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 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...

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 growth rate of atmospheric CO 2 exhibits large temporal variation that is largely determined by year‐to‐year fluctuations in land–atmosphere CO 2 fluxes. This land–atmosphere CO 2 ‐flux is driven by large‐scale biomass burning and variation in net ecosystem exchange (NEE). Between‐ and within years, NEE varies due to fluctuations in climate. Studies on climatic influences on inter‐ and intra‐annual variability in gross pho...