Open AccessEffects of tropospheric ozone pollution on net primary productivity and carbon storage in terrestrial ecosystems of China
Author(s) -
Ren Wei,
Tian Hanqin,
Liu Mingliang,
Zhang Chi,
Chen Guangsheng,
Pan Shufen,
Felzer Benjamin,
Xu Xiaofeng
Publication year - 2007
Publication title -
journal of geophysical research: atmospheres
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.67
H-Index - 298
eISSN - 2156-2202
pISSN - 0148-0227
DOI - 10.1029/2007jd008521
Subject(s) - primary production , environmental science , terrestrial ecosystem , tropospheric ozone , ecosystem , atmospheric sciences , carbon cycle , carbon sequestration , ozone , climate change , productivity , greenhouse gas , troposphere , ecology , meteorology , carbon dioxide , geography , macroeconomics , economics , biology , geology
We investigated the potential effects of elevated ozone (O 3 ) along with climate variability, increasing CO 2 , and land use change on net primary productivity (NPP) and carbon storage in China's terrestrial ecosystems for the period 1961–2000 with a process‐based Dynamic Land Ecosystem Model (DLEM) forced by the gridded data of historical tropospheric O 3 and other environmental factors. The simulated results showed that elevated O 3 could result in a mean 4.5% reduction in NPP and 0.9% reduction in total carbon storage nationwide from 1961 to 2000. The reduction of carbon storage varied from 0.1 Tg C to 312 Tg C (a decreased rate ranging from 0.2% to 6.9%) among plant functional types. The effects of tropospheric O 3 on NPP were strongest in east‐central China. Significant reductions in NPP occurred in northeastern and central China where a large proportion of cropland is distributed. The O 3 effects on carbon fluxes and storage are dependent upon other environmental factors. Therefore direct and indirect effects of O 3 , as well as interactive effects with other environmental factors, should be taken into account in order to accurately assess the regional carbon budget in China. The results showed that the adverse influences of increasing O 3 concentration across China on NPP could be an important disturbance factor on carbon storage in the near future, and the improvement of air quality in China could enhance the capability of China's terrestrial ecosystems to sequester more atmospheric CO 2 . Our estimation of O 3 impacts on NPP and carbon storage in China, however, must be used with caution because of the limitation of historical tropospheric O 3 data and other uncertainties associated with model parameters and field experiments.