Constructing a seasonal carbon balance for a forest ecosystem

Abstract

Process based models of carbon dynamics in temperate forest ecosystems are often limited by inadequate data and/or model structures dealing with whole canopy physiology of mature trees, carbon allocation below-ground, and phenology and control of growth processes (carbon allocation). However, forest simulation models are useful tools for scaling up the integrating diverse field measurements, and evaluating complex hypotheses. As an example of this approach, we compared the pattern of carbon exchange of a pine forest in north Florida (USA) with the tropospheric CO2 concentration (measured at Mauna Loa, Hawaii, USA) over 2 yr. Daily ecosystem carbon gain and loss were largely in phase. Seasonal net ecosystem fluxes were smaller than observed for forests at higher latitudes and were poorly correlated with deviations in atmospheric carbon dioxide concentrations. -Authors