Carbon allocation plays a key role in ecosystem dynamics and plant adaptation to changing environmental conditions. Hence, proper description of this process in vegetation models is crucial for the simulations of the impact of climate change on carbon cycling in forests. Here we review how carbon allocation modelling is currently implemented in 31 contrasting models to identify the main gaps compared with our theoretical and empirical understanding of carbon allocation. A hybrid approach based on combining several principles and/or types of carbon allocation modelling prevailed in the examined models, while physiologically more sophisticated approaches were used less often than empirical ones. The analysis revealed that, although the number of carbon allocation studies over the past 10 years has substantially increased, some background processes are still insufficiently understood and some issues in models are frequently poorly represented, oversimplified or even omitted. Hence, current challenges for carbon allocation modelling in forest ecosystems are (i) to overcome remaining limits in process understanding, particularly regarding the impact of disturbances on carbon allocation, accumulation and utilization of nonstructural carbohydrates, and carbon use by symbionts, and (ii) to implement existing knowledge of carbon allocation into defence, regeneration and improved resource uptake in order to better account for changing environmental conditions.

Croatian Forest Research Institute Department for forest management and forestry economics Cvjetno naselje 41 10450 Jastrebarsko Croatia

Czech University of Life Sciences Prague Faculty of Forestry and Wood Sciences Kamýcká 129 16500 Praha Suchdol Czech Republic Technical University Zvolen Forestry Faculty T G Masaryka 24 96053 Zvolen Slovakia

Global Change Research Institute CAS Bělidla 986 4a 603 00 Brno Czech Republic

Institute of Meteorology and Climate Research Karlsruhe Institute of Technology Garmisch Partenkirchen Germany

National Research Council of Italy Institute for Agriculture and Forestry Systems in the Mediterranean 87036 Rende Italy Department of Innovation in Biological Agro food and Forest Systems University of Tuscia 01100 Viterbo Italy

Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research Telegraphenberg PO Box 601203 D 14473 Potsdam Germany

Technical University Zvolen Forestry Faculty T G Masaryka 24 96053 Zvolen Slovakia

The Finnish Forest Research Institute Luke PO Box 18 FI 01301 Vantaa Finland

Università degli Studi di Milano DISAA Via Celoria 2 20132 Milano Italy

University of Freiburg Tennenbacher Str 4 D 79106 Freiburg Germany

University of Helsinki Department of Forest Science Latokartanonkaari 7 P O Box 27 00014 Helsinki Finland

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