Diverse Mycorrhizal Associations Enhance Terrestrial C Storage in a Global Model
By B. Sulman, E. Shevliakova, E. Brzostek, S. Kivlin, S. Malyshev, D. Menge, Xin Zhang. Global Biogeochemical Cycles, 2019
107 citations recorded by the source corpus.
Accurate projections of the terrestrial carbon (C) sink are critical to understanding the future global C cycle and setting CO2 emission reduction goals. Current earth system models (ESMs) and dynamic global vegetation models (DGVMs) with coupled carbon‐nitrogen cycles project that future terrestrial C sequestration will be limited by nitrogen (N) availability, but the magnitude of N limitation remains a critical uncertainty. Plants use multiple symbiotic nutrient acquisition strategies to mitigate N limitation, but current DGVMs omit these mechanisms. Fully coupling N‐acquiring plant‐microbe symbioses to soil organic matter (SOM) cycling within a DGVM for the first time, we show that increases in N acquisition via SOM decomposition and atmospheric N2 fixation could support long‐term enhancement of terrestrial C sequestration at global scales under elevated CO2. The model reproduced elevated CO2 responses from two experiments (Duke and Oak Ridge) representing contrasting N acquisition strategies. N release from enhanced SOM decomposition supported vegetation growth at Duke, while inorganic N depletion limited growth at Oak Ridge. Global simulations reproduced spatial patterns of N‐acquiring symbioses from a novel niche‐based map of mycorrhizal fungi. Under a 100‐ppm increase in CO2 concentrations, shifts in N acquisition pathways facilitated 200 Pg C of terrestrial C sequestration over 100 years compared to 50 Pg C for a scenario with static N acquisition pathways. Our results suggest that N acquisition strategies are important determinants of terrestrial C sequestration potential under elevated CO2 and that nitrogen‐enabled DGVMs that omit symbiotic N acquisition may underestimate future terrestrial C uptake.
Subfields: Ecology, Plant Science, Soil Science
View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/01ae425c5bcfc59424b18b7add6776f69c137580
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- The GFDL Earth System Model Version 4.1 (GFDL‐ESM 4.1): Overall Coupled Model Description and Simulation Characteristics (2020, background): “Unlike some of the variants of LM3 (e.g., Sulman et al., 2019), LM4.”