Campus Units
Ecology, Evolution and Organismal Biology
Document Type
Article
Publication Version
Published Version
Publication Date
2017
Journal or Book Title
Nature Scientific Reports
Volume
7
Issue
4765
DOI
10.1038/s41598-017-03818-2
Abstract
Terrestrial ecosystems play a vital role in regulating the accumulation of carbon (C) in the atmosphere. Understanding the factors controlling land C uptake is critical for reducing uncertainties in projections of future climate. The relative importance of changing climate, rising atmospheric CO2, and other factors, however, remains unclear despite decades of research. Here, we use an ensemble of land models to show that models disagree on the primary driver of cumulative C uptake for 85% of vegetated land area. Disagreement is largest in model sensitivity to rising atmospheric CO2 which shows almost twice the variability in cumulative land uptake since 1901 (1 s.d. of 212.8 PgC vs. 138.5 PgC, respectively). We find that variability in CO2 and temperature sensitivity is attributable, in part, to their compensatory effects on C uptake, whereby comparable estimates of C uptake can arise by invoking different sensitivities to key environmental conditions. Conversely, divergent estimates of C uptake can occur despite being based on the same environmental sensitivities. Together, these findings imply an important limitation to the predictability of C cycling and climate under unprecedented environmental conditions. We suggest that the carbon modeling community prioritize a probabilistic multi-model approach to generate more robust C cycle projections.
Rights
Works produced by employees of the U.S. Government as part of their official duties are not copyrighted within the U.S. The content of this document is not copyrighted.
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Copyright Owner
Nature Scientific Reports
Copyright Date
2017
Language
en
File Format
application/pdf
Recommended Citation
Huntzinger, D.N.; Michalak, A.M.; Schwalm, C.; Ciais, P.; King, A.W.; Fang, Y.; Schaefer, K.; Wei, Y.; Cook, R.B.; Fisher, J.B.; Hayes, D.; Huang, M.; Ito, A.; Jain, A.K.; Lei, H.; Lu, Chaoqun (Crystal); Maignan, F.; Mao, J.; Parazoo, N.; Peng, S.; Poulter, B.; Ricciuto, D.; Shi, X.; Tian, H.; Wang, W.; Zeng, N.; and Zhao, F., "Uncertainty in the response of terrestrial carbon sink to environmental drivers undermines carbon-climate feedback predictions" (2017). Ecology, Evolution and Organismal Biology Publications. 359.
https://lib.dr.iastate.edu/eeob_ag_pubs/359
Included in
Animal Sciences Commons, Environmental Indicators and Impact Assessment Commons, Environmental Monitoring Commons, Forest Sciences Commons, Natural Resources Management and Policy Commons, Oil, Gas, and Energy Commons, Plant Sciences Commons, Soil Science Commons, Sustainability Commons, Terrestrial and Aquatic Ecology Commons
Comments
This article is published as 7. Huntzinger, D., A. Michalak, C. Schwalm, P. Ciais, A. King, Y. Fang, K. Schefer, Y. Wei, R. Cook, J. Fisher, D. Hayes, M. Huang, A. Ito, A. Jain, H. Lei, C. Lu, F. Maignam, J. Mao, N. Parazoo, S. Peng, B. Poulter, D. Ricciuto, X. Shi, H. Tian, W. Wang, N. Zeng, and F. Zhao. 2017. Uncertainty in the response of terrestrial carbon sink to environmental drivers undermines carbon-climate feedback predictions.Nature Scientific Reports, 7(2017); 4765. doi: 10.1038/s41598-017-03818-2 .