Imperial College London
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Professor Iain Colin Prentice

Faculty of Natural Sciences, Department of Life Sciences (Silwood Park)

Chair in Biosphere and Climate Impacts
 
 
 
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Contact

 

+44 (0)20 7594 2482c.prentice

 
 
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Location

 

2.3Centre for Population BiologySilwood Park

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Summary

 

Publications

Citation

BibTex format

@article{Xu-Ri and Prentice:2017:10.5194/bg-14-2003-2017,
author = {Xu-Ri and Prentice, IC},
doi = {10.5194/bg-14-2003-2017},
journal = {Biogeosciences},
pages = {2003--2017},
title = {Modelling the demand for new nitrogen fixation by terrestrial ecosystems},
url = {http://dx.doi.org/10.5194/bg-14-2003-2017},
volume = {14},
year = {2017}
}
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RIS format (EndNote, RefMan)

TY  - JOUR
AB  - Continual input of reactive nitrogen (N) is requiredto support the natural turnover of N in terrestrial ecosystems.This “N demand” can be satisfied in various ways, includingbiological N fixation (BNF) (the dominant pathway undernatural conditions), lightning-induced abiotic N fixation, Nuptake from sedimentary substrates, and N deposition fromnatural and anthropogenic sources. We estimated the globalnew N fixation demand (NNF), i.e. the total new N inputrequired to sustain net primary production (NPP) in nonagriculturalterrestrial ecosystems regardless of its origin,using a N-enabled global dynamic vegetation model (DyNLPJ).DyN-LPJ does not explicitly simulate BNF; rather, itestimates total NNF using a mass balance criterion and assumesthat this demand is met from one source or another.The model was run in steady state and then in transient modedriven by recent changes in CO2 concentration and climate.A range of values for key stoichiometric parameters was considered,based on recently published analyses. Modelled NPPand C : N ratios of litter and soil organic matter were consistentwith independent estimates. Modelled geographic patternsof ecosystem NNF were similar to other analyses, butactual estimated values exceeded recent estimates of globalBNF. The results were sensitive to a few key parameters: thefraction of litter carbon respired to CO2 during decompositionand plant-type-specific C : N ratios of litter and soil. Themodelled annual NNF increased by about 15 % during thecourse of the transient run, mainly due to increasing CO2concentration. The model did not overestimate recent terrestrialcarbon uptake, suggesting that the increase in NNF demandhas so far been met. Rising CO2 is further increasingthe NNF demand, while the future capacity of N sources tosupport this is unknown.
AU  - Xu-Ri
AU  - Prentice,IC
DO  - 10.5194/bg-14-2003-2017
EP  - 2017
PY  - 2017///
SN  - 1726-4170
SP  - 2003
TI  - Modelling the demand for new nitrogen fixation by terrestrial ecosystems
T2  - Biogeosciences
UR  - http://dx.doi.org/10.5194/bg-14-2003-2017
UR  - http://hdl.handle.net/10044/1/54664
VL  - 14
ER  -
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