Responses of biomass allocation to multi-factor global change: A global synthesis

Abstract

Knowledge of plant aboveground and belowground biomass (AGB and BGB) allocation is fundamental for our understanding of terrestrial carbon sequestration in a changing climate. However, how multiple global change factors interactively affect biomass allocation in terrestrial ecosystems remains unclear. We used meta-analysis to synthesize main and interactive effects of global change factors on AGB, BGB, and root/shoot based on 129 multiple-factor studies. Elevated CO2 (E), nitrogen addition (N), warming (W), irrigation (I) and their combinations (EN, EW, NW, ENW, IE, IN, IW, IEN, INW and IENW) significantly increased AGB. However only half of the treatments (i.e., E, N, W, EN, EW, NW, IE and IW) stimulated BGB, leading to significant declines of root/shoot in treatments with I and/or N. Drought (D) significantly decreased both total biomass (14%) and AGB (47%), but increased root/shoot by 21% as well as DE and DW. Additive interactions between global change factors exhibited a predominance on both plant biomass (69.0%) and biomass allocation (64.8%). The proportion of synergistic interaction in AGB’s responses to multiple global change factors was greater relative to that in BGB. Response correlation between AGB and root/shoot was observed in woody plants, while, in herbaceous ones, we found the correlation between BGB and root/shoot. Our findings highlight the importance of the interactive effects among global change factors on biomass allocation. Incorporating these interactions into global vegetation models may improve predictions of future global carbon storage and could inform sustainable strategies for grassland and plantation management in a future climate.