Atmospheric deposition, CO2, and change in the land carbon sink

[en] Concentrations of atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2) have continued to increase whereas atmospheric deposition of sulphur and nitrogen has declined in Europe and the USA during recent decades. Using time series of flux observations from 23 forests distributed throughout Europe and the USA, and generalised mixed models, we found that forest-level net ecosystem production and gross primary production have increased by 1% annually from 1995 to 2011. Statistical models indicated that increasing atmospheric CO2 was the most important factor driving the increasing strength of carbon sinks in these forests. We also found that the reduction of sulphur deposition in Europe and the USA lead to higher recovery in ecosystem respiration than in gross primary production, thus limiting the increase of carbon sequestration. By contrast, trends in climate and nitrogen deposition did not significantly contribute to changing carbon fluxes during the studied period. Our findings support the hypothesis of a general CO2-fertilization effect on vegetation growth and suggest that, so far unknown, sulphur deposition plays a significant role in the carbon balance of forests in industrialized regions. Our results show the need to include the effects of changing atmospheric composition, beyond CO2, to assess future dynamics of carbon-climate feedbacks not currently considered in earth system/climate modelling. © 2017 The Author(s).

Disciplines :

Environmental sciences & ecology

Author, co-author :

Fernández-Martínez, M.; CSIC, Global Ecology Unit, CREAF-CSIC-UAB, Cerdanyola Del Vallès, Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain, CREAF, Cerdanyola Del Vallès, Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain

Vicca, S.; Centre of Excellence PLECO (Plant and Vegetation Ecology), Department of Biology, University of Antwerp, Wilrijk, Belgium

Janssens, I. A.; Centre of Excellence PLECO (Plant and Vegetation Ecology), Department of Biology, University of Antwerp, Wilrijk, Belgium

Ciais, P.; Laboratoire des Sciences du Climat et de l'Environnement, CEA CNRS UVSQ, Gif-sur-Yvette, France

Obersteiner, M.; International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis, Schlossplatz 1, Laxenburg, Austria

Bartrons, M.; CSIC, Global Ecology Unit, CREAF-CSIC-UAB, Cerdanyola Del Vallès, Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain, CREAF, Cerdanyola Del Vallès, Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain

Sardans, J.; CSIC, Global Ecology Unit, CREAF-CSIC-UAB, Cerdanyola Del Vallès, Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain, CREAF, Cerdanyola Del Vallès, Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain

Verger, A.; CSIC, Global Ecology Unit, CREAF-CSIC-UAB, Cerdanyola Del Vallès, Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain, CREAF, Cerdanyola Del Vallès, Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain

Canadell, J. G.; Global Carbon Project, CSIRO Oceans and Atmosphere, Canberra, Australia

Chevallier, F.; Laboratoire des Sciences du Climat et de l'Environnement, CEA CNRS UVSQ, Gif-sur-Yvette, France

More authors (22 more)

Language :

English

Title :

Atmospheric deposition, CO2, and change in the land carbon sink

Publication date :

2017

Journal title :

Scientific Reports

eISSN :

2045-2322

Publisher :

Nature Publishing Group

Volume :

Issue :

Peer reviewed :

Peer Reviewed verified by ORBi

Name of the research project :

European Research Council Synergy grant ERC-2013-SyG 610028-IMBALANCE-P; Spanish Government grant CGL2013–48074-P; Catalan Government project SGR 2014–274; Catalan Government project SGR 2014–274FI-2013; GHG-Europe project; Australian Climate Change Science Programme

Funders :

CER - Conseil Européen de la Recherche [BE]
Spanish Government
Catalan Government
FWO - Fonds Wetenschappelijk Onderzoek Vlaanderen [BE]
Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation

Available on ORBi :

since 04 December 2018

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