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Uncertain effects of nutrient availability on global forest carbon balance

Nature Climate Change volume 5, pages 958–959 (2015)Cite this article

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To the Editor —

Fernández-Martínez et al.1 show that nutrient availability is the chief determinant of net ecosystem production (NEP) and ecosystem carbon-use efficiency (CUEe, the ratio of NEP to gross primary production, GPP) in global forests. But their conclusions depend on an improper treatment of differences in the GPP range of nutrient-rich and nutrient-poor forests (uneven sampling effect) and outliers. A statistical re-analysis of their data sets while simultaneously excluding the uneven sampling effect and outliers indicates no significant control of nutrient availability on carbon balance.

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Figure 1: NEP (gC m−2 yr−1), CUEe and Re (gC m−2 yr−1) against GPP (gC m−2 yr−1) in nutrient-rich (NR) and nutrient-poor (NP) forests.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. State Key Laboratory of Earth Surface Processes and Resource Ecology, and College of Resources Science & Technology, Beijing Normal University, Xinjiekouwai Street 19, Beijing, 100875, China

    Enzai Du

  2. Environmental Systems Analysis Group, Wageningen University, PO Box 47, Wageningen, 6700 AA, The Netherlands

    Enzai Du

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  1. Enzai Du
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Correspondence to Enzai Du.

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Du, E. Uncertain effects of nutrient availability on global forest carbon balance. Nature Clim Change 5, 958–959 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1038/nclimate2792

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