Publications

Flagship Papers

Mycorrhizal association as a primary control of the CO₂ fertilization effect.
Terrer, C., Vicca, S., Hungate, B. A., Phillips, R. P. & Prentice, I. C. Science 353, 72–74 (2016).

Nitrogen and phosphorus constrain the CO 2 fertilization of global plant biomass.
Terrer, C. et al.  Nature Climate change 9, 684–689 (2019).

A trade-off between plant and soil carbon storage under elevated CO2.
Terrer, C. et al. Nature 591, 599–603 (2021).

Seed dispersal disruption limits tropical forest regrowth.
Fricke, E. C., Cook-Patton, S. C., Harvey, C. F. & Terrer, C. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 122, e2500951122 (2025).

Plant nutrient acquisition under elevated CO2 and implications for the land carbon sink.
Cambron, T. W. et al. Nat. Clim. Chang. 1–12 (2025)

2024

Anthromes and forest carbon responses to global change
JA Hogan, et al. Plants, People, Planet (2024).

Forest ecosystems absorb and store about 25% of global carbon dioxide emissions annually and are increasingly shaped by human land use and management. Climate change interacts with land use and forest dynamics to influence observed carbon stocks and the strength of the land carbon sink. We show that climate change effects on modeled forest land carbon stocks are strongest in tropical wildlands that have limited human influence. Global forest carbon stocks and carbon sink strength may decline as climate change and anthropogenic influences intensify, with wildland tropical forests, especially in Amazonia, likely being especially vulnerable.

Contrasting drought tolerance traits of woody plants is associated with mycorrhizal types at the global scale
X Liu, et al. New Phytologist (2024).

It is well-known that the mycorrhizal type of plants correlates with different modes of nutrient cycling and availability. However, the differences in drought tolerance between arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) and ectomycorrhizal (EcM) plants remains poorly characterized. We synthesized a global dataset of four hydraulic traits associated with drought tolerance of 1457 woody species (1139 AM and 318 EcM species) at 308 field sites. We compared these traits between AM and EcM species, with evolutionary history (i.e. angiosperms vs gymnosperms), water availability (i.e. aridity index) and biomes considered as additional factors. Overall, we found that evolutionary history and biogeography influenced differences in hydraulic traits between mycorrhizal types. Specifically, we found that (1) AM angiosperms are less drought-tolerant than EcM angiosperms in wet regions or biomes, but AM gymnosperms are more drought-tolerant than EcM gymnosperms in dry regions or biomes, and (2) in both angiosperms and gymnosperms, variation in hydraulic traits as well as their sensitivity to water availability were higher in AM species than in EcM species. Our results suggest that global shifts in water availability (especially drought) may alter the biogeographic distribution and abundance of AM and EcM plants, with consequences for ecosystem element cycling and ultimately, the land carbon sink.