependence; Spatially-nested monitoring}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  month        = {{02}},
  publisher    = {{Elsevier}},
  series       = {{Agricultural and Forest Meteorology}},
  title        = {{Cross-scale convergence in the carbon balance of managed boreal forests in Northern Sweden}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.agrformet.2025.110926}},
  doi          = {{10.1016/j.agrformet.2025.110926}},
  volume       = {{377}},
  year         = {{2026}},
}