Terrestrial plants sequester carbon through photosynthesis (gross primary productivity, GPP 1,2), and roughly the same amount of carbon is returned to the atmosphere through respiration, dominated by the global soil-to-atmosphere CO2 flux (soil respiration 3–5, Rs). Estimates of the global GPP and Rs fluxes are typically derived from independent satellite-driven models and upscaled in situ measurements, respectively, but have not been systematically analyzed relative to one another. Here we show that current estimates of global GPP and Rs are irreconcilable. Partitioning global Rs estimates into shoot and root respiration and combining with net primary production estimates produces values (GPPRs, bootstrap mean 144+29-23 Pg C yr-1) significantly higher (6-12% overlap between distributions; Student’s t-test P
Published: April 21, 2022
Citation
Jian J., V.L. Bailey, K.R. Dorheim, A.G. Konings, D. Hao, A.N. Shiklomanov, and A.C. Snyder, et al. 2022.Historically inconsistent productivity and respiration fluxes in the global terrestrial carbon cycle.Nature Communications 13.PNNL-SA-153170.doi:10.1038/s41467-022-29391-5