This paper discusses the advantages and disadvantages of the different methods that separate net ecosystem exchange (NEE) into its major components, gross ecosystem carbon uptake (GEP) and ecosystem respiration (R-eco). In particular, we analyse the effect of the extrapolation of night-time values of ecosystem respiration into the daytime; this is usually done with a temperature response function that is derived from long-term data sets. For this analysis, we used 16 one-year-long data sets of carbon dioxide exchange measurements from European and US-American eddy covariance networks. These sites span from the boreal to Mediterranean climates, and include deciduous and evergreen forest, scrubland and crop ecosystems. long-term (annual) data sets, does not reflect the short-term temperature sensitivity that is effective when extrapolating from night- to daytime. Specifically, in summer active ecosystems the long-term temperature sensitivity exceeds the short-term sensitivity. Thus, in those ecosystems, the application of a long-term temperature sensitivity to the extrapolation of respiration from night to day leads to a systematic overestimation of ecosystem respiration from half-hourly to annual time-scales, which can reach > 25% for an annual budget and which consequently affects estimates of GEP. Conversely, in summer passive (Mediterranean) ecosystems, the long-term temperature sensitivity is lower than the short-term temperature sensitivity resulting in underestimation of annual sums of respiration. temperature sensitivity of R-eco from eddy covariance data that applies this to the extrapolation from night- to daytime, and that further performs a filling of data gaps that exploits both, the covariance between fluxes and meteorological drivers and the temporal structure of the fluxes. While this algorithm should give less biased estimates of GEP and R-eco, we discuss the remaining biases and recommend that eddy covariance measurements are still backed by ancillary flux measurements that can reduce the uncertainties inherent in the eddy covariance data. [References: 53

Future climate warming is expected to enhance plant growth in temperate ecosystems and to increase carbon sequestration. But although severe regional heatwaves may become more frequent in a changing climate, their impact on terrestrial carbon cycling is unclear. Here we report measurements of ecosystem carbon dioxide fluxes, remotely sensed radiation absorbed by plants, and country-level crop yields taken during the European heatwave in 2003. We use a terrestrial biosphere simulation model to assess continental-scale changes in primary productivity during 2003, and their consequences for the net carbon balance. We estimate a 30 per cent reduction in gross primary productivity over Europe, which resulted in a strong anomalous net source of carbon dioxide (0.5 Pg C yr(-1)) to the atmosphere and reversed the effect of four years of net ecosystem carbon sequestration. Our results suggest that productivity reduction in eastern and western Europe can be explained by rainfall deficit and extreme summer heat, respectively. We also find that ecosystem respiration decreased together with gross primary productivity, rather than accelerating with the temperature rise. Model results, corroborated by historical records of crop yields, suggest that such a reduction in Europe's primary productivity is unprecedented during the last century. An increase in future drought events could turn temperate ecosystems into carbon sources, contributing to positive carbon-climate feedbacks already anticipated in the tropics and at high latitudes.

Old-growth forests remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere at rates that vary with climate and nitrogen deposition. The sequestered carbon dioxide is stored in live woody tissues and slowly decomposing organic matter in litter and soil. Old-growth forests therefore serve as a global carbon dioxide sink, but they are not protected by international treaties, because it is generally thought that ageing forests cease to accumulate carbon. Here we report a search of literature and databases for forest carbon-flux estimates. We find that in forests between 15 and 800 years of age, net ecosystem productivity (the net carbon balance of the forest including soils) is usually positive. Our results demonstrate that old-growth forests can continue to accumulate carbon, contrary to the long-standing view that they are carbon neutral. Over 30 per cent of the global forest area is unmanaged primary forest, and this area contains the remaining old-growth forests. Half of the primary forests (6 x 10(8) hectares) are located in the boreal and temperate regions of the Northern Hemisphere. On the basis of our analysis, these forests alone sequester about 1.3 +/- 0.5 gigatonnes of carbon per year. Thus, our findings suggest that 15 per cent of the global forest area, which is currently not considered when offsetting increasing atmospheric carbon dioxide concentrations, provides at least 10 per cent of the global net ecosystem productivity. Old-growth forests accumulate carbon for centuries and contain large quantities of it. We expect, however, that much of this carbon, even soil carbon, will move back to the atmosphere if these forests are disturbed.

