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The fate of carbon in a mature forest under carbon dioxide enrichment

M. Jiang, B.E. Medlyn, J.E. Drake, R.A. Duursma, I.C. Anderson, C.V.M. Barton, M.M. Boer, Y. Carrillo, L. Castañeda-Gómez, L. Collins, K.Y. Crous, M.G. De Kauwe, K.M. Emmerson, S.L. Facey, A.N. Gherlenda, T.E. Gimeno, S. Hasegawa, S.N. Johnson, C.A. Macdonald, K. Mahmud, B.D. Moore, L. Nazaries, U.N. Nielsen, N.J. Noh, R. Ochoa-Hueso, V.S. Pathare, E. Pendall, J. Pineiro, J.R. Powell, S.A. Power, P.B. Reich, A.A. Renchon, M. Riegler, P. Rymer, R.L. Salomón, B.K. Singh, B. Smith, M.G. Tjoelker, J.K.M. Walker, A. Wujeska-Klause, J. Yang, S. Zaehle, D.S. Ellsworth
doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/696898
M. Jiang
1Hawkesbury Institute for the Environment, Western Sydney University, Locked Bag 1797, Penrith, NSW, 2751, Australia
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  • For correspondence: m.jiang@westernsydney.edu.au b.medlyn@westernsydney.edu.au
B.E. Medlyn
1Hawkesbury Institute for the Environment, Western Sydney University, Locked Bag 1797, Penrith, NSW, 2751, Australia
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  • For correspondence: m.jiang@westernsydney.edu.au b.medlyn@westernsydney.edu.au
J.E. Drake
1Hawkesbury Institute for the Environment, Western Sydney University, Locked Bag 1797, Penrith, NSW, 2751, Australia
2Department of Forest and Natural Resources Management, College of Environmental Science and Forestry, State University of New York, Syracuse, NY 13210, USA.
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R.A. Duursma
1Hawkesbury Institute for the Environment, Western Sydney University, Locked Bag 1797, Penrith, NSW, 2751, Australia
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I.C. Anderson
1Hawkesbury Institute for the Environment, Western Sydney University, Locked Bag 1797, Penrith, NSW, 2751, Australia
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C.V.M. Barton
1Hawkesbury Institute for the Environment, Western Sydney University, Locked Bag 1797, Penrith, NSW, 2751, Australia
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M.M. Boer
1Hawkesbury Institute for the Environment, Western Sydney University, Locked Bag 1797, Penrith, NSW, 2751, Australia
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Y. Carrillo
1Hawkesbury Institute for the Environment, Western Sydney University, Locked Bag 1797, Penrith, NSW, 2751, Australia
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L. Castañeda-Gómez
1Hawkesbury Institute for the Environment, Western Sydney University, Locked Bag 1797, Penrith, NSW, 2751, Australia
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L. Collins
1Hawkesbury Institute for the Environment, Western Sydney University, Locked Bag 1797, Penrith, NSW, 2751, Australia
3Department of Ecology, Environment and Evolution, La Trobe University, Bundoora, VIC 3086, Australia
4Arthur Rylah Institute for Environmental Research, Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning, PO Box 137, Heidelberg, VIC 3084, Australia
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K.Y. Crous
1Hawkesbury Institute for the Environment, Western Sydney University, Locked Bag 1797, Penrith, NSW, 2751, Australia
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M.G. De Kauwe
5ARC Centre of Excellence for Climate Extremes, University of New South Wales, Sydney, NSW 2052, Australia
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K.M. Emmerson
6Climate Science Centre, CSIRO Oceans & Atmosphere, Aspendale. VIC 3195, Australia.
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S.L. Facey
1Hawkesbury Institute for the Environment, Western Sydney University, Locked Bag 1797, Penrith, NSW, 2751, Australia
7Department of Ecology, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences (SLU), Uppsala, 75007, Sweden.
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A.N. Gherlenda
1Hawkesbury Institute for the Environment, Western Sydney University, Locked Bag 1797, Penrith, NSW, 2751, Australia
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T.E. Gimeno
1Hawkesbury Institute for the Environment, Western Sydney University, Locked Bag 1797, Penrith, NSW, 2751, Australia
8Basque Centre for Climate Change, Leioa, 48940, Spain.
9Ikerbasque, Basque Foundation for Science, 48008 Bilbao, Spain.
