#L14 Productivity and biomass in Amazon forests using ACME land model

Abstract

Field observations have shown that soil edaphic factors play important roles in affecting productivity and biomass in Amazon tropical forests. Quesada et al. (2012) showed that soil phosphorus is the single most important factors in affecting wood production rates. In addition, observational data suggest that the tree mortality and hence above ground biomass are mainly controlled by soil physical and chemical properties. Here we aim to integrate the insight from these tropical forest observational studies into the development and evaluation of ACME land model (ALM). The implementation of phosphorus cycle in ALM allows us to explore how soil P availability affects the spatial variation in tropical forest productivity.  Furthermore, the introduction of the controls of soil property on tree mortality enables us to capture the spatial distribution of above ground biomass in the Amazon region.