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Low historical nitrogen deposition effect on carbon sequestration in the boreal zone

Fleischer, K. ; Wårlind, David LU orcid ; van der Molen, M. K. ; Rebel, K. T. ; Arneth, A. ; Erisman, J. W. ; Wassen, M. J. ; Smith, Benjamin LU ; Gough, C. M. and Margolis, H. A. , et al. (2015) In Journal of Geophysical Research - Biogeosciences 120(12). p.2542-2561
Abstract
Nitrogen (N) cycle dynamics and N deposition play an important role in determining the terrestrial biosphere's carbon (C) balance. We assess global and biome-specific N deposition effects on C sequestration rates with the dynamic global vegetation model LPJ-GUESS. Modeled CN interactions are evaluated by comparing predictions of the C and CN version of the model with direct observations of C fluxes from 68 forest FLUXNET sites. N limitation on C uptake reduced overestimation of gross primary productivity for boreal evergreen needleleaf forests from 56% to 18%, presenting the greatest improvement among forest types. Relative N deposition effects on C sequestration (dC/dN) in boreal, temperate, and tropical sites ranged from 17 to... (More)
Nitrogen (N) cycle dynamics and N deposition play an important role in determining the terrestrial biosphere's carbon (C) balance. We assess global and biome-specific N deposition effects on C sequestration rates with the dynamic global vegetation model LPJ-GUESS. Modeled CN interactions are evaluated by comparing predictions of the C and CN version of the model with direct observations of C fluxes from 68 forest FLUXNET sites. N limitation on C uptake reduced overestimation of gross primary productivity for boreal evergreen needleleaf forests from 56% to 18%, presenting the greatest improvement among forest types. Relative N deposition effects on C sequestration (dC/dN) in boreal, temperate, and tropical sites ranged from 17 to 26kgCkgN(-1) when modeled at site scale and were reduced to 12-22kgCkgN(-1) at global scale. We find that 19% of the recent (1990-2007) and 24% of the historical global C sink (1900-2006) was driven by N deposition effects. While boreal forests exhibit highest dC/dN, their N deposition-induced C sink was relatively low and is suspected to stay low in the future as no major changes in N deposition rates are expected in the boreal zone. N deposition induced a greater C sink in temperate and tropical forests, while predicted C fluxes and N-induced C sink response in tropical forests were associated with greatest uncertainties. Future work should be directed at improving the ability of LPJ-GUESS and other process-based ecosystem models to reproduce C cycle dynamics in the tropics, facilitated by more benchmarking data sets. Furthermore, efforts should aim to improve understanding and model representations of N availability (e.g., N fixation and organic N uptake), N limitation, P cycle dynamics, and effects of anthropogenic land use and land cover changes. (Less)
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organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
keywords
nitrogen deposition, carbon sequestration, global dynamic vegetation, models, forests, FLUXNET
in
Journal of Geophysical Research - Biogeosciences
volume
120
issue
12
pages
2542 - 2561
publisher
Wiley
external identifiers
  • wos:000368938500005
  • scopus:84954388584
ISSN
2169-8953
DOI
10.1002/2015JG002988
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
646c7fc7-ebc2-40d0-81c6-49263aa8fbe2 (old id 8731654)
date added to LUP
2016-04-01 10:37:31
date last changed
2023-02-03 05:28:25
@article{646c7fc7-ebc2-40d0-81c6-49263aa8fbe2,
  abstract     = {{Nitrogen (N) cycle dynamics and N deposition play an important role in determining the terrestrial biosphere's carbon (C) balance. We assess global and biome-specific N deposition effects on C sequestration rates with the dynamic global vegetation model LPJ-GUESS. Modeled CN interactions are evaluated by comparing predictions of the C and CN version of the model with direct observations of C fluxes from 68 forest FLUXNET sites. N limitation on C uptake reduced overestimation of gross primary productivity for boreal evergreen needleleaf forests from 56% to 18%, presenting the greatest improvement among forest types. Relative N deposition effects on C sequestration (dC/dN) in boreal, temperate, and tropical sites ranged from 17 to 26kgCkgN(-1) when modeled at site scale and were reduced to 12-22kgCkgN(-1) at global scale. We find that 19% of the recent (1990-2007) and 24% of the historical global C sink (1900-2006) was driven by N deposition effects. While boreal forests exhibit highest dC/dN, their N deposition-induced C sink was relatively low and is suspected to stay low in the future as no major changes in N deposition rates are expected in the boreal zone. N deposition induced a greater C sink in temperate and tropical forests, while predicted C fluxes and N-induced C sink response in tropical forests were associated with greatest uncertainties. Future work should be directed at improving the ability of LPJ-GUESS and other process-based ecosystem models to reproduce C cycle dynamics in the tropics, facilitated by more benchmarking data sets. Furthermore, efforts should aim to improve understanding and model representations of N availability (e.g., N fixation and organic N uptake), N limitation, P cycle dynamics, and effects of anthropogenic land use and land cover changes.}},
  author       = {{Fleischer, K. and Wårlind, David and van der Molen, M. K. and Rebel, K. T. and Arneth, A. and Erisman, J. W. and Wassen, M. J. and Smith, Benjamin and Gough, C. M. and Margolis, H. A. and Cescatti, A. and Montagnani, L. and Arain, A. and Dolman, A. J.}},
  issn         = {{2169-8953}},
  keywords     = {{nitrogen deposition; carbon sequestration; global dynamic vegetation; models; forests; FLUXNET}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  number       = {{12}},
  pages        = {{2542--2561}},
  publisher    = {{Wiley}},
  series       = {{Journal of Geophysical Research - Biogeosciences}},
  title        = {{Low historical nitrogen deposition effect on carbon sequestration in the boreal zone}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/2015JG002988}},
  doi          = {{10.1002/2015JG002988}},
  volume       = {{120}},
  year         = {{2015}},
}