Decadal biomass increment in early secondary succession woody ecosystems is increased by CO2 enrichment

Anthony P. Walker; Martin G. De Kauwe; Belinda E. Medlyn; Sonke Zaehle; Colleen M. Iversen; Shinichi Asao; Bertrand Guenet; Anna Harper; Thomas Hickler; Bruce A. Hungate; Atuk K. Jain; Yiqi Luo; Xingjie Lu; Meng Lu; Kristina Luus; J. Patrick Megonigal; Ram Oren; Edmund Ryan; Shijie Shu; Alan Talhelm; Ying-Ping Wang; Jeffrey M. Warren; Christian Werner; Jianyang Xia; Bai Yang; Donald R. Zak; Richard J. Norby

doi:10.1038/s41467-019-08348-1

Decadal biomass increment in early secondary succession woody ecosystems is increased by CO2 enrichment

Anthony P. Walker, Martin G. De Kauwe, Belinda E. Medlyn, Sonke Zaehle, Colleen M. Iversen, Shinichi Asao, Bertrand Guenet, Anna Harper, Thomas Hickler, Bruce A. Hungate, Atuk K. Jain, Yiqi Luo, Xingjie Lu, Meng Lu, Kristina Luus, J. Patrick Megonigal, Ram Oren, Edmund Ryan, Shijie Shu, Alan TalhelmYing-Ping Wang, Jeffrey M. Warren, Christian Werner, Jianyang Xia, Bai Yang, Donald R. Zak, Richard J. Norby

Western Sydney University

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

81 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Increasing atmospheric CO2 stimulates photosynthesis which can increase net primary production (NPP), but at longer timescales may not necessarily increase plant biomass. Here we analyse the four decade-long CO2 -enrichment experiments in woody ecosystems that measured total NPP and biomass. CO2 enrichment increased biomass increment by 1.05 Â± 0.26 kg C m −2 over a full decade, a 29.1 Â± 11.7% stimulation of biomass gain in these early-secondary-succession temperate ecosystems. This response is predictable by combining the CO2 response of NPP (0.16 Â± 0.03 kg C m −2 y −1 ) and the CO2 -independent, linear slope between biomass increment and cumulative NPP (0.55 Â± 0.17). An ensemble of terrestrial ecosystem models fail to predict both terms correctly. Allocation to wood was a driver of across-site, and across-model, response variability and together with CO2 -independence of biomass retention highlights the value of understanding drivers of wood allocation under ambient conditions toÂ correctly interpretÂ and predict CO2 responses.

Original language	English
Article number	454
Number of pages	13
Journal	Nature Communications
Volume	10
Issue number	1
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-019-08348-1
Publication status	Published - 2019

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Keywords

atmospheric carbon dioxide
forest ecology
photosynthesis
plant biomass

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10.1038/s41467-019-08348-1

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Walker, A. P., De Kauwe, M. G., Medlyn, B. E., Zaehle, S., Iversen, C. M., Asao, S., Guenet, B., Harper, A., Hickler, T., Hungate, B. A., Jain, A. K., Luo, Y., Lu, X., Lu, M., Luus, K., Megonigal, J. P., Oren, R., Ryan, E., Shu, S., ... Norby, R. J. (2019). Decadal biomass increment in early secondary succession woody ecosystems is increased by CO2 enrichment. Nature Communications, 10(1), Article 454. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-019-08348-1

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title = "Decadal biomass increment in early secondary succession woody ecosystems is increased by CO2 enrichment",

abstract = "Increasing atmospheric CO2 stimulates photosynthesis which can increase net primary production (NPP), but at longer timescales may not necessarily increase plant biomass. Here we analyse the four decade-long CO2 -enrichment experiments in woody ecosystems that measured total NPP and biomass. CO2 enrichment increased biomass increment by 1.05 {\^A}± 0.26 kg C m −2 over a full decade, a 29.1 {\^A}± 11.7% stimulation of biomass gain in these early-secondary-succession temperate ecosystems. This response is predictable by combining the CO2 response of NPP (0.16 {\^A}± 0.03 kg C m −2 y −1 ) and the CO2 -independent, linear slope between biomass increment and cumulative NPP (0.55 {\^A}± 0.17). An ensemble of terrestrial ecosystem models fail to predict both terms correctly. Allocation to wood was a driver of across-site, and across-model, response variability and together with CO2 -independence of biomass retention highlights the value of understanding drivers of wood allocation under ambient conditions to{\^A} correctly interpret{\^A} and predict CO2 responses.",

keywords = "atmospheric carbon dioxide, forest ecology, photosynthesis, plant biomass",

