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

M. Fernández-Martínez; S. Vicca; I. A. Janssens; P. Ciais; M. Obersteiner; M. Bartrons; J. Sardans; A. Verger; J. G. Canadell; F. Chevallier; X. Wang; C. Bernhofer; P. S. Curtis; D. Gianelle; T. Grünwald; B. Heinesch; A. Ibrom; A. Knohl; T. Laurila; B. E. Law; J. M. Limousin; B. Longdoz; D. Loustau; I. Mammarella; G. Matteucci; R. K. Monson; L. Montagnani; E. J. Moors; J. W. Munger; D. Papale; S. L. Piao; J. Peñuelas

doi:10.1038/s41598-017-08755-8

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

M. Fernández-Martínez^*, S. Vicca, I. A. Janssens, P. Ciais, M. Obersteiner, M. Bartrons, J. Sardans, A. Verger, J. G. Canadell, F. Chevallier, X. Wang, C. Bernhofer, P. S. Curtis, D. Gianelle, T. Grünwald, B. Heinesch, A. Ibrom, A. Knohl, T. Laurila, B. E. LawJ. M. Limousin, B. Longdoz, D. Loustau, I. Mammarella, G. Matteucci, R. K. Monson, L. Montagnani, E. J. Moors, J. W. Munger, D. Papale, S. L. Piao, J. Peñuelas

^*Corresponding author for this work

Earth and Climate

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

Abstract

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.

Original language	English
Article number	9632
Journal	Scientific Reports
Volume	7
Issue number	1
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-017-08755-8
Publication status	Published - 1 Dec 2017

Funding

This research was supported by the European Research Council Synergy grant ERC-2013-SyG 610028-IMBALANCE-P, the Spanish Government grant CGL2013–48074-P and the Catalan Government projects SGR 2014–274 and FI-2013. S.V. is a postdoctoral research associate of the Fund for Scientific Research – Flanders. A.V. is the recipient of a Juan de la Cierva fellowship from the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation. We thank all site investigators, their funding agencies and the regional flux networks (AmeriFlux, EuroFlux, CarboEuropeIP), and the Fluxnet project, whose support was essential for obtaining the measurements. We appreciate the financial support of the GHG-Europe project. The authors gratefully acknowledge the National Atmospheric Deposition Program (NADP) and the European Monitoring and Evaluation Programme (EMEP) for providing data on N and S deposition in the USA and Europe, respectively. Thanks go to NOAA, Earth System Research Laboratory and Global Monitoring Division, and to the Scripps Institution of Oceanography (Scripps CO2 program) for providing the data for atmospheric CO2 concentrations from Point Barrow and Mauna Loa, respectively. J.G.C. thanks the support of the Australian Climate Change Science Programme. We also want to thank the anonymous reviewers of the manuscript for their comments and suggestions that helped us to improve the quality of the manuscript.

Funders	Funder number
Catalan Government	SGR 2014–274, FI-2013
Spanish Government	CGL2013–48074-P
Seventh Framework Programme	610028
European Research Council
Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación

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Fernández-Martínez, M., Vicca, S., Janssens, I. A., Ciais, P., Obersteiner, M., Bartrons, M., Sardans, J., Verger, A., Canadell, J. G., Chevallier, F., Wang, X., Bernhofer, C., Curtis, P. S., Gianelle, D., Grünwald, T., Heinesch, B., Ibrom, A., Knohl, A., Laurila, T., ... Peñuelas, J. (2017). Atmospheric deposition, CO₂, and change in the land carbon sink. Scientific Reports, 7(1), Article 9632. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-017-08755-8

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abstract = "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.",

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Fernández-Martínez, M, Vicca, S, Janssens, IA, Ciais, P, Obersteiner, M, Bartrons, M, Sardans, J, Verger, A, Canadell, JG, Chevallier, F, Wang, X, Bernhofer, C, Curtis, PS, Gianelle, D, Grünwald, T, Heinesch, B, Ibrom, A, Knohl, A, Laurila, T, Law, BE, Limousin, JM, Longdoz, B, Loustau, D, Mammarella, I, Matteucci, G, Monson, RK, Montagnani, L, Moors, EJ, Munger, JW, Papale, D, Piao, SL & Peñuelas, J 2017, 'Atmospheric deposition, CO₂, and change in the land carbon sink', Scientific Reports, vol. 7, no. 1, 9632. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-017-08755-8

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AU - Fernández-Martínez, M.

AU - Vicca, S.

AU - Janssens, I. A.

AU - Ciais, P.

AU - Obersteiner, M.

AU - Bartrons, M.

AU - Sardans, J.

AU - Verger, A.

AU - Canadell, J. G.

AU - Chevallier, F.

AU - Wang, X.

AU - Bernhofer, C.

AU - Curtis, P. S.

AU - Gianelle, D.

AU - Grünwald, T.

AU - Heinesch, B.

AU - Ibrom, A.

AU - Knohl, A.

AU - Laurila, T.

AU - Law, B. E.

AU - Limousin, J. M.

AU - Longdoz, B.

AU - Loustau, D.

AU - Mammarella, I.

AU - Matteucci, G.

AU - Monson, R. K.

AU - Montagnani, L.

AU - Moors, E. J.

AU - Munger, J. W.

AU - Papale, D.

AU - Piao, S. L.

AU - Peñuelas, J.

PY - 2017/12/1

Y1 - 2017/12/1

N2 - 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.

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