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S. Hasegawa
1Hawkesbury Institute for the Environment, Western Sydney University, Locked Bag 1797, Penrith, NSW, 2751, Australia
10Department of Forest Ecology and Management, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences (SLU), Umeå, SE-90183, Sweden.
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S.N. Johnson
1Hawkesbury Institute for the Environment, Western Sydney University, Locked Bag 1797, Penrith, NSW, 2751, Australia
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C.A. Macdonald
1Hawkesbury Institute for the Environment, Western Sydney University, Locked Bag 1797, Penrith, NSW, 2751, Australia
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K. Mahmud
1Hawkesbury Institute for the Environment, Western Sydney University, Locked Bag 1797, Penrith, NSW, 2751, Australia
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B.D. Moore
1Hawkesbury Institute for the Environment, Western Sydney University, Locked Bag 1797, Penrith, NSW, 2751, Australia
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L. Nazaries
1Hawkesbury Institute for the Environment, Western Sydney University, Locked Bag 1797, Penrith, NSW, 2751, Australia
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U.N. Nielsen
1Hawkesbury Institute for the Environment, Western Sydney University, Locked Bag 1797, Penrith, NSW, 2751, Australia
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N.J. Noh
1Hawkesbury Institute for the Environment, Western Sydney University, Locked Bag 1797, Penrith, NSW, 2751, Australia
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R. Ochoa-Hueso
1Hawkesbury Institute for the Environment, Western Sydney University, Locked Bag 1797, Penrith, NSW, 2751, Australia
11Department of Biology, IVAGRO, University of Cádiz, Campus de Excelencia Internacional Agroalimentario (CeiA3), Campus del Rio San Pedro, 11510 Puerto Real, Cádiz, Spain
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V.S. Pathare
1Hawkesbury Institute for the Environment, Western Sydney University, Locked Bag 1797, Penrith, NSW, 2751, Australia
12School of Biological Sciences, Post Office Box 646340, Washington State University, Pullman, WA 99164-6340, USA
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E. Pendall
1Hawkesbury Institute for the Environment, Western Sydney University, Locked Bag 1797, Penrith, NSW, 2751, Australia
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J. Pineiro
1Hawkesbury Institute for the Environment, Western Sydney University, Locked Bag 1797, Penrith, NSW, 2751, Australia
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J.R. Powell
1Hawkesbury Institute for the Environment, Western Sydney University, Locked Bag 1797, Penrith, NSW, 2751, Australia
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S.A. Power
1Hawkesbury Institute for the Environment, Western Sydney University, Locked Bag 1797, Penrith, NSW, 2751, Australia
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P.B. Reich
1Hawkesbury Institute for the Environment, Western Sydney University, Locked Bag 1797, Penrith, NSW, 2751, Australia
13Department of Forest Resources, University of Minnesota, St Paul, Minnesota, 55108, USA
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A.A. Renchon
1Hawkesbury Institute for the Environment, Western Sydney University, Locked Bag 1797, Penrith, NSW, 2751, Australia
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M. Riegler
1Hawkesbury Institute for the Environment, Western Sydney University, Locked Bag 1797, Penrith, NSW, 2751, Australia
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P. Rymer
1Hawkesbury Institute for the Environment, Western Sydney University, Locked Bag 1797, Penrith, NSW, 2751, Australia
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R.L. Salomón
14Laboratory of Plant Ecology, Faculty of Bioscience Engineering, Ghent University, Coupure links 653, 9000 Ghent, Belgium.
