Soil fertility limits carbon sequestration by forest ecosystems in a CO2-enriched atmosphere
Open accessAbstract
Northern mid-latitude forests are a large terrestrial carbon sink. Ignoring nutrient limitations, large increases in carbon sequestration from carbon dioxide (CO2) fertilization are expected in these forests. Yet, forests are usually relegated to sites of moderate to poor fertility, where tree growth is often limited by nutrient supply, in particular nitrogen. Here we present evidence that estimates of increases in carbon sequestration of forests, which is expected to partially compensate for increasing CO2 in the atmosphere, are unduly optimistic. In two forest experiments on maturing pines exposed to elevated atmospheric CO2, the CO2-induced biomass carbon increment without added nutrients was undetectable at a nutritionally poor site, and the stimulation at a nutritionally moderate site was transient, stabilizing at a marginal gain after three years. However, a large synergistic gain from higher CO2 and nutrients was detected with nutrients added. This gain was even larger at the poor site (threefold higher than the expected additive effect) than at the moderate site (twofold higher). Thus, fertility can restrain the response of wood carbon sequestration to increased atmospheric CO2. Assessment of future carbon sequestration should consider the limitations imposed by soil fertility, as well as interactions with nitrogen deposition.
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Litter decay is proportional to its nutrient content and inversely proportional to lignin content, and is also controlled by nutrient availability, particularly nitrogen, in the soil.
“In general terms, litter decay is proportional to its nutrient content and inversely proportional to lignin content [64]; it is also controlled by nutrient availability (particularly N) in the soil [112, 113].”
From Carbon Sequestration by Perennial Energy Crops: Is the Jury Still Out? (2015) · cites this paper as [112]
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- Authors
- Oren, R., Ellsworth, D. S., Johnsen, K. H., Phillips, N., Ewers, B. E., Maier, C., Schäfer, K. V. R., McCarthy, H., Hendrey, G., McNulty, S. G., & Katul, G. G.
- Affiliations
- Brookhaven National Laboratory (US)
- US Forest Service (US)
- Boston University (US)
- Duke University (US)
- ORCID
- Venue
- Nature
- Published
- 2001-05
- Volume
- 411
- Issue
- 6836
- Pages
- 469-472
- ISSN
- 0028-0836 (ISSN-L)
- 1476-4687
- OpenAlex
- W1669888413
- Cited by
- 1,084
- References
- 33
- Citations by year
- 2026: 9 · 2025: 14 · 2024: 25 · 2023: 33 · 2022: 28 · 2021: 35 · 2020: 37 · 2019: 33 · 2018: 36 · 2017: 35 · 2016: 42 · 2015: 35 · 2014: 36 · 2013: 49 · 2012: 42
- FWCI
- 72.31
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- green
- hdl.handle.net
- Licence
- www.springer.com/tdm (tdm)
- Locations
- Nature (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Deep Blue (University of Michigan) (submittedVersion)
- RePEc: Research Papers in Economics (submittedVersion)
- Funders
- U.S. Department of Energy
- University of Alabama
- U.S. Forest Service
- Biological and Environmental Research
- Topics
- Life Sciences › Agricultural and Biological Sciences › Plant Science › Plant responses to elevated CO2
- Life Sciences › Agricultural and Biological Sciences › Soil Science › Soil Carbon and Nitrogen Dynamics
- Physical Sciences › Environmental Science › Nature and Landscape Conservation › Forest ecology and management
- Keywords
- soil fertility, carbon sequestration, elevated CO2, forest carbon sink, nitrogen limitation, nutrient addition, pine forest, nitrogen deposition
- MeSH terms
- Atmosphere, Carbon, Carbon Dioxide, Nitrogen, Trees, Water, Ecosystem, Biomass, Cycadopsida
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