Aim Theoretically, woody biomass turnover time () quantified using outflux (i.e. tree mortality) predicts biomass dynamics better than using influx (i.e. productivity). This study aims at using forest inventory data to empirically test the outflux approach and generate a spatially explicit understanding of woody in mature forests. We further compared woody estimates with dynamic global vegetation models (DGVMs) and with a data...

To respect the Paris agreement targeting a limitation of global warming below 2°C by 2100, and possibly below 1.5°C, drastic reductions of greenhouse gas emissions are mandatory but not sufficient. Large‐scale deployment of other climate mitigation strategies is also necessary. Among these, increasing soil organic carbon (SOC) stocks is an important lever because carbon in soils can be stored for long periods and land manageme...

Plant phenology—the timing of cyclic or recurrent biological events in plants—offers insight into the ecology, evolution, and seasonality of plant‐mediated ecosystem processes. Traditionally studied phenologies are readily apparent, such as flowering events, germination timing, and season‐initiating budbreak. However, a broad range of phenologies that are fundamental to the ecology and evolution of plants, and to global biogeo...

Understanding the processes that determine above‐ground biomass ( AGB ) in Amazonian forests is important for predicting the sensitivity of these ecosystems to environmental change and for designing and evaluating dynamic global vegetation models ( DGVM s). AGB is determined by inputs from woody productivity [woody net primary productivity ( NPP )] and the rate at which carbon is lost through tree mortality. Here, we test whet...

The timing of the fruit‐set stage (i.e., start and end of fruit set) is crucial in a plant's life cycle, but its response to temperature change is still unclear. We investigated the timing of seven phenological events, including fruit‐set dates during 3 yr for six alpine plants transplanted to warmer (approximately +3.5°C in soils) and cooler (approximately −3.5°C in soils) locations along an altitudinal gradient in the Tibeta...

Understanding how flowering phenology responds to warming and cooling (i.e., symmetric or asymmetric response) is needed to predict the response of flowering phenology to future climate change that will happen with the occurrence of warm and cold years superimposed upon a long‐term trend. A three‐year reciprocal translocation experiment was performed along an elevation gradient from 3200 m to 3800 m in the Tibetan Plateau for...

Ecology Letters (2012) Abstract Trees with sufficient nutrition are known to allocate carbon preferentially to aboveground plant parts. Our global study of 49 forests revealed an even more fundamental carbon allocation response to nutrient availability: forests with high‐nutrient availability use 58 ± 3% (mean ± SE; 17 forests) of their photosynthates for plant biomass production (BP), while forests with low‐nutrient availabil...

We estimated the long‐term carbon balance [net biome production (NBP)] of European (EU‐25) croplands and its component fluxes, over the last two decades. Net primary production (NPP) estimates, from different data sources ranged between 490 and 846 gC m −2 yr −1 , and mostly reflect uncertainties in allocation, and in cropland area when using yield statistics. Inventories of soil C change over arable lands may be the most reli...

Overviewing the European carbon (C), greenhouse gas (GHG), and non‐GHG fluxes, gross primary productivity (GPP) is about 9.3 Pg yr −1 , and fossil fuel imports are 1.6 Pg yr −1 . GPP is about 1.25% of solar radiation, containing about 360 × 10 18 J energy – five times the energy content of annual fossil fuel use. Net primary production (NPP) is 50%, terrestrial net biome productivity, NBP, 3%, and the net GHG balance, NGB, 0.3...

We analyzed the magnitude, the trends and the uncertainties of fossil‐fuel CO 2 emissions in the European Union 25 member states (hereafter EU‐25), based on emission inventories from energy‐use statistics. The stability of emissions during the past decade at EU‐25 scale masks decreasing trends in some regions, offset by increasing trends elsewhere. In the recent 4 years, the new Eastern EU‐25 member states have experienced an...

We present a new synthesis, based on a suite of complementary approaches, of the primary production and carbon sink in forests of the 25 member states of the European Union (EU‐25) during 1990–2005. Upscaled terrestrial observations and model‐based approaches agree within 25% on the mean net primary production (NPP) of forests, i.e. 520±75 g C m −2 yr −1 over a forest area of 1.32 × 10 6 km 2 to 1.55 × 10 6 km 2 (EU‐25). New e...

We present an estimate of net ecosystem exchange (NEE) of CO 2 in Europe for the years 2001–2007. It is derived with a data assimilation that uses a large set of atmospheric CO 2 mole fraction observations (∼70 000) to guide relatively simple descriptions of terrestrial and oceanic net exchange, while fossil fuel and fire emissions are prescribed. Weekly terrestrial sources and sinks are optimized (i.e., a flux inversion) for...

This study tests the ability of five Dynamic Global Vegetation Models (DGVMs), forced with observed climatology and atmospheric CO 2 , to model the contemporary global carbon cycle. The DGVMs are also coupled to a fast ‘climate analogue model’, based on the Hadley Centre General Circulation Model (GCM), and run into the future for four Special Report Emission Scenarios (SRES): A1FI, A2, B1, B2. Results show that all DGVMs are...

Terrestrial ecosystems sequester 2.1 Pg of atmospheric carbon annually. A large amount of the terrestrial sink is realized by forests. However, considerable uncertainties remain regarding the fate of this carbon over both short and long timescales. Relevant data to address these uncertainties are being collected at many sites around the world, but syntheses of these data are still sparse. To facilitate future synthesis activit...

The European CARBOEUROPE/FLUXNET monitoring sites, spatial remote sensing observations via the EOS‐MODIS sensor and ecosystem modelling provide independent and complementary views on the effect of the 2003 heatwave on the European biosphere's productivity and carbon balance. In our analysis, these data streams consistently demonstrate a strong negative anomaly of the primary productivity during the summer of 2003. FLUXNET eddy...