Global Biogeochemistry: an Overview

The dynamic biogeochemical equilibria among the major pools of carbon, nitrogen, sulfur, and phosphorus represented by terrestrial biomes, the world's oceans, and the troposphere are disturbed. Since even the most rapid processes of adjustments among the reservoirs take decades, new equilibria are far from established. These human-induced perturbations and the system's subsequent responses constitute an on-going biogeochemical experiment at the global level. Current and new information must be combined in a way that allows testing of various hypotheses about the workings of global biogeochemical systems. This enables assessment of current knowledge and evaluation of the gaps.