Empirical evidence for resilience of tropical forest photosynthesis in a warmer world
Name:
Smith MN et al_2020_accepted_m ...
Embargo:
2021-04-12
Size:
1.586Mb
Format:
PDF
Description:
Final Accepted Manuscript
Author
Smith, Marielle NTaylor, Tyeen C
van Haren, Joost

Rosolem, Rafael
Restrepo-Coupe, Natalia
Adams, John
Wu, Jin

de Oliveira, Raimundo C
da Silva, Rodrigo
de Araujo, Alessandro C
de Camargo, Plinio B
Huxman, Travis E
Saleska, Scott R
Affiliation
Univ Arizona, Dept Ecol & Evolutionary BiolUniv Arizona, Biosphere 2
Issue Date
2020-10-12
Metadata
Show full item recordPublisher
NATURE RESEARCHCitation
Smith, M. N., Taylor, T. C., van Haren, J., Rosolem, R., Restrepo-Coupe, N., Adams, J., ... & Saleska, S. R. (2020). Empirical evidence for resilience of tropical forest photosynthesis in a warmer world. Nature Plants, 6(10), 1225-1230.Journal
NATURE PLANTSRights
© The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature Limited 2020Collection Information
This item from the UA Faculty Publications collection is made available by the University of Arizona with support from the University of Arizona Libraries. If you have questions, please contact us at repository@u.library.arizona.edu.Abstract
Tropical forests may be vulnerable to climate change1-3 if photosynthetic carbon uptake currently operates near a high temperature limit4-6. Predicting tropical forest function requires understanding the relative contributions of two mechanisms of high-temperature photosynthetic declines: stomatal limitation (H1), an indirect response due to temperature-associated changes in atmospheric vapour pressure deficit (VPD)7, and biochemical restrictions (H2), a direct temperature response8,9. Their relative control predicts different outcomes-H1 is expected to diminish with stomatal responses to future co-occurring elevated atmospheric [CO2], whereas H2 portends declining photosynthesis with increasing temperatures. Distinguishing the two mechanisms at high temperatures is therefore critical, but difficult because VPD is highly correlated with temperature in natural settings. We used a forest mesocosm to quantify the sensitivity of tropical gross ecosystem productivity (GEP) to future temperature regimes while constraining VPD by controlling humidity. We then analytically decoupled temperature and VPD effects under current climate with flux-tower-derived GEP trends in situ from four tropical forest sites. Both approaches showed consistent, negative sensitivity of GEP to VPD but little direct response to temperature. Importantly, in the mesocosm at low VPD, GEP persisted up to 38 °C, a temperature exceeding projections for tropical forests in 2100 (ref. 10). If elevated [CO2] mitigates VPD-induced stomatal limitation through enhanced water-use efficiency as hypothesized9,11, tropical forest photosynthesis may have a margin of resilience to future warming.Note
6 month embargo; published 12 October 2020ISSN
2055-026XEISSN
2055-0278PubMed ID
33051618Version
Final accepted manuscriptae974a485f413a2113503eed53cd6c53
10.1038/s41477-020-00780-2
Scopus Count
Collections
Related articles
- Similar temperature dependence of photosynthetic parameters in sun and shade leaves of three tropical tree species.
- Authors: Hernández GG, Winter K, Slot M
- Issue date: 2020 May 11
- In situ temperature relationships of biochemical and stomatal controls of photosynthesis in four lowland tropical tree species.
- Authors: Slot M, Winter K
- Issue date: 2017 Dec
- Stomatal acclimation to vapour pressure deficit doubles transpiration of small tree seedlings with warming.
- Authors: Marchin RM, Broadhead AA, Bostic LE, Dunn RR, Hoffmann WA
- Issue date: 2016 Oct
- Partitioning controls on Amazon forest photosynthesis between environmental and biotic factors at hourly to interannual timescales.
- Authors: Wu J, Guan K, Hayek M, Restrepo-Coupe N, Wiedemann KT, Xu X, Wehr R, Christoffersen BO, Miao G, da Silva R, de Araujo AC, Oliviera RC, Camargo PB, Monson RK, Huete AR, Saleska SR
- Issue date: 2017 Mar
- Tropical forest carbon balance in a warmer world: a critical review spanning microbial- to ecosystem-scale processes.
- Authors: Wood TE, Cavaleri MA, Reed SC
- Issue date: 2012 Nov