Biomass production effciency controlled by management in temperate and boreal ecosystems

• Published in: Nature Geoscience
• Main Authors: Campioli, M., Vicca, S., Luyssaert, S., Bilcke, J., Ceschia, E., Chapin, F. S., III, Ciais, P., Fernandez-Martinez, M., Malhi, Y., Obersteiner, M., Olefeldt, D., Papale, D., Piao, S. L., Penuelas, J., Sullivan, P. F., Wang, X., Zenone, T., Janssens, I. A.
• Other Authors: Campioli, M (reprint author), Univ Antwerp, Dept Biol, Ctr Excellence PLECO Plant & Vegetat Ecol, B-2610 Antwerp, Belgium., Univ Antwerp, Dept Biol, Ctr Excellence PLECO Plant & Vegetat Ecol, B-2610 Antwerp, Belgium., LSCE CEA CNRS UVSQ, F-91191 Gif Sur Yvette, France., Univ Antwerp, Vaccine & Infect Dis Inst, Ctr Hlth Econ Res & Modeling Infect Dis, B-2610 Antwerp, Belgium., Ctr Etud Spati BIOsphere, F-31401 Toulouse 9, France., Univ Alaska Fairbanks, Inst Arctic Biol, Fairbanks, AK 99775 USA., Global Ecol Unit CREAF CEAB CSIC UAB, CSIC, Barcelona 08193, Catalonia, Spain., CREAF, Barcelona 08193, Catalonia, Spain., Univ Oxford, Environm Change Inst, Sch Geog & Environm, Oxford OX1 3QY, England., Int Inst Appl Syst Anal, A-2361 Laxenburg, Austria., Univ Alberta, Dept Renewable Resources, Edmonton, AB T6G 2H1, Canada., Univ Tuscia, DIBAF, I-01100 Viterbo, Italy., Peking Univ, Coll Urban & Environm Sci, Beijing 100871, Peoples R China., Chinese Acad Sci, Inst Tibetan Plateau Res, Beijing 100085, Peoples R China., Univ Alaska Anchorage, Environm & Nat Resources Inst, Anchorage, AK 99508 USA., Univ Toledo, Dept Environm Sci, Toledo, OH 43606 USA.
• Format: Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: NATURE GEOSCIENCE 2015
• Subjects: GROSS PRIMARY PRODUCTION; FOREST ECOSYSTEMS; CONSTANT FRACTION; USE EFFICIENCY; NITROGEN; BALANCE; GROWTH; DIVERSITY; RESPONSES; MODEL; Canada; Tundra
• Online Access: https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11897/439284; https://doi.org/10.1038/NGEO2553

Plants acquire carbon through photosynthesis to sustain biomass production, autotrophic respiration and production of non-structural compounds for multiple purposes(1). The fraction of photosynthetic production used for biomass production, the biomass production efficiency(2), is a key determinant of the conversion of solar energy to biomass. In forest ecosystems, biomass production efficiency was suggested to be related to site fertility(2). Here we present a database of biomass production effciency from 131 sites compiled from individual studies using harvest, biometric, eddy covariance, or process-based model estimates of production. The database is global, but dominated by data from Europe and North America. We show that instead of site fertility, ecosystem management is the key factor that controls biomass production efficiency in terrestrial ecosystems. In addition, in natural forests, grasslands, tundra, boreal peatlands and marshes, biomass production efficiency is independent of vegetation, environmental and climatic drivers. This similarity of biomass production efficiency across natural ecosystem types suggests that the ratio of biomass production to gross primary productivity is constant across natural ecosystems. We suggest that plant adaptation results in similar growth efficiency in high- and low-fertility natural systems, but that nutrient influxes under managed conditions favour a shift to carbon investment from the belowground flux of non-structural compounds to aboveground biomass. European Research Council (ERC) [242564]; Catalan Government; ERC [ERC-2013-SyG-610028 IMBALANCE-P]; CFCAS; NSERC; BIOCAP; Environment Canada; NRCan; CarboEuropeIP; FAO-GTOS-TCO; iLEAPS; Max Planck Institute for Biogeochemistry; National Science Foundation; University of Tuscia; Universite Laval and Environment Canada; US Department of Energy; DOE Office of Science [DE-FC02-07ER64494]; Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy [DE-AC05-76RL01830]; AmeriFlux (US Department of Energy, Biological and Environmental Research, Terrestrial Carbon Program) [DE-FG02-04ER63917, DE-FG02-04ER63911] SCI(E) ARTICLE [e-mail] 11 843-+ 8