Amazon forest response to CO2 fertilization dependent on plant phosphorus acquisition

Katrin Fleischer; Anja Rammig; Martin G. De Kauwe; Anthony P. Walker; Tomas F. Domingues; Lucia Fuchslueger; Sabrina Garcia; Daniel S. Goll; Adriana Grandis; Mingkai Jiang; Vanessa Haverd; Florian Hofhansl; Jennifer A. Holm; Bart Kruijt; Felix Leung; Belinda E. Medlyn; Lina M. Mercado; Richard J. Norby; Bernard Pak; Celso von Randow; Carlos A. Quesada; Karst J. Schaap; Oscar J. Valverde-Barrantes; Ying-Ping Wang; Xiaojuan Yang; Sönke Zaehle; Qing Zhu; David M. Lapola

doi:10.1038/s41561-019-0404-9

Amazon forest response to CO2 fertilization dependent on plant phosphorus acquisition

Katrin Fleischer, Anja Rammig, Martin G. De Kauwe, Anthony P. Walker, Tomas F. Domingues, Lucia Fuchslueger, Sabrina Garcia, Daniel S. Goll, Adriana Grandis, Mingkai Jiang, Vanessa Haverd, Florian Hofhansl, Jennifer A. Holm, Bart Kruijt, Felix Leung, Belinda E. Medlyn, Lina M. Mercado, Richard J. Norby, Bernard Pak, Celso von RandowCarlos A. Quesada, Karst J. Schaap, Oscar J. Valverde-Barrantes, Ying-Ping Wang, Xiaojuan Yang, Sönke Zaehle, Qing Zhu, David M. Lapola

Research output: Contribution to Journal › Article › Academic › peer-review

Abstract

Global terrestrial models currently predict that the Amazon rainforest will continue to act as a carbon sink in the future, primarily owing to the rising atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2) concentration. Soil phosphorus impoverishment in parts of the Amazon basin largely controls its functioning, but the role of phosphorus availability has not been considered in global model ensembles—for example, during the Fifth Climate Model Intercomparison Project. Here we simulate the planned free-air CO2 enrichment experiment AmazonFACE with an ensemble of 14 terrestrial ecosystem models. We show that phosphorus availability reduces the projected CO2-induced biomass carbon growth by about 50% to 79 ± 63 g C m−2 yr−1 over 15 years compared to estimates from carbon and carbon–nitrogen models. Our results suggest that the resilience of the region to climate change may be much less than previously assumed. Variation in the biomass carbon response among the phosphorus-enabled models is considerable, ranging from 5 to 140 g C m−2 yr−1, owing to the contrasting plant phosphorus use and acquisition strategies considered among the models. The Amazon forest response thus depends on the interactions and relative contributions of the phosphorus acquisition and use strategies across individuals, and to what extent these processes can be upregulated under elevated CO2.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	736-741
Journal	Nature Geoscience
Volume	12
Issue number	9
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1038/s41561-019-0404-9
Publication status	Published - 1 Sept 2019
Externally published	Yes

