The carbon-nutrient balance hypothesis (CNBH) is one of a number of approaches to understanding patterns of resource allocation in plants. Numerous empirical tests of the CNBH’s predictions have led to certain key refinements and to the recognition that some of the simplifications inherent in the model limit its utility. However, as long as the model is applied to compounds with large pools, an...

1 Departement of Forest Science and Environment, University of Tuscia, Via San Camillo de Lellis, 01100 Viterbo, Italy 2 Max Planck Institute for Biogeochemistry, Hans Knoll Str. 10, 07745, Jena, Germany 3 Sukachev Insitute of Forest, SB-RAS, Akademgorodok, Krasnoyarsk, 660036, Russia Received: 30 October 2006 – Accepted: 5 December 2006 – Published: 29 January 2007 Correspondence to: L. Belell...

Major role of marine vegetation on the oceanic carbon cycle C. M. Duarte, J. J. Middelburg, and N. Caraco IMEDEA (CSIC-UIB), Grupo de Oceanograf́ıa Interdisciplinar, C/ Miquel Marqués 21, 07190 Esporles (Islas Baleares), Spain Netherlands Institute of Ecology (NIOO-KNAW), P.O. Box 140, 4400 AC Yerseke, The Netherlands Institute of Ecosystem Studies, Box AB, Millbrook, NY12545, USA Received: 10 S...

Effects of drought – altered seasonality and low rainfall – in net ecosystem carbon exchange of three contrasting Mediterranean ecosystems J. S. Pereira, J. A. Mateus, L. M. Aires, G. Pita, C. Pio, V. Andrade, J. Banza, T. S. David, A. Rodrigues, and J. S. David Instituto Superior de Agronomia, Universidade Técnica de Lisboa, Tapada da Ajuda, 1349-017 Lisboa, Portugal Instituto Superior Técnico...

A carbon mass balance methodology employing minimal measurements was applied to heterotrophic and photoheterotrophic marine bacteria grown under constant dilution and exposed to 12-h intervals of light or darkness. Carbon mass balance calculations using measurements taken every 3 h closed to within 93-103% using dissolved organic carbon, biomass carbon and CO2 production data only, indicating t...

In plants, carbon source-sink relationships are assumed to affect their reproductive effort. In fruit trees, carbon source-sink relationships are likely to be involved in their fruiting behavior. In apple, a large variability in fruiting behaviors exists, from regular to biennial, which has been related to the within-tree synchronization vs desynchronization of floral induction in buds. In this...

The African continent contributes one of the largest uncertainties to the global CO(2) budget, because very few long-term measurements are carried out in this region. The contribution of Africa to the global carbon cycle is characterized by its low fossil fuel emissions, a rapidly increasing population causing cropland expansion, and degradation and deforestation risk to extensive dryland and s...

In temperate forests of the eastern US, tropical cyclones are a principal agent of catastrophic wind damage, with dramatic impacts on the structure and functioning of forests. Substantial progress has been made to quantify forest damage and resulting gross carbon emissions from tropical cyclones. However, the net effect of storms on the carbon balance of forests depends not only on the biomass ...

Introduction: The varying amount of airborne dust particles observed at high latitudes directly affects the polar energy balance of Mars [1]. The behavior of aerosols above the south polar cap differs from that seen in equatorial and mid-latitude regions ([2], [3], [4]). It can however not be determined by classical thermal infrared methods of optical depth retrieval as the thermal contrast bet...

Stomatal responses to atmospheric change have been well documented through a range of laboratory- and field-based experiments. Increases in atmospheric concentration of CO(2) ([CO(2)]) have been shown to decrease stomatal conductance (g(s)) for a wide range of species under numerous conditions. Less well understood, however, is the extent to which leaf-level responses translate to changes in ec...