title: Forest response to elevated CO2 is conserved across a broad range of productivity.
abstract: 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(2)] ("CO(2) fertilization"), thereby slowing the rate of increase in atmospheric [CO(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(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(2)] are poorly constrained by experimental evidence. We analyzed the response of NPP to elevated CO(2) ( approximately 550 ppm) in four free-air CO(2) enrichment experiments in forest stands. We show that the response of forest NPP to elevated [CO(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(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.
authors.affiliation: Environmental Sciences Division, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, TN 37831-6422, USA.
authors.forename: Richard J
authors.initials: RJ
authors.lastname: Norby
authors.forename: Evan H
authors.initials: EH
authors.lastname: Delucia
authors.forename: Birgit
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Gielen
authors.forename: Carlo
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Calfapietra
authors.forename: Christian P
authors.initials: CP
authors.lastname: Giardina
authors.forename: John S
authors.initials: JS
authors.lastname: King
authors.forename: Joanne
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Ledford
authors.forename: Heather R
authors.initials: HR
authors.lastname: McCarthy
authors.forename: David J P
authors.initials: DJ
authors.lastname: Moore
authors.forename: Reinhart
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Ceulemans
authors.forename: Paolo
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: De Angelis
authors.forename: Adrien C
authors.initials: AC
authors.lastname: Finzi
authors.forename: David F
authors.initials: DF
authors.lastname: Karnosky
authors.forename: Mark E
authors.initials: ME
authors.lastname: Kubiske
authors.forename: Martin
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Lukac
authors.forename: Kurt S
authors.initials: KS
authors.lastname: Pregitzer
authors.forename: Giuseppe E
authors.initials: GE
authors.lastname: Scarascia-Mugnozza
authors.forename: William H
authors.initials: WH
authors.lastname: Schlesinger
authors.forename: Ram
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Oren
mesh_terms: D001272:Atmosphere / Q000737:chemistry*; D002245:Carbon Dioxide / Q000032:analysis*; D002980:Climate; D007558:Italy; D008027:Light; D008962:Models, Theoretical; D018515:Plant Leaves / Q000033:anatomy & histology / Q000502:physiology; D012044:Regression Analysis; D013997:Time Factors; D014197:Trees / Q000254:growth & development* / Q000378:metabolism*; D014481:United States
chemical_list: D002245:Carbon Dioxide