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Abstract:
The first generation of forest free-air CO2 enrichment (FACE) experiments has successfully provided deeper understanding about
how forests respond to an increasing CO2 concentration in the
atmosphere. Located in aggrading stands in the temperate zone,
they have provided a strong foundation for testing critical assumptions
in terrestrial biosphere models that are being used to project
future interactions between forest productivity and the atmosphere,
despite the limited inference space of these experiments with
regards to the range of global ecosystems. Now, a new generation
ofFACEexperiments in mature forests in different biomes and over a
wide range of climate space and biodiversity will significantly
expand the inference space. These new experiments are: EucFACE
in a mature Eucalyptus stand on highly weathered soil in subtropical
Australia; AmazonFACE in a highly diverse, primary rainforest in
Brazil; BIFoR-FACE in a 150-yr-old deciduous woodland stand in
central England; and SwedFACE proposed in a hemiboreal, Pinus
sylvestris stand in Sweden. We now have a unique opportunity to
initiate a model–data interaction as an integral part of experimental
design and to address a set of cross-site science questions on topics
including responses of mature forests; interactions with temperature,
water stress, and phosphorus limitation; and the influence of biodiversity.
