Title: Vegetation, the Global Carbon Cycle, and Global Measures
Abstract:Qualitatively, terrestrial vegetation is known to be an important part of the global carbon cycle. It affects the carbon cycle directly through photosynthesis, respiration, and decay of organic matter...Qualitatively, terrestrial vegetation is known to be an important part of the global carbon cycle. It affects the carbon cycle directly through photosynthesis, respiration, and decay of organic matter; and indirectly by affecting climate. Quantitatively, however, little is known about how vegetation fits into the global carbon budget. Computer models are the primary tools used to assess the functioning of vegetation in the global carbon cycle, but models use poor data and are too simple to give reliable results. The most commonly used estimates of global vegetation reservoir size range between 420 and 830 gigatons of carbon. However, using the most current estimates of carbon density we have calculated a new estimate of 328 gigatons of carbon. This result demonstrates that a concerted effort must be made to systematically measure the biomass of vegetation on a global scale. Until this is done, basic questions such as whether vegetation is a net source or sink of carbon in the global carbon budget will be left unresolved.Read More
Publication Year: 1992
Publication Date: 1992-02-04
Language: en
Type: book-chapter
Indexed In: ['crossref']
Access and Citation
Cited By Count: 4
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