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Recent patterns and mechanisms of carbon exchange by terrestrial ecosystems
Open accessAbstract
Knowledge of carbon exchange between the atmosphere, land and the oceans is important, given that the terrestrial and marine environments are currently absorbing about half of the carbon dioxide that is emitted by fossil-fuel combustion. This carbon uptake is therefore limiting the extent of atmospheric and climatic change, but its long-term nature remains uncertain. Here we provide an overview of the current state of knowledge of global and regional patterns of carbon exchange by terrestrial ecosystems. Atmospheric carbon dioxide and oxygen data confirm that the terrestrial biosphere was largely neutral with respect to net carbon exchange during the 1980s, but became a net carbon sink in the 1990s. This recent sink can be largely attributed to northern extratropical areas, and is roughly split between North America and Eurasia. Tropical land areas, however, were approximately in balance with respect to carbon exchange, implying a carbon sink that offset emissions due to tropical deforestation. The evolution of the terrestrial carbon sink is largely the result of changes in land use over time, such as regrowth on abandoned agricultural land and fire prevention, in addition to responses to environmental changes, such as longer growing seasons, and fertilization by carbon dioxide and nitrogen. Nevertheless, there remain considerable uncertainties as to the magnitude of the sink in different regions and the contribution of different processes.
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“Terrestrial and marine environments presently absorb about half the anthropogenic CO 2 (Schimel et al., 2001)”
From Breeding crop plants with deep roots: their role in sustainable carbon, nutrient and water sequestration (2011) · cites this paper as Schimel et al., 2001
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Metadata
- Authors
- Schimel, D. S., House, J. I., Hibbard, K. A., Bousquet, P., Ciais, P., Peylin, P., Braswell, B. H., Apps, M. J., Baker, D., Bondeau, A., Canadell, J., Churkina, G., Cramer, W., Denning, A. S., Field, C. B., Friedlingstein, P., Goodale, C., Heimann, M., Houghton, R. A., Melillo, J. M., Moore, B., Murdiyarso, D., Noble, I., Pacala, S. W., Prentice, I. C., Raupach, M. R., Rayner, P. J., Scholes, R. J., Steffen, W. L., & Wirth, C.
- Affiliations
- Max Planck Institute for Biogeochemistry (DE)
- University of New Hampshire (US)
- Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (FR)
- Canadian Forest Service (CA)
- NSF National Center for Atmospheric Research (US)
- Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (DE)
- Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (AU)
- Leibniz Centre for Agricultural Landscape Research (DE)
- Carnegie Institution for Science (US)
- Woodwell Climate Research Center (US)
- Marine Biological Laboratory (US)
- Australian National University (AU)
- Princeton University (US)
- Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (ZA)
- Max Planck Society (DE)
- Corresponding author
- Schimel, D. S.
- ORCID
- Schimel, D. S.
- House, J. I.
- Bousquet, P.
- Ciais, P.
- Peylin, P.
- Braswell, B. H.
- Baker, D.
- Bondeau, A.
- Canadell, J.
- Churkina, G.
- Field, C. B.
- Friedlingstein, P.
- Goodale, C.
- Heimann, M.
- Houghton, R. A.
- Melillo, J. M.
- Moore, B.
- Murdiyarso, D.
- Noble, I.
- Pacala, S. W.
- Prentice, I. C.
- Raupach, M. R.
- Rayner, P. J.
- Scholes, R. J.
- Wirth, C.
- Venue
- Nature
- Published
- 2001-11
- Volume
- 414
- Issue
- 6860
- Pages
- 169-172
- ISSN
- 0028-0836 (ISSN-L)
- 1476-4687
- OpenAlex
- W2137336591
- Cited by
- 1,379
- References
- 54
- Citations by year
- 2026: 20 · 2025: 35 · 2024: 46 · 2023: 41 · 2022: 35 · 2021: 46 · 2020: 44 · 2019: 35 · 2018: 35 · 2017: 48 · 2016: 47 · 2015: 67 · 2014: 49 · 2013: 59 · 2012: 53
- FWCI
- 73.54
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- green
- hal.science
- Licence
- Locations
- Nature (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Explore Bristol Research (publishedVersion)
- University of New Hampshire Scholars Repository (University of New Hampshire at Manchester) (submittedVersion)
- HAL (submittedVersion, cc-by)
- RePEc: Research Papers in Economics (submittedVersion)
- Max Planck Digital Library (submittedVersion)
- ANU Open Research (Australian National University) (submittedVersion)
- Publication Database PIK (Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK)) (submittedVersion)
- MPG.PuRe (Max Planck Society) (submittedVersion)
- Bristol Research (University of Bristol) (submittedVersion)
- Topics
- Physical Sciences › Environmental Science › Global and Planetary Change › Plant Water Relations and Carbon Dynamics
- Physical Sciences › Environmental Science › Global and Planetary Change › Atmospheric and Environmental Gas Dynamics
- Life Sciences › Agricultural and Biological Sciences › Soil Science › Soil Carbon and Nitrogen Dynamics
- Keywords
- terrestrial carbon sink, carbon exchange, terrestrial biosphere, atmospheric CO2, oxygen isotopes, land use change, tropical deforestation, CO2 fertilization, nitrogen fertilization, growing season length, fire prevention, climate change mitigation
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