Incorporating phosphorus cycling into global modeling efforts: a worthwhile, tractable endeavor

Myriad field, laboratory, and modeling studies show that nutrient availability plays a fundamental role in regulating CO2 exchange between the Earth's biosphere and atmosphere, and in determining how carbon pools and fluxes respond to climatic change. Accordingly, global models that incorporate...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:The New phytologist 2015-10, Vol.208 (2), p.324-329
Main Authors: Reed, Sasha C., Yang, Xiaojuan, Thornton, Peter E.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Atmospheric models
Availability
biogeochemistry
Biosphere
Carbon
Carbon cycle
carbon cycling
Carbon dioxide
CARBON-NITROGEN INTERACTIONS
Climate
Climate change
Climate models
CONTEMPORARY PERSPECTIVE
Cycles
Earth system models (ESMs)
ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES
Fluxes
GEOSCIENCES
Internationality
Model testing
Modelling
Models, Biological
Nitrogen cycle
Nutrient availability
nutrient limitation
Phosphorus
phosphorus (P)
Phosphorus - metabolism
Phosphorus cycle
Primary production
SOIL-PHOSPHORUS
Tansley insights
TERRESTRIAL ECOSYSTEMS
Tropical climate
Tropical forests
TROPICAL RAIN-FOREST
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:Myriad field, laboratory, and modeling studies show that nutrient availability plays a fundamental role in regulating CO2 exchange between the Earth's biosphere and atmosphere, and in determining how carbon pools and fluxes respond to climatic change. Accordingly, global models that incorporate coupled climate–carbon cycle feedbacks made a significant advance with the introduction of a prognostic nitrogen cycle. Here we propose that incorporating phosphorus cycling represents an important next step in coupled climate–carbon cycling model development, particularly for lowland tropical forests where phosphorus availability is often presumed to limit primary production. We highlight challenges to including phosphorus in modeling efforts and provide suggestions for how to move forward.
ISSN:0028-646X
1469-8137
DOI:10.1111/nph.13521