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A global primary productivity and phytogeography model represents the biochemical processes of photosynthesis and the dependence of gas exchange on stomatal conductance, which in turn depends on temperature and soil moisture. Canopy conductance controls soil water loss by evapotranspiration. The assignment of nitrogen uptake to leaf layers is proportional to irradiance, and respiration and maximum assimilation rates depend on nitrogen uptake and temperature. Total nitrogen uptake is derived from soil carbon and nitrogen and depends on temperature. The long-term average annual carbon and hydrological budgets dictate canopy leaf area. Although observations constrain soil carbon and nitrogen, the distribution of vegetation types is not specified by an underlying map. Variables simulated by the model are compared favorably to experimental results. These comparisons extend from biochemical processes to the whole canopy, and the comparisons are favorable for both current and elevated CO_2 atmospheres. The model is used to simulate the global distributions of leaf area index and annual net primary productivity. These distributions are sufficiently realistic to demonstrate that the model is useful for analyzing vegetation responses to global environmental change. A statistical procedure is used to derive global distributions of ecosystem complexes from variables simulated by the primary productivity model. A multiple discriminant function analysis of variables including net primary productivity, leaf area index, evapotranspiration, and potential evapotranspiration accounts for both ecophysiological constraints as well as the effects of resource limitations to produce biogeographical ecosystem distributions.