Note to users. If you're seeing this message, it means that your browser cannot find this page's style/presentation instructions -- or possibly that you are using a browser that does not support current Web standards. Find out more about why this message is appearing, and what you can do to make your experience of our site the best it can be.

Science 14 January 1994:
Vol. 263. no. 5144, pp. 185 - 190
DOI: 10.1126/science.263.5144.185
Prev | Table of Contents | Next

Articles

Carbon Pools and Flux of Global Forest Ecosystems

R. K. Dixon 1, A. M. Solomon 1, S. Brown 2, R. A. Houghton 3, M. C. Trexier 4, and J. Wisniewski 5

1 Global Change Research Program, Environmental Research Laboratory, Environmental Protection Agency, Corvallis, OR 97333
2 Department of Forestry, University of Illinois, Urbana, IL 61801
3 Woods Hole Research Center, Woods Hole, MA 02543
4 Trexler and Associates, Inc., Oak Grove, OR 97267
5 Wisniewski and Associates, Inc., Falls Church, VA 22043

Forest systems cover more than 4.1 x 109 hectares of the Earth's land area. Globally, forest vegetation and soils contain about 1146 petagrams of carbon, with approximately 37 percent of this carbon in low-latitude forests, 14 percent in mid-latitudes, and 49 percent at high latitudes. Over two-thirds of the carbon in forest ecosystems is contained in soils and associated peat deposits. In 1990, deforestation in the low latitudes emitted 1.6 ± 0.4 petagrams of carbon per year, whereas forest area expansion and growth in mid- and high-latitude forest sequestered 0.7 ± 0.2 petagrams of carbon per year, for a net flux to the atmosphere of 0.9 ± 0.4 petagrams of carbon per year. Slowing deforestation, combined with an increase in forestation and other management measures to improve forest ecosystem productivity, could conserve or sequester significant quantities of carbon. Future forest carbon cycling trends attributable to losses and regrowth associated with global climate and land-use change are uncertain. Model projections and some results suggest that forests could be carbon sinks or sources in the future.


