3  Resources

3.1 Scientific poster design

3.2 Seminal papers

The following is a list of seminal papers in the fields relevant to this course, spanning disciplines from terrestrial ecology, land-climate interactions, carbon cycle science, to ecosystem science. Most of them are included as references in the LES Book.

3.2.1 Models and Earth-system feedbacks

In LES Book Paper
Yes (Sitch et al. 2003), “Evaluation of ecosystem dynamics, plant geography and terrestrial carbon cycling in the LPJ dynamic global vegetation model”
Yes (Friedlingstein et al. 2006), “Climate–Carbon Cycle Feedback Analysis: Results from the C4MIP Model Intercomparison”
Yes (Arneth et al. 2010), “Terrestrial biogeochemical feedbacks in the climate system”
Yes (Stocker et al. 2013), “Multiple greenhouse-gas feedbacks from the land biosphere under future climate change scenarios”
(Jones et al. 2016), “Simulating the Earth system response to negative emissions”
(Palazzo Corner et al. 2023), “The Zero Emissions Commitment and climate stabilization”

3.2.2 Contemporary ecosystem change and carbon-sink variability

In LES Book Paper
Yes (Ahlström et al. 2015), “The dominant role of semi-arid ecosystems in the trend and variability of the land CO2 sink”
Yes (Humphrey et al. 2018), “Sensitivity of atmospheric CO2 growth rate to observed changes in terrestrial water storage”
(Luyssaert et al. 2008), “Old-growth forests as global carbon sinks”
Yes (Pan et al. 2011), “A large and persistent carbon sink in the world’s forests”
(Brienen et al. 2015), “Long-term decline of the Amazon carbon sink”
(Brienen et al. 2020), “Forest carbon sink neutralized by pervasive growth–lifespan trade-offs”
(Peñuelas, Canadell, and Ogaya 2011), “Increased water-use efficiency during the 20th century did not translate into enhanced tree growth”
Yes (Zhu et al. 2016), “Greening of the Earth and its drivers”

3.2.3 Observation systems, traits, and experiments

In LES Book Paper
Yes (Hansen et al. 2013), “High-Resolution Global Maps of 21st-Century Forest Cover Change”
(Poorter et al. 2012), “Biomass allocation to leaves, stems and roots: meta-analyses of interspecific variation and environmental control”
Yes (Ainsworth and Long 2005), “What have we learned from 15 years of free-air CO2 enrichment (FACE)?”
(MacDonald et al. 2006), “Rapid Early Development of Circumarctic Peatlands and Atmospheric CH4 and CO2 Variations”
Yes (Joos and Spahni 2008), “Rates of change in natural and anthropogenic radiative forcing over the past 20,000 years”

3.2.4 Natural non-CO2 emissions and short-lived forcing

In LES Book Paper
Yes (Riley et al. 2011), “Barriers to predicting changes in global terrestrial methane fluxes”
(Qiu et al. 2022), “A strong mitigation scenario maintains climate neutrality of northern peatlands”
Yes (Shindell et al. 2012), “Simultaneously mitigating near-term climate change and improving human health and food security”
(Bridgham et al. 2013), “Methane emissions from wetlands: biogeochemical, microbial, and modeling perspectives from local to global scales”
(Butterbach-Bahl et al. 2013), “Nitrous oxide emissions from soils: how well do we understand the processes and their controls?”
(Davidson 2009), “The contribution of manure and fertilizer nitrogen to atmospheric nitrous oxide since 1860”

3.2.5 Land use, mitigation, and tipping points

In LES Book Paper
Yes (Bala et al. 2007), “Combined climate and carbon-cycle effects of large-scale deforestation”
Yes (Erb et al. 2018), “Unexpectedly large impact of forest management and grazing on global vegetation biomass”
(Walker et al. 2022), “The global potential for increased storage of carbon on land”
(Anderegg et al. 2020), “Climate-driven risks to the climate mitigation potential of forests”
Yes (Armstrong McKay et al. 2022), “Exceeding 1.5 degrees C global warming could trigger multiple climate tipping points”
(Fuss et al. 2018), “Negative emissions—Part 2: Costs, potentials and side effects”
(Nitzbon et al. 2024), “No respite from permafrost-thaw impacts in the absence of a global tipping point”