Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons^™

What Controls Variation In Carbon Use Efficiency Among Amazonian Tropical Forests?, Christopher E. Doughty, Gregory R. Goldsmith, Nicolas Raab, Cecile A. J. Girardin, Filio Farfan-Amezquita, Walter Huaraca-Huasco, Javier E. Silva-Espejo, Alejandro Araujo-Murakami, Antonio C. L. Da Costa, Wanderley Rocha, David Galbraith, Patrick Meir, Dan B. Metcalfe, Yadvinder Malhi

Biology, Chemistry, and Environmental Sciences Faculty Articles and Research

Why do some forests produce biomass more efficiently than others? Variations in Carbon Use Efficiency (CUE: total Net Primary Production (NPP)/ Gross Primary Production (GPP)) may be due to changes in wood residence time (Biomass/NPP_wood), temperature, or soil nutrient status. We tested these hypotheses in 14, one ha plots across Amazonian and Andean forests where we measured most key components of net primary production (NPP: wood, fine roots, and leaves) and autotrophic respiration (R_a; wood, rhizosphere, and leaf respiration). We found that lower fertility sites were less efficient at producing biomass and had higher rhizosphere respiration, …