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Science 16 June 1995:
Vol. 268. no. 5217, pp. 1606 - 1608
DOI: 10.1126/science.268.5217.1606
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Articles

Plant Growth-Rate Dependence of Detrital Carbon Storage in Ecosystems

Just Cebrián 1 and Carlos M. Duarte 1

1 Centro de Estudios Avanzados de Blanes, Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Cientificas, Camí de Santa Bàrbara s/n, 17300 Blanes, Girona, Spain

Detrital carbon accumulation accounts for most of an ecosystem's capacity to store organic carbon because the carbon contained as plant detritus exceeds that stored in living plants by about threefold. A comparative analysis of the mass and turnover of detrital carbon in ecosystems demonstrates that these properties are strongly related to the turnover rate of the dominant primary producers and are poorly related to ecosystem primary production. These results contribute to an understanding of the factors that control carbon storage in ecosystems and the role of carbon storage in the global carbon budget.

Submitted on September 28, 1994
Accepted on May 10, 1995

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Science. ISSN 0036-8075 (print), 1095-9203 (online)