On the Potential for a CO2 Fertilization Effect in Forests: Estimates of the Biotic Growth Factor Based on 58 Controlled-Exposure Studies

19 January 1995

book chapter
Published by Oxford University Press (OUP)

p. 85-107
https://doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780195086409.003.0005

Abstract

There is little question that terrestrial ecosystems have a potentially pivotal role in determining both the direction and the rate of future changes in atmospheric CO₂ concentrations. There is some question, however, whether terrestrial ecosystems will contribute to global warming by releasing additional CO₂ into the atmosphere as a result of increasing respiration in a warming climate, or whether they will instead sequester additional carbon in response to the enhancing effects of atmospheric CO2 on plant growth (Soloman and Cramer 1993). This latter response, the so-called CO₂ fertilization effect, has been advanced as an important negative feedback that has the potential for limiting increases in atmospheric CO2 concentrations. The mechanism has often been invoked as an explanation of the 1.6-petagram (Pg = 10¹⁵ g)-carbon-per-year imbalance or “missing sink” in calculations of the global carbon budget.

Keywords

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