GCEP Energy Seminar: "The Role of Terrestrial Ecosystems in the Global Carbon System"

Dr. Chris Field--Director, Department of Global Ecology

Carnegie Institution of Washington--will address the following: annual emissions of carbon from anthropogenic activities are a small fraction, less than 20%, of the annual uptake and release of carbon by ecosystems on land. While uptake and release of carbon from land ecosystems were historically close to balanced, recent imbalances have substantially modified the link between anthropogenic emissions and atmospheric concentrations. These imbalances are likely to grow in the future, with some processes driving increased net terrestrial uptake and others causing terrestrial ecosystems to become sources. Current uncertainty about terrestrial fluxes over the next century is comparable in magnitude to uncertainty about the magnitude of anthropogenic emissions.