Long-term biomass growth unimpeded by short-term photosynthetic decoupling.

Long-term woody biomass growth is not limited by short-term decoupling from photosynthesis, with biomass increasing proportionally to photosynthesis from 1951 to 2020.

• Why it matters: Understanding whether short-term decoupling indicates sink limitation is crucial for predicting long-term forest carbon sequestration and climate change mitigation strategies.
• What they did: Using long-term flux tower data and a global vegetation model ensemble, the study examined correlations between photosynthesis and woody biomass growth, analyzing over 70 years of data.
• The result: Despite weak short-term correlations, woody biomass consistently increased with photosynthesis, indicating that sink limitation is less common than previously thought and cautioning against inferring control from short-term observations.