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Global climate change and terrestrial net primary production

Nature volume 363, pages 234–240 (1993)Cite this article

Abstract

A process-based model was used to estimate global patterns of net primary production and soil nitrogen cycling for contemporary climate conditions and current atmospheric C02 concentration. Over half of the global annual net primary production was estimated to occur in the tropics, with most of the production attributable to tropical evergreen forest. The effects of C02 doubling and associated climate changes were also explored. The responses in tropical and dry temperate ecosystems were dominated by C02, but those in northern and moist temperate ecosystems reflected the effects of temperature on nitrogen availability.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. The Ecosystems Center, Marine Biological Laboratory, Woods Hole, Massachusetts, 02543, USA

    Jerry M. Melillo, A. David McGuire & David W. Kicklighter

  2. Complex Systems Research Center, Institute for the Study of Earth, Oceans and Space, University of New Hampshire, Durham, New Hampshire, 03824, USA

    Berrien Moore, Charles J. Vorosmarty & Annette L. Schloss

Authors
  1. Jerry M. Melillo
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  2. A. David McGuire
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  3. David W. Kicklighter
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  4. Berrien Moore
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  5. Charles J. Vorosmarty
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  6. Annette L. Schloss
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Melillo, J., McGuire, A., Kicklighter, D. et al. Global climate change and terrestrial net primary production. Nature 363, 234–240 (1993). https://doi.org/10.1038/363234a0

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