Forest soil carbon cycle under elevated CO2 – a case of increased throughput?Lukac, M. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8535-6334, Lagomarsino, A., Moscatelli, M. C., DeAngelis, P., Cotrufo, M. F. and Godbold, D. L. (2009) Forest soil carbon cycle under elevated CO2 – a case of increased throughput? Forestry, 82 (1). pp. 75-86. ISSN 1464-3626 Full text not archived in this repository. It is advisable to refer to the publisher's version if you intend to cite from this work. See Guidance on citing. To link to this item DOI: 10.1093/forestry/cpn041 Abstract/SummaryForest soils account for a large part of the stable carbon pool held in terrestrial ecosystems. Future levels of atmospheric CO2 are likely to increase C input into the soils through increased above- and below-ground production of forests. This increased input will result in greater sequestration of C only if the additional C enters stable pools. In this review, we compare current observations from four large-scale Free Air FACE Enrichment (FACE) experiments on forest ecosystems (EuroFACE, Aspen-FACE, Duke FACE and ORNL-FACE) and consider their predictive power for long-term C sequestration. At all sites, FACE increased fine root biomass, and in most cases higher fine root turnover resulted in higher C input into soil via root necromass. However, at all sites, soil CO2 efflux also increased in excess of the increased root necromass inputs. A mass balance calculation suggests that a large part of the stimulation of soil CO2 efflux may be due to increased root respiration. Given the duration of these experiments compared with the life cycle of a forest and the complexity of processes involved, it is not yet possible to predict whether elevated CO2 will result in increased C storage in forest soil.
Altmetric Deposit Details University Staff: Request a correction | Centaur Editors: Update this record |