Influence of multiple global change drivers on terrestrial carbon storage: additive effects are common.

ABSTRACT

The interactive effects of multiple global change drivers on terrestrial carbon (C) storage remain poorly understood. Here, we synthesise data from 633 published studies to show how the interactive effects of multiple drivers are generally additive (i.e. not differing from the sum of their individual effects) rather than synergistic or antagonistic. We further show that (1) elevated CO2 , warming, N addition, P addition and increased rainfall, all exerted positive individual effects on plant C pools at both single-plant and plant-community levels; (2) plant C pool responses to individual or combined effects of multiple drivers are seldom scale-dependent (i.e. not differing from single-plant to plant-community levels) and (3) soil and microbial biomass C pools are significantly less sensitive than plant C pools to individual or combined effects. We provide a quantitative basis for integrating additive effects of multiple global change drivers into future assessments of the C storage ability of terrestrial ecosystems.