Rising atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2) could alter the carbon (C) and nitrogen (N) content of ecosystems, yet the magnitude of these effects are not well known. We examined C and N budgets of a subtropical woodland after 11\uffc2\uffa0yr of exposure to elevated CO2.
We used open\uffe2\uff80\uff90top chambers to manipulate CO2 during regrowth after fire, and measured C, N and tracer 15N in ecosystem components throughout the experiment.
Elevated CO2 increased plant C and tended to increase plant N but did not significantly increase whole\uffe2\uff80\uff90system C or N. Elevated CO2 increased soil microbial activity and labile soil C, but more slowly cycling soil C pools tended to decline. Recovery of a long\uffe2\uff80\uff90term 15N tracer indicated that CO2 exposure increased N losses and altered N distribution, with no effect on N inputs.
Increased plant C accrual was accompanied by higher soil microbial activity and increased C losses from soil, yielding no statistically detectable effect of elevated CO2 on net ecosystem C uptake. These findings challenge the treatment of terrestrial ecosystems responses to elevated CO2 in current biogeochemical models, where the effect of elevated CO2 on ecosystem C balance is described as enhanced photosynthesis and plant growth with decomposition as a first\uffe2\uff80\uff90order response.
", "keywords": ["Soil organic matter", "Long term experiment", "Elevated atmospheric CO2", "Florida scrub oak", "Scrub oak", "Research", "Plant Sciences", "Aboveground biomass", "Plant Biology", "Microbial communities", "04 agricultural and veterinary sciences", "Carbon Cycling", "15. Life on land", "Forest productivity", "Soil carbon", "Rhizosphere processes", "Terrestrial ecosystems", "Dioxide enrichment", "13. Climate action", "0401 agriculture", " forestry", " and fisheries", "Elevated CO2", "Climate feedbacks", "Global change", "Subtropical woodland", "Nitrogen cycling"]}, "links": [{"href": "https://digitalcommons.odu.edu/context/biology_fac_pubs/article/1264/viewcontent/Day2013CumulativeResponseofEcosystemCarbonandNitrogenOCR.pdf"}, {"href": "https://doi.org/10.1111/nph.12333"}, {"rel": "related", "href": "https://repository.soilwise-he.eu/cat/collections/metadata:main/items/New%20Phytologist", "name": "related record", "description": "related record", "type": "application/json"}, {"rel": "self", "type": "application/geo+json", "title": "10.1111/nph.12333", "name": "item", "description": "10.1111/nph.12333", "href": "https://repository.soilwise-he.eu/cat/collections/metadata:main/items/10.1111/nph.12333"}, {"rel": "collection", "type": "application/json", "title": "Collection", "name": "collection", "description": "Collection", "href": "https://repository.soilwise-he.eu/cat/collections/metadata:main"}], "time": {"date": "2013-05-30T00:00:00Z"}}, {"id": "10.1111/nph.12409", "type": "Feature", "geometry": null, "properties": {"updated": "2026-07-26T16:18:56Z", "type": "Journal Article", "created": "2013-07-22", "title": "Fire, Hurricane And Carbon Dioxide: Effects On Net Primary Production Of A Subtropical Woodland", "description": "Summary
Disturbance affects most terrestrial ecosystems and has the potential to shape their responses to chronic environmental change.
Scrub\uffe2\uff80\uff90oak vegetation regenerating from fire disturbance in subtropical Florida was exposed to experimentally elevated carbon dioxide (CO2) concentration (+350\uffc2\uffa0\uffce\uffbcl\uffc2\uffa0l\uffe2\uff88\uff921) using open\uffe2\uff80\uff90top chambers for 11\uffc2\uffa0yr, punctuated by hurricane disturbance in year 8. Here, we report the effects of elevated CO2 on aboveground and belowground net primary productivity (NPP) and nitrogen (N) cycling during this experiment.
The stimulation of NPP and N uptake by elevated CO2 peaked within 2\uffc2\uffa0yr after disturbance by fire and hurricane, when soil nutrient availability was high. The stimulation subsequently declined and disappeared, coincident with low soil nutrient availability and with a CO2\uffe2\uff80\uff90induced reduction in the N concentration of oak stems.