THIS ARTICLE HAS BEEN CITED BY OTHER ARTICLES:
Controls on the Spatial Patterns of Carbon and Nitrogen in Adirondack Forest Soils along a Gradient of Nitrogen Deposition.
J. E. Bedison and A. H. Johnson (2009)
Soil Sci. Soc. Am. J. 73, 2105-2117
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Radial growth response of black spruce roots and stems to commercial thinning in the boreal forest.
M. Vincent, C. Krause, and S. Y. Zhang (2009)
Forestry
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Historical forest baselines reveal potential for continued carbon sequestration.
J. M. Rhemtulla, D. J. Mladenoff, and M. K. Clayton (2009)
PNAS 106, 6082-6087
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Avoided Deforestation as a Greenhouse Gas Mitigation Tool: Economic Issues.
B. Sohngen, R. H. Beach, and K. Andrasko (2008)
J. Environ. Qual. 37, 1368-1375
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Weak Northern and Strong Tropical Land Carbon Uptake from Vertical Profiles of Atmospheric CO2.
B. B. Stephens, K. R. Gurney, P. P. Tans, C. Sweeney, W. Peters, L. Bruhwiler, P. Ciais, M. Ramonet, P. Bousquet, T. Nakazawa, et al. (2007)
Science 316, 1732-1735
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Development of a large area biodiversity monitoring system driven by remote sensing.
D. C. Duro, N. C. Coops, M. A. Wulder, and T. Han (2007)
Progress in Physical Geography 31, 235-260
   Abstract »    PDF »
Long-Term Soil Experiments: Keys to Managing Earth's Rapidly Changing Ecosystems.
D. deB. Richter Jr., M. Hofmockel, M. A. Callaham Jr., D. S. Powlson, and P. Smith (2007)
Soil Sci. Soc. Am. J. 71, 266-279
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Adaptation of the Biological Simulation Model MAESTRA for Use in a Generic User Interface.
W. L. Bauerle, D. J. Timlin, Y. A. Pachepsky, and S. Anantharamu (2006)
Agron. J. 98, 220-228
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Prediction of Soil Organic Carbon across Different Land-use Patterns: A Neural Network Approach.
S. Somaratne, G. Seneviratne, and U. Coomaraswamy (2005)
Soil Sci. Soc. Am. J. 69, 1580-1589
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Ecosystem process models at multiple scales for mapping tropical forest productivity.
J. M. Nightingale, S. R. Phinn, and A. A. Held (2004)
Progress in Physical Geography 28, 241-281
   Abstract »    PDF »
Tracking the ecological overshoot of the human economy.
M. Wackernagel, N. B. Schulz, D. Deumling, A. C. Linares, M. Jenkins, V. Kapos, C. Monfreda, J. Loh, N. Myers, R. Norgaard, et al. (2002)
PNAS 99, 9266-9271
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Organic carbon fluxes to the ocean from high-standing islands.
W. B. Lyons, C. A. Nezat, A. E. Carey, and D. M. Hicks (2002)
Geology 30, 443-446
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Changes in Forest Biomass Carbon Storage in China Between 1949 and 1998.
J. Fang, A. Chen, C. Peng, S. Zhao, and L. Ci (2001)
Science 292, 2320-2322
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Contributions of Land-Use History to Carbon Accumulation in U.S. Forests.
J. P. Caspersen, S. W. Pacala, J. C. Jenkins, G. C. Hurtt, P. R. Moorcroft, and R. A. Birdsey (2000)
Science 290, 1148-1151
   Abstract »    Full Text »
Use of Carbon-13 and Carbon-14 to Measure the Effects of Carbon Dioxide and Nitrogen Fertilization on Carbon Dynamics in Ponderosa Pine.
S. Haile-Mariam, W. Cheng, D.W. Johnson, J.T. Ball, and E.A. Paul (2000)
Soil Sci. Soc. Am. J. 64, 1984-1993
   Abstract »    Full Text »
Carbon Distribution in Subalpine Forests and Meadows of the Olympic Mountains, Washington.
S. J. Prichard, D. L. Peterson, and R.D. Hammer (2000)
Soil Sci. Soc. Am. J. 64, 1834-1845
   Abstract »    Full Text »
North American Carbon Sink.
E. A. Holland, S. Brown;, C. S. Potter, S. A. Klooster;, S. Fan, M. Gloor, J. Mahlman, S. Pacala, J. Sarmiento, T. Takahashi, et al. (1999)
Science 283, 1815a-1815
   Full Text »
Drought-induced shift of a forest-woodland ecotone: Rapid landscape response to climate variation.
C. D. Allen and D. D. Breshears (1998)
PNAS 95, 14839-14842
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Changes in the Carbon Balance of Tropical Forests: Evidence from Long-Term Plots.
O. L. Phillips, Y. Malhi, N. Higuchi, W. F. Laurance, P. V. Núñez, R. M. Vásquez, S. G. Laurance, L. V. Ferreira, M. Stern, S. Brown, et al. (1998)
Science 282, 439-442
   Abstract »    Full Text »
Sensitivity of Boreal Forest Carbon Balance to Soil Thaw.
M. L. Goulden, S. C. Wofsy, J. W. Harden, S. E. Trumbore, P. M. Crill, S. T. Gower, T. Fries, B. C. Daube, S. Fan, D. J. Sutton, et al. (1998)
Science 279, 214-217
   Abstract »    Full Text »
Modelling and monitoring land-cover change processes in tropical regions.
E. F. Lambin (1997)
Progress in Physical Geography 21, 375-393
   Abstract »    PDF »
A Large Northern Hemisphere Terrestrial CO2 Sink Indicated by the 13C/12C Ratio of Atmospheric CO2.
P. Ciais, P. P. Tans, M. Trolier, J. W. C. White, and R. J. Francey (1995)
Science 269, 1098-1102
   Abstract »    PDF »
Plant Growth-Rate Dependence of Detrital Carbon Storage in Ecosystems.
J. Cebrian and C. M. Duarte (1995)
Science 268, 1606-1608
   Abstract »    PDF »
Tropical rain forests.
D.M.J.S. Bowman (1994)
Progress in Physical Geography 18, 575-581
   PDF »


To Advertise     Find Products

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