High carbon dioxide uptake by subtropical forest ecosystems in the East Asian monsoon region

Temperate- and high-latitude forests have been shown to contribute a carbon sink in the Northern Hemisphere, but fewer studies have addressed the carbon balance of the subtropical forests. In the present study, we integrated eddy covariance observations established in the 1990s and 2000s to show that East Asian monsoon subtropical forests between 20 °N and 40 °N represent an average net ecosystem productivity (NEP) of 362 ± 39 g C m(-2) yr(-1) (mean ± 1 SE). This average forest NEP value is higher than that of Asian tropical and temperate forests and is also higher than that of forests at the same latitudes in Europe-Africa and North America. East Asian monsoon subtropical forests have comparable NEP to that…