The fate of carbon in grasslands under carbon dioxide enrichment

Bruce A. Hungate (), Elisabeth A. Holland, Robert B. Jackson, F. Stuart Chapin, Harold A. Mooney and Christopher B. Field
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Bruce A. Hungate: University of California
Elisabeth A. Holland: National Center for Atmospheric Research
Robert B. Jackson: University of Texas at Austin
F. Stuart Chapin: University of California
Harold A. Mooney: Stanford University
Christopher B. Field: Carnegie Institution of Washington

Nature, 1997, vol. 388, issue 6642, 576-579

Abstract: Abstract The concentration of carbon dioxide (CO2) in the Earth's atmosphere is rising rapidly1, with the potential to alter many ecosystem processes. Elevated CO2 often stimulates photosynthesis2, creating the possibility that the terrestrial biosphere will sequester carbon in response to rising atmospheric CO2 concentration, partly offsetting emissions from fossil-fuel combustion, cement manufacture, and deforestation3,4. However, the responses of intact ecosystems to elevated CO2 concentration, particularly the below-ground responses, are not well understood. Here we present an annual budget focusing on below-ground carbon cycling for two grassland ecosystems exposed to elevated CO2 concentrations. Three years of experimental CO2 doubling increased ecosystem carbon uptake, but greatly increased carbon partitioning to rapidly cycling carbon pools below ground. This provides an explanation for the imbalance observed in numerous CO2 experiments, where the carbon increment from increased photosynthesis is greater than the increments in ecosystem carbon stocks. The shift in ecosystem carbon partitioning suggests that elevated CO2 concentration causes a greater increase in carbon cycling than in carbon storage in grasslands.

Date: 1997
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DOI: 10.1038/41550

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