We examined the influence of climate change on the dynamics of
Pinus densiflora, the most dominant tree species in South Korea, to explore its potential for climate change mitigation. We considered changes in precipitation, temperature, and CO
under four representative concentration pathway (RCP) scenarios separately and in combination to evaluate the responses of
Pinus densiflora to climate change. A well-tested ecohydrological and biogeochemical model,
ecosys, was used to study the Gwangneung Experimental Forest in South Korea. Results showed that the positive effects of CO
fertilizer on gross primary productivity (GPP) and net primary productivity (NPP) outweighed the negative effects caused by changes in precipitation and temperature. In particular, NPP improvements of 3.79%, 13.44%, 18.26%, and 28.91% were modeled under RCP values of 2.6, 4.5, 6.5, and 8.5, respectively, compared to the baseline. We found that nitrogen leaching and N
O flux reduced as climate change become severe due to increases in nutrient uptake, leading to reduced soil nitrogen losses. Although evapotranspiration increased as the intensity of climate change increased, reductions in the stomatal opening improved the water use efficiency of
Pinus densiflora. These results indicated that
Pinus densiflora could serve as an environmentally friendly option to minimize climate change consequences.
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