Water and Carbon Fluxes in Ecosystems

Abstract

The nature and functioning of ecosystems is analysed in terms of carbon and water fluxes, with the aim of examining the feasibility of constructing a model to predict the response of ecosystems to perturbations. The difficulties involved in applying a model derived for one ecosystem to predict the carbon and water fluxes of a similar but not identical system, eg different forest types, are discussed. It is concluded that while construction of models to predict the response of simple crop ecosystems to varying C02 and H20 inputs may be possible, reliable predictions of the response of complex, natural ecosystems to perturbations are unlikely.