The FLUXNET2015 dataset provides ecosystem-scale data on CO 2 , water, and energy exchange between the biosphere and the atmosphere, and other meteorological and biological measurements, from 212 sites around the globe (over 1500 site-years, up to and including year 2014). These sites, independently managed and operated, voluntarily contributed their data to create global datasets. Data were quality controlled and processed using uniform methods, to improve consistency and intercomparability across sites. The dataset is already being used in a number of applications, including ecophysiology studies, remote sensing studies, and development of ecosystem and Earth system models. FLUXNET2015 includes derived-data products, such as gap-filled time series, ecosystem respiration and photosynthetic uptake estimates, estimation of uncertainties, and metadata about the measurements, presented for the first time in this paper. In addition, 206 of these sites are for the first time distributed under a Creative Commons (CC-BY 4.0) license. This paper details this enhanced dataset and the processing methods, now made available as open-source codes, making the dataset more accessible, transparent, and reproducible.

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The European CARBOEUROPE/FLUXNET monitoring sites, spatial remote sensing observations via the EOS-MODIS sensor and ecosystem modelling provide independent and complementary views on the effect of the 2003 heatwave on the European biosphere's productivity and carbon balance. In our analysis, these data streams consistently demonstrate a strong negative anomaly of the primary productivity during the summer of 2003. FLUXNET eddy-covariance data indicate that the drop in productivity was not primarily caused by high temperatures ('heat stress') but rather by limitation of water (drought stress) and that, contrary to the classical expectation about a heat wave, not only gross primary productivity but also ecosystem respiration declined by up to more than to 80 gC m(-2) month(-1). Anomalies of carbon and water fluxes were strongly correlated. While there are large between-site differences in water-use efficiency (WUE, 1-6 kg C kg(-1) H₂O) here defined as gross carbon uptake divided by evapotranspiration (WUE=GPP/ET), the year-to-year changes in WUE were small (< 1 g kg(-1)) and quite similar for most sites (i.e. WUE decreased during the year of the heatwave). Remote sensing data from MODIS and AVHRR both indicate a strong negative anomaly of the fraction of absorbed photosynthetically active radiation in summer 2003, at more than five standard deviations of the previous years. The spatial differentiation of this anomaly follows climatic and land-use patterns: Largest anomalies occur in the centre of the meteorological anomaly (central Western Europe) and in areas dominated by crops or grassland. A preliminary model intercomparison along a gradient from data-oriented models to process-oriented models indicates that all approaches are similarly describing the spatial pattern of ecosystem sensitivity to the climatic 2003 event with major exceptions in the Alps and parts of Eastern Europe, but differed with respect to their interannual variability. [References: 46

Land management and land-cover change have impacts of similar magnitude on surface temperature" (2014). Papers in Natural Resources. 554.

Half‐hourly measurements of the net exchanges of carbon dioxide and water vapor between terrestrial ecosystems and the atmosphere provide estimates of gross primary production (GPP) and evapotranspiration (ET) at the ecosystem level and on daily to annual timescales. The ratio of these quantities represents ecosystem water use efficiency. Its multiplication with mean daylight vapor pressure deficit (VPD) leads to a quantity which we call “inherent water use efficiency” (IWUE*). The dependence of IWUE* on environmental conditions indicates possible adaptive adjustment of ecosystem physiology in response to a changing environment. IWUE* is analyzed for 43 sites across a range of plant functional types and climatic conditions. IWUE* increases during short‐term moderate drought conditions. Mean annual IWUE* varied by a factor of 3 among all sites. This is partly explained by soil moisture at field capacity, particularly in deciduous broad‐leaved forests. Canopy light interception sets the upper limits to canopy photosynthesis, and explains half the variance in annual IWUE* among herbaceous ecosystems and evergreen needle‐leaved forests. Knowledge of IWUE* offers valuable improvement to the representation of carbon and water coupling in ecosystem process models.