Biosphere Modeling

Tracy Twine
 Why?
• How will
– Land use / land cover change
– Climate variability
– Increases in atmospheric CO2
affect structure and functioning of
ecosystems (natural and managed)
• Food, water, timber, fiber resources
• Feedbacks to climate
 History
• Land surface models
• Biogeography models
• Terrestrial biogeochemistry models
 Land Surface Models
• 1980s (BATS-Dickinson, SiB-Sellers,
LSX-Pollard and Thompson, LSM-Bonan)
• Used in atmospheric general circulation
models to represent biophysical interactions
between land surface and atmosphere
• Energy, water, momentum of soil-
vegetation-atmosphere system
• Global
• Prescribed vegetation and soil
characteristics
 Biogeography Models
• Early 1990s (BIOME-Prentice, MAPSS-
Neilson and Marks)
• Simulate global vegetation patterns
• How may differ with different climate
regimes
 Terrestrial Biogeochemistry
Models
• Early 1990s (CENTURY-Parton, BGC-
Running and Hunt)
• Simulate flow of carbon and mineral
nutrients within and between vegetation,
detritus, and soil organic matter pools
• Prescribed vegetation and soil
characteristics
 Foley et al. (1996) proposed:
• Combining all previous ‘generations’ of
models to simulate full range of
dynamic behavior of ecosystems
• Dynamic global vegetation models
(DGVMs)
• Birth of Integrated BIosphere Simulator
(IBIS)
 Atmospheric Forcing

Gross photosynthesis
Canopy respiration Carbon Balance Module

Land Surface Module δt = 1 year

Annual carbon balance

δt = 60 minutes Vegetation Dynamics Module

δt = 1 year
Temperature
Daily LAI Net photosynthesis
Vegetation structure
and biomass
Vegetation Phenology Module

δt = 1 day

IBIS 1.0
 IBIS Plant Functional Types
TREE SHRUB/GRASS/CROP
• Tropical broadleaf evergreen • Evergreen shrub
• Tropical broadleaf drought- • Cold-deciduous shrub
deciduous • Cool grass (C3 pathway)
• Temperate broadleaf • Warm grass (C4)
evergreen • United States
• Temperate conifer evergreen – Corn
• Temperate broadleaf cold- – Soybean
deciduous – Spring wheat
• Boreal conifer evergreen – Winter wheat
• Boreal broadleaf cold-
deciduous
• Boreal conifer cold-
deciduous
•Energy balance: Rn = H + LE + G
Rn = (1-albedo) Visible + IRdown - IRup

•Water balance: Precipitation = Evapotranspiration - Runoff - Drainage + ∆W / ∆t

sensible
Visible heat flux (H) precipitation(P)
IR

latent heat flux (LE)

Evapotranspiration (E)

surface runoff (RF)

Soil heat flux (G)

sub-surface drainage
What is Atmospheric Forcing?
• If not coupled to GCM, must input
climate data
– Air temperature
– Precipitation
– Cloud cover
– Relative humidity or vapor pressure
– Wind speed at reference height
• Stochastic weather ‘generator’
Foley et al. (1996)

Cogley (1991)
 Canopy Physiology
• Do for a leaf at top of canopy and scale
into canopy according to radiation
absorbed within canopy
• Ag - Gross photosynthesis based on
limiting factors of
– Light
– Rubisco enzyme
– Carbon dioxide (low level) limited rate (C4)
 Canopy Physiology
• Different parameters for broadleaf, conifer,
and C4 grass (temperature dependent)
• Rleaf - Leaf respiration simulated (function of
Rubisco)
• Also maintenance respiration of stems and
fine roots (function of biomass and
temperature)
• An = Ag – Rleaf – Rstem – Rroot
 Canopy Physiology
• Stomatal conductance of water vapor
is function of net photosynthesis, CO2
concentration and relative humidity at
leaf surface (also scaled to canopy)
• Moisture stress factor (ranges 0 to 1)
may limit photosynthesis
LAI (Leaf Area Index)
 Veg. Growth and Dynamics
• Net Primary Production found each time
step and summed over year for annual
carbon balance
NPP = sum(Ag – Rleaf – Rstem – Rroot)
• Plants compete for light and water resources
(upper versus lower)—not yet nutrients!
• And carbon within layer (phenology, leaf
form, and pathway)
• Carbon allocated to biomass pools (leaves,
stems, roots) with different residence
(turnover) times—constant ratios among
trees and shrubs/grasses
 rt
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Figure 4
1

0
1.6

1.4

1.2

0.8

0.6

0.4

0.2
NPP (kg C/m^2/yr)
 IBIS Soil Biogeochemistry Submodel
(roots 60, leaves 40, wood 200)
C:N Litter Pools (above and belowground)
Turnover ~ days to weeks (k value)
DPM - decomposable plant material (C/N ~ 6)
SPM - Structural plant material (C/N ~ 100)
RPM - Resistant (lignin) plant material (C/N ~ 150)

Microbial Biomass (labile)

Turnover ~ weeks - months (k value)
C/N ~ 8-10

Slow C Pools (POM/NOM)

Turnover ~ 10-20 years (k value)
C/N ~ 10-12

Passive C Pools (stabilized/recalcitrant)

C Mineralized/CO2 Released Turnover ~ 100s-1000s of years (k value)
C/N ~ 10-12
N Immobilized/Mineralized
Litterfall for natural vegetation
Spread evenly (daily) across entire year

Adapted from Kucharik et al., 2000 - Global Biogeochemical Cycles

 A few other notes about the
biogeochemistry model…
• K values (decomposition constants) are modified by soil temperature
(Lloyd & Taylor, 1994) and moisture (Linn and Doran, 1984); which
influence microbial activity
– Aboveground litter pool - surface layer
– All other soil C pools by weighted average soil temperature and moisture (by root
profile)
• We do not explicitly simulate soil C & N as a function of soil layer

• Current leaching values of DOC are more of a “fudge” so that C does

not build up exponentially in soils

• Classes of microbes are not simulated; the are assumed to all behave
similarly to soil T and moisture regardless of geographic position
IGBP-DIS
 Mississippi Basin - Agriculture

Hypoxia

SeaWIFS Data

Landcover
Water
Forest
Shrubland
Savanna / Grassland
Cropland
Cropland / Natural Vegetation Mosaic
Other Land
N Fertilizer applications = Gulf Hypoxia

1950 1992

N-fertilizer (kg ha-1 yr-1)

5 10 20 40 60 80 100

From Donner et al., 2004 GBC

 30% decrease in maize N-fertilizer 30% increase in maize N-fertilizer
10% mean decrease 4% mean increase

Maize yield

Percent Change Percent Change

-16 -12 -8 -4 0 0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16

37% mean decrease 53% mean increase

DIN leaching

Donner and Kucharik (2003)

Percent (%) Change Percent (%) Change

-80 -60 -40 -20 0 0 10 30 50 70 90

 Upper Mississippi Basin: Tradeoff for high yield

Nitrate export: Mississippi River at Clinton, IA

200000 1993
USGS Estimated
Simulated
160000
Nitrate export (ton yr-1)

120000 Flood
80000

40000
r2 = 0.81 1988
0
1972 1976 1980 1984 1988 1992 1996

Drought kg ha-1

0 10 20 30 40 50 60

Leaching rate
From S. Donner and C.J. Kucharik, 2003 GBC
 Future
• Trend toward higher resolution
– Less global, more regional—hot spots
• IBIS for Amazon, Africa, northern
Wisconsin, vegetation emissions
• Ready to examine possible climate
change scenarios