Biogeosciences www.biogeosciences.net 1726-4170 1726-4189 5 6 2008 10.5194/bg-5-1505-2008 http://www.biogeosciences.net/5/1505/2008/ http://www.biogeosciences.net/5/1505/2008/bg-5-1505-2008.html http://www.biogeosciences.net/5/1505/2008/bg-5-1505-2008.pdf 1505 1515 2008-11-04 The response of the terrestrial biosphere to urbanization: land cover conversion, climate, and urban pollution K. Trusilova ktrusil@bgc-jena.mpg.de G. Churkina Max-Planck Institute for Biogeochemistry, Hans-Knoell Str. 10, 07745 Jena, Germany Although urban areas occupy a relatively small fraction of land, they produce major disturbances of the carbon cycle through land use change, climate modification, and atmospheric pollution. In this study we quantify effects of urban areas on the carbon cycle in Europe. Among urbanization-driven environmental changes, which influence carbon sequestration in the terrestrial biosphere, we account for: (1) proportion of land covered by impervious materials, (2) local urban meteorological conditions, (3) urban high CO₂ concentrations, and (4) elevated atmospheric nitrogen deposition. We use the terrestrial ecosystem model BIOME-BGC to estimate fluxes of carbon exchange between the biosphere and the atmosphere in response to these urban factors. <br> <br> We analysed four urbanization-driven changes individually, setting up our model in such a way that only one of the four was active at a time. 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