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B.K. Singh
1Hawkesbury Institute for the Environment, Western Sydney University, Locked Bag 1797, Penrith, NSW, 2751, Australia
15Global Centre for Land Based Innovation, Western Sydney University, Building L9, Locked Bag 1797, Penrith South, NSW, 2751, Australia
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B. Smith
1Hawkesbury Institute for the Environment, Western Sydney University, Locked Bag 1797, Penrith, NSW, 2751, Australia
16Department of Physical Geography and Ecosystem Science, Lund University, 22362, Lund, Sweden
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M.G. Tjoelker
1Hawkesbury Institute for the Environment, Western Sydney University, Locked Bag 1797, Penrith, NSW, 2751, Australia
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J.K.M. Walker
1Hawkesbury Institute for the Environment, Western Sydney University, Locked Bag 1797, Penrith, NSW, 2751, Australia
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A. Wujeska-Klause
1Hawkesbury Institute for the Environment, Western Sydney University, Locked Bag 1797, Penrith, NSW, 2751, Australia
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J. Yang
1Hawkesbury Institute for the Environment, Western Sydney University, Locked Bag 1797, Penrith, NSW, 2751, Australia
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S. Zaehle
17Max Planck Institute for Biogeochemistry, Hans-Knöll-Str. 10, 07745 Jena, Germany
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D.S. Ellsworth
1Hawkesbury Institute for the Environment, Western Sydney University, Locked Bag 1797, Penrith, NSW, 2751, Australia
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Abstract

Atmospheric carbon dioxide enrichment (eCO2) can enhance plant carbon uptake and growth1,2,3,4,5, thereby providing an important negative feedback to climate change by slowing the rate of increase of the atmospheric CO2 concentration6. While evidence gathered from young aggrading forests has generally indicated a strong CO2 fertilization effect on biomass growth3,4,5, it is unclear whether mature forests respond to eCO2 in a similar way. In mature trees and forest stands7,8,9,10, photosynthetic uptake has been found to increase under eCO2 without any apparent accompanying growth response, leaving an open question about the fate of additional carbon fixed under eCO24, 5, 7,8,9,10,11. Here, using data from the first ecosystem-scale Free-Air CO2 Enrichment (FACE) experiment in a mature forest, we constructed a comprehensive ecosystem carbon budget to track the fate of carbon as the forest responds to four years of eCO2 exposure. We show that, although the eCO2 treatment of ambient +150 ppm (+38%) induced a 12% (+247 gCm-2yr-1) increase in carbon uptake through gross primary production, this additional carbon uptake did not lead to increased carbon sequestration at the ecosystem level. Instead, the majority of the extra carbon was emitted back into the atmosphere via several respiratory fluxes, with increased soil respiration alone contributing ∼50% of the total uptake surplus. Our results call into question the predominant thinking that the capacity of forests to act as carbon sinks will be generally enhanced under eCO2, and challenge the efficacy of climate mitigation strategies that rely on CO2 fertilization as a driver of increased carbon sinks in standing forests and afforestation projects.

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The fate of carbon in a mature forest under carbon dioxide enrichment
M. Jiang, B.E. Medlyn, J.E. Drake, R.A. Duursma, I.C. Anderson, C.V.M. Barton, M.M. Boer, Y. Carrillo, L. Castañeda-Gómez, L. Collins, K.Y. Crous, M.G. De Kauwe, K.M. Emmerson, S.L. Facey, A.N. Gherlenda, T.E. Gimeno, S. Hasegawa, S.N. Johnson, C.A. Macdonald, K. Mahmud, B.D. Moore, L. Nazaries, U.N. Nielsen, N.J. Noh, R. Ochoa-Hueso, V.S. Pathare, E. Pendall, J. Pineiro, J.R. Powell, S.A. Power, P.B. Reich, A.A. Renchon, M. Riegler, P. Rymer, R.L. Salomón, B.K. Singh, B. Smith, M.G. Tjoelker, J.K.M. Walker, A. Wujeska-Klause, J. Yang, S. Zaehle, D.S. Ellsworth
bioRxiv 696898; doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/696898
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The fate of carbon in a mature forest under carbon dioxide enrichment
M. Jiang, B.E. Medlyn, J.E. Drake, R.A. Duursma, I.C. Anderson, C.V.M. Barton, M.M. Boer, Y. Carrillo, L. Castañeda-Gómez, L. Collins, K.Y. Crous, M.G. De Kauwe, K.M. Emmerson, S.L. Facey, A.N. Gherlenda, T.E. Gimeno, S. Hasegawa, S.N. Johnson, C.A. Macdonald, K. Mahmud, B.D. Moore, L. Nazaries, U.N. Nielsen, N.J. Noh, R. Ochoa-Hueso, V.S. Pathare, E. Pendall, J. Pineiro, J.R. Powell, S.A. Power, P.B. Reich, A.A. Renchon, M. Riegler, P. Rymer, R.L. Salomón, B.K. Singh, B. Smith, M.G. Tjoelker, J.K.M. Walker, A. Wujeska-Klause, J. Yang, S. Zaehle, D.S. Ellsworth
bioRxiv 696898; doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/696898

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