A comparison of plot-based satellite and Earth system model estimates of tropical forest net primary production

However, the three different approaches produced vastly different patterns of NPP both in space and through time, suggesting that our understanding of tropical NPP is poor and that our ability to predict the response of NPP in the tropics to environmental change is limited. To address this shortcoming, we suggest the development of an expanded, high-density, permanent network of sites where NPP is continuously evaluated using multiple approaches.

Well-designed NPP megatransects that include a high-density plot network would significantly increase the accuracy and certainty in the observed rates and patterns of tropical NPP and improve the reliability of Earth system models used to predict NPP-carbon cycle-climate interactions into the future.