Homeostatic Adjustment of Loblolly Pine to CO2 Enrichment

We found that exposure of an intact pine forest (Duke FACTS1 experiment) to an increase in atmospheric CO2 of 200 ul(sup -1) operating through a sustained increase of photosynthesis, caused a 27% increase in net primary production and a 41% stimulation in net ecosystem production. A stimulation of this magnitude would store ~10% of the fossil fuel CO2 in the atmosphere by the year 2050. This series of physiological measurements provided new insights into processes regulating the forest carbon cycle under elevated CO2. Combined with ongoing measurements of tree growth data from this research contributes to a dynamic forest carbon budget that provides a benchmark for other modeling and empirical studies