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Related Experiment Video

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A CO2 Concentration Gradient Facility for Testing CO2 Enrichment and Soil Effects on Grassland Ecosystem Function

A CO₂ Concentration Gradient Facility for Testing CO₂ Enrichment and Soil Effects on Grassland Ecosystem Function

Published on: November 21, 2015

Will the CO2 fertilization effect in forests be offset by reduced tree longevity?

Harald Bugmann¹, Christof Bigler

¹Laboratory of Tree-Ring Research, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ 85721, USA. harald.bugmann@env.ethz.ch

|November 25, 2010

Summary

Increased tree growth from CO2 fertilization may be offset by reduced tree longevity. This suggests temperate forests have limited potential for carbon mitigation due to these counteracting effects.

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Area of Science:

Ecology
Forest Science
Climate Change Biology

Background:

Experimental studies indicate elevated CO2 stimulates tree growth and carbon sequestration.
However, this enhanced growth may reduce tree longevity, leading to faster carbon release.
The net impact of these opposing processes on forest carbon stocks is uncertain.

Purpose of the Study:

To quantify the net effect of growth stimulation and reduced longevity on aboveground carbon stocks in temperate forests.
To investigate how these effects vary across a climate gradient.

Main Methods:

Utilized data on maximum growth rate and longevity for 141 temperate tree species.
Developed a relationship linking growth stimulation to longevity changes.
Modified a forest succession model with these relationships and simulated responses under varying growth and longevity scenarios across multiple sites.

Main Results:

Growth stimulation resulted in a disproportionately small increase in stand biomass due to negative feedback.
Reduced tree longevity largely offset growth-related biomass gains, leading to near-zero net effects in most simulations.
Averaged across sites, the landscape-level net effect on biomass was also close to zero.

Conclusions:

Ecophysiological responses and their demographic linkages are crucial for accurate ecosystem-level inferences.
CO2 fertilization effects on temperate forests are likely counteracted by reduced tree longevity, significantly diminishing their carbon mitigation potential.