Abstract:

Climate warming has significantly alerted the terrestrial carbon dynamics, resulting in enhanced vegetation productivity, especially in the northern hemisphere. However, most of the prior modeling studies have neglected the effects of nutrient availability, such as the phosphorus limitation, on carbon processes, which potentially leads to an overestimation of the capacity of terrestrial ecosystems to sequester additional carbon. Here, we reviewed recent progress in phosphorus limitation and its interactions with carbon dynamics in the context of climate change, with a focus on the process-based modeling approach. We comparatively analyzed quantitative representations of phosphorus-associated biological processes in some models (i.e., Carnegie-Ames-Stanford Approach (CASA), Community Land Model (CLM), and Jena Scheme for Biosphere-Atmosphere Coupling in Hamburg (JSBACH)), such as photosynthesis and distribution of assimilates, phosphorus uptake by plants, the transformation of phosphorus pools in soil, phosphorus inputs and outputs, etc. We also discussed the key characteristics of these models and summarized the mathematical representations of the terrestrial phosphorus cycle. In addition, we identified and discussed the limitations, uncertainties and future needs in process-based modeling in terms of nutrient and carbon dynamics. Our study highlighted the importance of including phosphorus limitation in regional carbon estimation and provided deep insights related to biogeochemical modeling at broad scales.

Key words: phosphorus limitation, terrestrial ecosystem, carbon cycle, process-based modeling, climate change