Funding

The AmazonFACE research program provided logistical support to conduct this study (https://amazonface.inpa.gov.br/). This study was funded by the Inter-American Development Bank through a technical cooperation agreement with the Brazilian Ministry of Science, Technology, Innovation and Communications (Grant BR-T1284), by Brazil’s Coordination for the Improvement of Higher Education Personnel (CAPES) Grant 23038.007722/2014-77, by the Amazonas Research Foundation (FAPEAM) Grant 2649/2014 and the São Paulo Research Foundation (FAPESP) Grant 2015/02537-7. We thank the many scientists, field and laboratory technicians, students and other personnel involved in the development of the models, in collecting and analysing the field data and in the planning and execution of the AmazonFACE program. We thank the German Research Foundation (DFG) for financing one of the workshops that made this study possible (grant no. RA 2060/4-1). T.F.D., S.G., A.G. and C.A.Q. thank the USAID for funding via the PEER program (grant agreement AID-OAA-A-11-00012). A.P.W. and R.J.N. were supported by the FACE Model–Data Synthesis project, X.Y. and Q.Z. were supported by the Energy Exascale Earth System (E3SM) program and J.A.H. was supported by the Next Generation Ecosystem Experiments—Tropics project; all were funded by the US Department of Energy, Office of Science, Office of Biological and Environmental Research under contract numbers DE-AC02-05CH11231 and DE-AC05-00OR22725. M.G.dK. acknowledges support from the Australian Research Council Centre of Excellence for Climate Extremes (CE170100023) and the New South Wales Research Attraction and Acceleration Program. Y.P.W., B.P. and V.H. acknowledge support from the National Earth System Science Program of the Australian Government. D.S.G. is funded by the ‘IMBALANCE-P’ project of the European Research Council (ERC-2013-SyG-610028). L.M.M. acknowledges funding from the UK’s Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) grant nos NE/LE007223/1 and NE/N017951/1. F.L. acknowledges funding from EU FP7 LUC4C program (GA603542). K.F. is funded by the DFG (grant no. RA 2060/5-1).

Funders	Funder number
Australian Research Council Centre of Excellence for Climate Extremes	CE170100023
Brazilian Ministry of Science, Technology, Innovation and Communications	BR-T1284
Brazil’s Coordination for the Improvement of Higher Education Personnel
EU FP7 LUC4C program	RA 2060/5-1, GA603542
National Earth System Science Program
Office of Biological and Environmental Research	DE-AC05-00OR22725, DE-AC02-05CH11231
UK’s Natural Environment Research Council
US Department of Energy
United States Agency for International Development	AID-OAA-A-11-00012
Inter-American Development Bank
Office of Science
Seventh Framework Programme	610028
Natural Environment Research Council	NE/N017951/1, NE/LE007223/1
European Research Council
Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft	RA 2060/4-1
Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo	2015/02537-7
Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior	23038.007722/2014-77
Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado do Amazonas	2649/2014

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Fleischer, K., Rammig, A., De Kauwe, M. G., Walker, A. P., Domingues, T. F., Fuchslueger, L., Garcia, S., Goll, D. S., Grandis, A., Jiang, M., Haverd, V., Hofhansl, F., Holm, J. A., Kruijt, B., Leung, F., Medlyn, B. E., Mercado, L. M., Norby, R. J., Pak, B., ... Lapola, D. M. (2019). Amazon forest response to CO2 fertilization dependent on plant phosphorus acquisition. Nature Geoscience, 12(9), 736-741. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41561-019-0404-9

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title = "Amazon forest response to CO2 fertilization dependent on plant phosphorus acquisition",

abstract = "Global terrestrial models currently predict that the Amazon rainforest will continue to act as a carbon sink in the future, primarily owing to the rising atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2) concentration. Soil phosphorus impoverishment in parts of the Amazon basin largely controls its functioning, but the role of phosphorus availability has not been considered in global model ensembles—for example, during the Fifth Climate Model Intercomparison Project. Here we simulate the planned free-air CO2 enrichment experiment AmazonFACE with an ensemble of 14 terrestrial ecosystem models. We show that phosphorus availability reduces the projected CO2-induced biomass carbon growth by about 50% to 79 ± 63 g C m−2 yr−1 over 15 years compared to estimates from carbon and carbon–nitrogen models. Our results suggest that the resilience of the region to climate change may be much less than previously assumed. Variation in the biomass carbon response among the phosphorus-enabled models is considerable, ranging from 5 to 140 g C m−2 yr−1, owing to the contrasting plant phosphorus use and acquisition strategies considered among the models. The Amazon forest response thus depends on the interactions and relative contributions of the phosphorus acquisition and use strategies across individuals, and to what extent these processes can be upregulated under elevated CO2.",

