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Nonlinear grassland responses to past and future atmospheric CO2

Nature volume 417, pages 279–282 (2002)Cite this article

Abstract

Carbon sequestration in soil organic matter may moderate increases in atmospheric CO2 concentrations (Ca) as Ca increases to more than 500?µmol?mol-1 this century from interglacial levels of less than 200?µmol?mol-1 (refs 1–6). However, such carbon storage depends on feedbacks between plant responses to Ca and nutrient availability7,8. Here we present evidence that soil carbon storage and nitrogen cycling in a grassland ecosystem are much more responsive to increases in past Ca than to those forecast for the coming century. Along a continuous gradient of 200 to 550?µmol?mol-1 (refs 9, 10), increased Ca promoted higher photosynthetic rates and altered plant tissue chemistry. Soil carbon was lost at subambient Ca, but was unchanged at elevated Ca where losses of old soil carbon offset increases in new carbon. Along the experimental gradient in Ca there was a nonlinear, threefold decrease in nitrogen availability. The differences in sensitivity of carbon storage to historical and future Ca and increased nutrient limitation suggest that the passive sequestration of carbon in soils may have been important historically, but the ability of soils to continue as sinks is limited.

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Figure 1: Effects of CO2 treatment on various species.
Figure 2: Effect of CO2 treatment on soil carbon storage.
Figure 3: Net N mineralization during the 1999 and 2000 growing seasons.

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Acknowledgements

We thank W. Pockman, W. Gordon and S. Brumbaugh for assistance in the field; R. Cates for liquid chromatography analysis; R. P. Whitis, C.W. Cook and A. Gibson for technical assistance; and W. K. Schlesinger, B. Hungate, E. Jobbagy, J. Powers and A. Finzi for comments on the manuscript. This paper is a contribution to the Global Change and Terrestrial Ecosystems core project of the International Geosphere Biosphere Programme. This research was supported by the National Institute for Global Environmental Change through the US Department of Energy (R.B.J.) and the US Department of Agriculture National Research Initiative Competitive Grants Program (R.A.G.). Any opinions, findings and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this publication are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the DOE, National Institute for Global Environmental Change or the National Research Initiative Competitive Grants Program.

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Author notes

  1. Richard A. Gill

    Present address: Program in Environmental Science and Regional Planning, Washington State University, Pullman, Washington, 99164, USA

  2. Laurel J. Anderson

    Present address: Department of Botany-Microbiology, Ohio Wesleyan University, Delaware, Ohio, 43015, USA

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Biology, Duke University, Durham, NC 27708-0340, North Carolina, USA

    Richard A. Gill, Hafiz Maherali & Robert B. Jackson

  2. Nicholas School of the Environment and Earth Sciences, Duke University, Durham, NC 27708-0340, North Carolina, USA

    Robert B. Jackson

  3. USDA-ARS Grassland, Soil and Water Research Laboratory, Temple, Texas, 76502-9601, USA

    H. Wayne Polley & Hyrum B. Johnson

  4. Department of Botany, University of Texas, Austin, Texas, 78713, USA

    Laurel J. Anderson

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Correspondence to Richard A. Gill.

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Gill, R., Polley, H., Johnson, H. et al. Nonlinear grassland responses to past and future atmospheric CO2. Nature 417, 279–282 (2002). https://doi.org/10.1038/417279a

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