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Life on Earth depends on the conversion of solar energy to chemical energy by plants through photosynthesis. A fundamental challenge in optimizing photosynthesis is to adjust leaf angles to efficiently use the intercepted sunlight under the constraints of heat stress, water loss and competition. Despite the importance of leaf angle, until recently, we have lacked data and frameworks to describe and predict leaf angle dynamics and their impacts on leaves to the globe. We review the role of leaf angle in studies of ecophysiology, ecosystem ecology and earth system science, and highlight the essential yet understudied role of leaf angle as an ecological strategy to regulate plant carbon-water-energy nexus and to bridge leaf, canopy and earth system processes. Using two models, we show that leaf angle variations have significant impacts on not only canopy-scale photosynthesis, energy balance and water use efficiency but also light competition within the forest canopy. New techniques to measure leaf angles are emerging, opening opportunities to understand the rarely-measured intraspecific, interspecific, seasonal and interannual variations of leaf angles and their implications to plant biology and earth system science. We conclude by proposing three directions for future research.

The earth's future climate state is highly dependent upon changes in terrestrial C storage in response to rising concentrations of atmospheric CO₂. Here we show that consistently enhanced rates of net primary production (NPP) are sustained by a C-cascade through the root-microbe-soil system; increases in the flux of C belowground under elevated CO₂ stimulated microbial activity, accelerated the rate of soil organic matter decomposition and stimulated tree uptake of N bound to this SOM. This process set into motion a positive feedback maintaining greater C gain under elevated CO₂ as a result of increases in canopy N content and higher photosynthetic N-use efficiency. The ecosystem-level consequence of the enhanced requirement for N and the exchange of plant C for N belowground is the dominance of C storage in tree biomass but the preclusion of a large C sink in the soil.

Severe droughts can impart long‐lasting legacies on forest ecosystems through lagged effects that hinder tree recovery and suppress whole‐forest carbon uptake. However, the local climatic and edaphic factors that interact to affect drought legacies in temperate forests remain unknown. Here, we pair a dataset of 143 tree ring chronologies across the mesic forests of the eastern US with historical climate and local soil properties. We found legacy effects to be widespread, the magnitude of which increased markedly in diffuse porous species, sites with deep water tables, and in response to late‐season droughts (August–September). Using an ensemble of downscaled climate projections, we additionally show that our sites are projected to drastically increase in water deficit and drought frequency by the end of the century, potentially increasing the size of legacy effects by up to 65% and acting as a significant process shaping forest composition, carbon uptake and mortality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A common finding in multiple CO2 enrichment experiments in forests is the lack of soil carbon ( C) accumulation owing to microbial priming of 'old' soil organic matter ( SOM). However, soil C losses may also result from the accelerated turnover of 'young' microbial tissues that are rich in nitrogen ( N) relative to bulk SOM. We measured root-induced changes in soil C dynamics in a pine forest exposed to elevated CO2 and N enrichment by combining stable isotope analyses, molecular characterisations of SOM and microbial assays. We find strong evidence that the accelerated turnover of root-derived C under elevated CO2 is sufficient in magnitude to offset increased belowground inputs. In addition, the C losses were associated with accelerated N cycling, suggesting that trees exposed to elevated CO2 not only enhance N availability by stimulating microbial decomposition of SOM via priming but also increase the rate at which N cycles through microbial pools. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A common finding in multiple CO2 enrichment experiments in forests is the lack of soil carbon ( C) accumulation owing to microbial priming of 'old' soil organic matter ( SOM). However, soil C losses may also result from the accelerated turnover of 'young' microbial tissues that are rich in nitrogen ( N) relative to bulk SOM. We measured root-induced changes in soil C dynamics in a pine forest exposed to elevated CO2 and N enrichment by combining stable isotope analyses, molecular characterisations of SOM and microbial assays. We find strong evidence that the accelerated turnover of root-derived C under elevated CO2 is sufficient in magnitude to offset increased belowground inputs. In addition, the C losses were associated with accelerated N cycling, suggesting that trees exposed to elevated CO2 not only enhance N availability by stimulating microbial decomposition of SOM via priming but also increase the rate at which N cycles through microbial pools. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]