author = "Katrin Fleischer and Anja Rammig and {De Kauwe}, {Martin G.} and Walker, {Anthony P.} and Domingues, {Tomas F.} and Lucia Fuchslueger and Sabrina Garcia and Goll, {Daniel S.} and Adriana Grandis and Mingkai Jiang and Vanessa Haverd and Florian Hofhansl and Holm, {Jennifer A.} and Bart Kruijt and Felix Leung and Medlyn, {Belinda E.} and Mercado, {Lina M.} and Norby, {Richard J.} and Bernard Pak and {von Randow}, Celso and Quesada, {Carlos A.} and Schaap, {Karst J.} and Valverde-Barrantes, {Oscar J.} and Ying-Ping Wang and Xiaojuan Yang and S{\"o}nke Zaehle and Qing Zhu and Lapola, {David M.}",

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doi = "10.1038/s41561-019-0404-9",

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Fleischer, K, Rammig, A, De Kauwe, MG, Walker, AP, Domingues, TF, Fuchslueger, L, Garcia, S, Goll, DS, Grandis, A, Jiang, M, Haverd, V, Hofhansl, F, Holm, JA, Kruijt, B, Leung, F, Medlyn, BE, Mercado, LM, Norby, RJ, Pak, B, von Randow, C, Quesada, CA, Schaap, KJ, Valverde-Barrantes, OJ, Wang, Y-P, Yang, X, Zaehle, S, Zhu, Q & Lapola, DM 2019, 'Amazon forest response to CO2 fertilization dependent on plant phosphorus acquisition', Nature Geoscience, vol. 12, no. 9, pp. 736-741. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41561-019-0404-9

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T1 - Amazon forest response to CO2 fertilization dependent on plant phosphorus acquisition

AU - Fleischer, Katrin

AU - Rammig, Anja

AU - De Kauwe, Martin G.

AU - Walker, Anthony P.

AU - Domingues, Tomas F.

AU - Fuchslueger, Lucia

AU - Garcia, Sabrina

AU - Goll, Daniel S.

AU - Grandis, Adriana

AU - Jiang, Mingkai

AU - Haverd, Vanessa

AU - Hofhansl, Florian

AU - Holm, Jennifer A.

AU - Kruijt, Bart

AU - Leung, Felix

AU - Medlyn, Belinda E.

AU - Mercado, Lina M.

AU - Norby, Richard J.

AU - Pak, Bernard

AU - von Randow, Celso

AU - Quesada, Carlos A.

AU - Schaap, Karst J.

AU - Valverde-Barrantes, Oscar J.

AU - Wang, Ying-Ping

AU - Yang, Xiaojuan

AU - Zaehle, Sönke

AU - Zhu, Qing

AU - Lapola, David M.

PY - 2019/9/1

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N2 - Global terrestrial models currently predict that the Amazon rainforest will continue to act as a carbon sink in the future, primarily owing to the rising atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2) concentration. Soil phosphorus impoverishment in parts of the Amazon basin largely controls its functioning, but the role of phosphorus availability has not been considered in global model ensembles—for example, during the Fifth Climate Model Intercomparison Project. Here we simulate the planned free-air CO2 enrichment experiment AmazonFACE with an ensemble of 14 terrestrial ecosystem models. We show that phosphorus availability reduces the projected CO2-induced biomass carbon growth by about 50% to 79 ± 63 g C m−2 yr−1 over 15 years compared to estimates from carbon and carbon–nitrogen models. Our results suggest that the resilience of the region to climate change may be much less than previously assumed. Variation in the biomass carbon response among the phosphorus-enabled models is considerable, ranging from 5 to 140 g C m−2 yr−1, owing to the contrasting plant phosphorus use and acquisition strategies considered among the models. The Amazon forest response thus depends on the interactions and relative contributions of the phosphorus acquisition and use strategies across individuals, and to what extent these processes can be upregulated under elevated CO2.

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Amazon forest response to CO2 fertilization dependent on plant phosphorus acquisition

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