author = "Walker, {Anthony P.} and {De Kauwe}, {Martin G.} and Medlyn, {Belinda E.} and Sonke Zaehle and Iversen, {Colleen M.} and Shinichi Asao and Bertrand Guenet and Anna Harper and Thomas Hickler and Hungate, {Bruce A.} and Jain, {Atuk K.} and Yiqi Luo and Xingjie Lu and Meng Lu and Kristina Luus and Megonigal, {J. Patrick} and Ram Oren and Edmund Ryan and Shijie Shu and Alan Talhelm and Ying-Ping Wang and Warren, {Jeffrey M.} and Christian Werner and Jianyang Xia and Bai Yang and Zak, {Donald R.} and Norby, {Richard J.}",

year = "2019",

doi = "10.1038/s41467-019-08348-1",

language = "English",

volume = "10",

journal = "Nature Communications",

issn = "2041-1723",

publisher = "Nature Publishing Group",

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Walker, AP, De Kauwe, MG, Medlyn, BE, Zaehle, S, Iversen, CM, Asao, S, Guenet, B, Harper, A, Hickler, T, Hungate, BA, Jain, AK, Luo, Y, Lu, X, Lu, M, Luus, K, Megonigal, JP, Oren, R, Ryan, E, Shu, S, Talhelm, A, Wang, Y-P, Warren, JM, Werner, C, Xia, J, Yang, B, Zak, DR & Norby, RJ 2019, 'Decadal biomass increment in early secondary succession woody ecosystems is increased by CO2 enrichment', Nature Communications, vol. 10, no. 1, 454. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-019-08348-1

TY - JOUR

T1 - Decadal biomass increment in early secondary succession woody ecosystems is increased by CO2 enrichment

AU - Walker, Anthony P.

AU - De Kauwe, Martin G.

AU - Medlyn, Belinda E.

AU - Zaehle, Sonke

AU - Iversen, Colleen M.

AU - Asao, Shinichi

AU - Guenet, Bertrand

AU - Harper, Anna

AU - Hickler, Thomas

AU - Hungate, Bruce A.

AU - Jain, Atuk K.

AU - Luo, Yiqi

AU - Lu, Xingjie

AU - Lu, Meng

AU - Luus, Kristina

AU - Megonigal, J. Patrick

AU - Oren, Ram

AU - Ryan, Edmund

AU - Shu, Shijie

AU - Talhelm, Alan

AU - Wang, Ying-Ping

AU - Warren, Jeffrey M.

AU - Werner, Christian

AU - Xia, Jianyang

AU - Yang, Bai

AU - Zak, Donald R.

AU - Norby, Richard J.

PY - 2019

Y1 - 2019

N2 - Increasing atmospheric CO2 stimulates photosynthesis which can increase net primary production (NPP), but at longer timescales may not necessarily increase plant biomass. Here we analyse the four decade-long CO2 -enrichment experiments in woody ecosystems that measured total NPP and biomass. CO2 enrichment increased biomass increment by 1.05 Â± 0.26 kg C m −2 over a full decade, a 29.1 Â± 11.7% stimulation of biomass gain in these early-secondary-succession temperate ecosystems. This response is predictable by combining the CO2 response of NPP (0.16 Â± 0.03 kg C m −2 y −1 ) and the CO2 -independent, linear slope between biomass increment and cumulative NPP (0.55 Â± 0.17). An ensemble of terrestrial ecosystem models fail to predict both terms correctly. Allocation to wood was a driver of across-site, and across-model, response variability and together with CO2 -independence of biomass retention highlights the value of understanding drivers of wood allocation under ambient conditions toÂ correctly interpretÂ and predict CO2 responses.

AB - Increasing atmospheric CO2 stimulates photosynthesis which can increase net primary production (NPP), but at longer timescales may not necessarily increase plant biomass. Here we analyse the four decade-long CO2 -enrichment experiments in woody ecosystems that measured total NPP and biomass. CO2 enrichment increased biomass increment by 1.05 Â± 0.26 kg C m −2 over a full decade, a 29.1 Â± 11.7% stimulation of biomass gain in these early-secondary-succession temperate ecosystems. This response is predictable by combining the CO2 response of NPP (0.16 Â± 0.03 kg C m −2 y −1 ) and the CO2 -independent, linear slope between biomass increment and cumulative NPP (0.55 Â± 0.17). An ensemble of terrestrial ecosystem models fail to predict both terms correctly. Allocation to wood was a driver of across-site, and across-model, response variability and together with CO2 -independence of biomass retention highlights the value of understanding drivers of wood allocation under ambient conditions toÂ correctly interpretÂ and predict CO2 responses.

KW - atmospheric carbon dioxide

KW - forest ecology

KW - photosynthesis

KW - plant biomass

UR - http://handle.westernsydney.edu.au:8081/1959.7/uws:51173

U2 - 10.1038/s41467-019-08348-1

DO - 10.1038/s41467-019-08348-1

M3 - Article

SN - 2041-1723

VL - 10

JO - Nature Communications

JF - Nature Communications

IS - 1

M1 - 454

ER -

Decadal biomass increment in early secondary succession woody ecosystems is increased by CO2 enrichment

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