Comprehensive assessment of carbon productivity, allocation and storage in three Amazonian forests

Malhi, Yadvinder; Aragão, Luiz E. O. C.; Metcalfe, Daniel B.; Paiva, R.; Quesada, Carlos Alberto; Almeida, Samuel; Anderson, Liana O.; Brando, Paulo M.; Chambers, Jeffrey Q.; Costa, Antonio; Hutyra, Lucy R.; Oliveira, Paulo Jorge de; Patiño, S.; Pyle, Elizabeth Hammond; Robertson, Amanda; Teixeira, Liliane Martins

doi:10.1111/j.1365-2486.2008.01780.x

Cited by 309 publications

(449 citation statements)

References 66 publications

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“…GPP in both CASA 0 (3220 g C m À2 yr À1 ) and CN (2900 gC m À2 yr À1 ) was similar to observed levels (3330 AE 420 g C m À2 yr À1 ) (Figueira et al, 2008;Malhi et al, 2009). A primary cause of the excess woody biomass in CASA 0 was that the flow of GPP to autotrophic respiration was too low.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 82%

“…To further assess the causes of this model bias in the tropical forest aboveground live biomass pool, we compared the models with carbon budget observations from Amazonia (Miller et al, 2004;Vieira et al, 2004;Figueira et al, 2008;Malhi et al, 2009). GPP in both CASA 0 (3220 g C m À2 yr À1 ) and CN (2900 gC m À2 yr À1 ) was similar to observed levels (3330 AE 420 g C m À2 yr À1 ) (Figueira et al, 2008;Malhi et al, 2009).…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…A primary cause of the excess woody biomass in CASA 0 was that the flow of GPP to autotrophic respiration was too low. In CASA 0 , autotrophic respiration was prescribed at 50% of GPP whereas the mean of observations from Malhi et al (2009) show that 65 AE 10% of GPP was respired in three mature tropical forest ecosystems (Fig. 6).…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…A crucial uncertainty remains, however, with respect to whether the temperature sensitivity of longer turnover carbon pools in soils is the same as that of more rapidly cycling pools that contribute to seasonal dynamics (Knorr et al, 2005;Davidson & Janssens, 2006). Another important deficiency in both models was that woody biomass in tropical forests was too highby 67-188% for CASA 0 and by 27-132% for CN based on comparison with syntheses by Malhi et al (2009) and Saatchi et al (2007). In CN, the model has been improved subsequently by changing the dynamic wood allocation algorithm.…”

Section: Recommendations For Model Improvementmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Systematic assessment of terrestrial biogeochemistry in coupled climate–carbon models

Randerson

Hoffman

Thornton

et al. 2009

Global Change Biology

349

300

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With representation of the global carbon cycle becoming increasingly complex in climate models, it is important to develop ways to quantitatively evaluate model performance against in situ and remote sensing observations. Here we present a systematic framework, the Carbon‐LAnd Model Intercomparison Project (C‐LAMP), for assessing terrestrial biogeochemistry models coupled to climate models using observations that span a wide range of temporal and spatial scales. As an example of the value of such comparisons, we used this framework to evaluate two biogeochemistry models that are integrated within the Community Climate System Model (CCSM) – Carnegie‐Ames‐Stanford Approach′ (CASA′) and carbon–nitrogen (CN). Both models underestimated the magnitude of net carbon uptake during the growing season in temperate and boreal forest ecosystems, based on comparison with atmospheric CO2 measurements and eddy covariance measurements of net ecosystem exchange. Comparison with MODerate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) measurements show that this low bias in model fluxes was caused, at least in part, by 1–3 month delays in the timing of maximum leaf area. In the tropics, the models overestimated carbon storage in woody biomass based on comparison with datasets from the Amazon. Reducing this model bias will probably weaken the sensitivity of terrestrial carbon fluxes to both atmospheric CO2 and climate. Global carbon sinks during the 1990s differed by a factor of two (2.4 Pg C yr−1 for CASA′ vs. 1.2 Pg C yr−1 for CN), with fluxes from both models compatible with the atmospheric budget given uncertainties in other terms. The models captured some of the timing of interannual global terrestrial carbon exchange during 1988–2004 based on comparison with atmospheric inversion results from TRANSCOM (r=0.66 for CASA′ and r=0.73 for CN). Adding (CASA′) or improving (CN) the representation of deforestation fires may further increase agreement with the atmospheric record. Information from C‐LAMP has enhanced model performance within CCSM and serves as a benchmark for future development. We propose that an open source, community‐wide platform for model‐data intercomparison is needed to speed model development and to strengthen ties between modeling and measurement communities. Important next steps include the design and analysis of land use change simulations (in both uncoupled and coupled modes), and the entrainment of additional ecological and earth system observations. Model results from C‐LAMP are publicly available on the Earth System Grid.