These findings show that strong growth responses to elevated CO2 can be transient, are consistent with a progressively limited response to elevated CO2 interrupted by disturbance, and illustrate the importance of biogeochemical responses to extreme events in modulating ecosystem responses to global environmental change.
", "keywords": ["0106 biological sciences", "NITROGEN-USE EFFICIENCY", "Scrub oak ecosystem", "01 natural sciences", "Trees", "Quercus", "Soil", "nitrogen cycling", "oak woodland", "ECOSYSTEMS", "Global environmental change", "Biomass", "ROOT BIOMASS", "disturbance", "Florida scrub", "elevated CO2", "Elevated atmospheric CO2", "Plant Stems", "Cyclonic Storms", "Aboveground biomass", "FOREST PRODUCTIVITY", "Hurricane", "04 agricultural and veterinary sciences", "Nitrogen Cycle", "Fire", "Soil carbon", "LONG-TERM EXPOSURE", "Net primary productivity", "Long term exposure", "Florida", "Elevated CO2", "fire", "FLORIDA SCRUB", "ABOVEGROUND BIOMASS", "Nitrogen cycling", "TERRESTRIAL", "Oak woodland", "ELEVATED ATMOSPHERIC CO2", "Elevated CO 2", "Nitrogen", "hurricane", "Forest productivity", "Fires", "Terrestrial ecosystems", "SCRUB-OAK ECOSYSTEM", "Net primary productivity (NPP)", "Ecosystem", "Nitrogen use efficiency", "Atmosphere", "net primary productivity (NPP)", "Root biomass", "Plant Sciences", "global environmental change", "Disturbance", "Carbon Dioxide", "15. Life on land", "13. Climate action", "0401 agriculture", " forestry", " and fisheries", "SOIL CARBON"]}, "links": [{"href": "https://digitalcommons.odu.edu/context/biology_fac_pubs/article/1266/viewcontent/Day2013FireHurricaneandCarbonDioxideOCR.pdf"}, {"href": "https://doi.org/10.1111/nph.12409"}, {"rel": "related", "href": "https://repository.soilwise-he.eu/cat/collections/metadata:main/items/New%20Phytologist", "name": "related record", "description": "related record", "type": "application/json"}, {"rel": "self", "type": "application/geo+json", "title": "10.1111/nph.12409", "name": "item", "description": "10.1111/nph.12409", "href": "https://repository.soilwise-he.eu/cat/collections/metadata:main/items/10.1111/nph.12409"}, {"rel": "collection", "type": "application/json", "title": "Collection", "name": "collection", "description": "Collection", "href": "https://repository.soilwise-he.eu/cat/collections/metadata:main"}], "time": {"date": "2013-07-22T00:00:00Z"}}], "links": [{"rel": "self", "type": "application/geo+json", "title": "This document as GeoJSON", "href": "https://repository.soilwise-he.eu/cat/collections/metadata:main/items?keywords=Scrub+oak&f=json", "hreflang": "en-US"}, {"rel": "alternate", "type": "text/html", "title": "This document as HTML", "href": "https://repository.soilwise-he.eu/cat/collections/metadata:main/items?keywords=Scrub+oak&f=html", "hreflang": "en-US"}, {"rel": "collection", "type": "application/json", "title": "Collection URL", "href": "https://repository.soilwise-he.eu/cat/collections/metadata:main", "hreflang": "en-US"}, {"type": "application/geo+json", "rel": "first", "title": "items (first)", "href": "https://repository.soilwise-he.eu/cat/collections/metadata:main/items?keywords=Scrub+oak&", "hreflang": "en-US"}, {"rel": "last", "type": "application/geo+json", "title": "items (last)", "href": "https://repository.soilwise-he.eu/cat/collections/metadata:main/items?keywords=Scrub+oak&offset=2", "hreflang": "en-US"}], "numberMatched": 2, "numberReturned": 2, "distributedFeatures": [], "timeStamp": "2026-07-27T04:00:38.615098Z"}