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Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 82%

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Recommendations For Model Improvementmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 2 more Smart Citations

Systematic assessment of terrestrial biogeochemistry in coupled climate–carbon models

Randerson

Hoffman

Thornton

et al. 2009

Global Change Biology

349

300

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“…8, CTL). This result remains valid over several sites across the Amazon watershed when comparing ISBA CC to the data set compiled by Malhi et al (2009) …”

Section: Autotrophic and Heterotrophic Respirationmentioning

confidence: 84%

Predicting the response of the Amazon rainforest to persistent drought conditions under current and future climates: a major challenge for global land surface models

Joetzjer¹,

Delire²,

Koshiro³

et al. 2014

Geosci. Model Dev.

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Abstract. While a majority of global climate models project drier and longer dry seasons over the Amazon under higher CO 2 levels, large uncertainties surround the response of vegetation to persistent droughts in both present-day and future climates. We propose a detailed evaluation of the ability of the ISBA CC (Interaction Soil-Biosphere-Atmosphere Carbon Cycle) land surface model to capture drought effects on both water and carbon budgets, comparing fluxes and stocks at two recent throughfall exclusion (TFE) experiments performed in the Amazon. We also explore the model sensitivity to different water stress functions (WSFs) and to an idealized increase in CO 2 concentration and/or temperature. In spite of a reasonable soil moisture simulation, ISBA CC struggles to correctly simulate the vegetation response to TFE whose amplitude and timing is highly sensitive to the WSF. Under higher CO 2 concentrations, the increased wateruse efficiency (WUE) mitigates the sensitivity of ISBA CC to drought. While one of the proposed WSF formulations improves the response of most ISBA CC fluxes, except respiration, a parameterization of drought-induced tree mortality is missing for an accurate estimate of the vegetation response. Also, a better mechanistic understanding of the forest responses to drought under a warmer climate and higher CO 2 concentration is clearly needed.

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A comparison of plot‐based satellite and Earth system model estimates of tropical forest net primary production

Cleveland

Taylor

Chadwick

et al. 2015

Global Biogeochemical Cycles

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Net primary production (NPP) by plants represents the largest annual flux of carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) from the atmosphere to the terrestrial biosphere, playing a critical role in the global carbon (C) cycle and the Earth's climate. Rates of NPP in tropical forests are thought to be among the highest on Earth, but debates about the magnitude, patterns, and controls of NPP in the tropics highlight uncertainty in our understanding of how tropical forests may respond to environmental change. Here, we compared tropical NPP estimates generated using three common approaches: (1) field-based methods scaled from plot-level measurements of plant biomass, (2) radiation-based methods that model NPP from satellite-derived radiation absorption by plants, (3) and biogeochemical model-based methods. For undisturbed tropical forests as a whole, the three methods produced similar NPP estimates (i.e.,~10 Pg C yr À1). However, the three different approaches produced vastly different patterns of NPP both in space and through time, suggesting that our understanding of tropical NPP is poor and that our ability to predict the response of NPP in the tropics to environmental change is limited. To address this shortcoming, we suggest the development of an expanded, high-density, permanent network of sites where NPP is continuously evaluated using multiple approaches. Well-designed NPP megatransects that include a high-density plot network would significantly increase the accuracy and certainty in the observed rates and patterns of tropical NPP and improve the reliability of Earth system models used to predict NPP-carbon cycle-climate interactions into the future.

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Comprehensive assessment of carbon productivity, allocation and storage in three Amazonian forests

Cited by 309 publications

References 66 publications

Systematic assessment of terrestrial biogeochemistry in coupled climate–carbon models

Systematic assessment of terrestrial biogeochemistry in coupled climate–carbon models

Predicting the response of the Amazon rainforest to persistent drought conditions under current and future climates: a major challenge for global land surface models

A comparison of plot‐based satellite and Earth system model estimates of tropical forest net primary production

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