1. Forest production efficiency increases with growth temperature
- Author
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Alessandro Cescatti, Alessio Collalti, Andreas Ibrom, Giorgio Matteucci, Marcos Fernández-Martínez, Ramdane Alkama, Daniel S. Goll, Julia Pongratz, Philippe Ciais, Anders Stockmarr, Vanessa Haverd, Stephen Sitch, Julia E. M. S. Nabel, Iain Colin Prentice, Pierre Friedlingstein, Almut Arneth, Laboratoire des Sciences du Climat et de l'Environnement [Gif-sur-Yvette] (LSCE), Université de Versailles Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines (UVSQ)-Commissariat à l'énergie atomique et aux énergies alternatives (CEA)-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Université Paris-Saclay-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), FOE-2019 College of Natural Resources, University of California Berkeley, CNR: DTA.AD003.474, We thank R.H. Waring, S. Vicca, M. Campioli, F. Pagani and E. Grieco for early constructive comments and thoughtful suggestions, S. Noce for the map of data points. We thank efforts from all site investigators and their funding agencies. This paper contributes to the AXA Chair Programme in Biosphere and Climate Impacts and the Imperial College initiative Grand Challenges in Ecosystems and the Environment. A.C. and G.M. are partially supported by resources available from the Ministry of University and Research (FOE-2019), under the project 'Climate Change' (CNR DTA.AD003.474), M.F.-M. is a postdoctoral fellow of the Research Foundation—Flanders (FWO), AXA Research Fund, and Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Université Paris-Saclay-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Commissariat à l'énergie atomique et aux énergies alternatives (CEA)-Université de Versailles Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines (UVSQ)
- Subjects
0106 biological sciences ,010504 meteorology & atmospheric sciences ,General Physics and Astronomy ,adaptation ,Atmospheric sciences ,01 natural sciences ,Nutrient ,Forest production efficiency ,ddc:550 ,SDG 13 - Climate Action ,gpp ,lcsh:Science ,Plant ecology ,chemistry.chemical_classification ,forest productivity ,Carbon dioxide in Earth's atmosphere ,Biomass (ecology) ,Multidisciplinary ,Climate-change ecology ,Biogeography ,[SDE]Environmental Sciences ,Engineering sciences. Technology ,primary production ,biomass production efficienty ,Science ,carbon use efficiency ,chemistry.chemical_element ,General Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology ,Article ,Latitude ,Organic matter ,Ecosystem ,Precipitation ,Biology ,0105 earth and related environmental sciences ,Computer. Automation ,npp ,Primary production ,General Chemistry ,15. Life on land ,Earth sciences ,chemistry ,13. Climate action ,Environmental science ,lcsh:Q ,Forest ecology ,Carbon ,010606 plant biology & botany - Abstract
Forest production efficiency (FPE) metric describes how efficiently the assimilated carbon is partitioned into plants organs (biomass production, BP) or—more generally—for the production of organic matter (net primary production, NPP). We present a global analysis of the relationship of FPE to stand-age and climate, based on a large compilation of data on gross primary production and either BP or NPP. FPE is important for both forest production and atmospheric carbon dioxide uptake. We find that FPE increases with absolute latitude, precipitation and (all else equal) with temperature. Earlier findings—FPE declining with age—are also supported by this analysis. However, the temperature effect is opposite to what would be expected based on the short-term physiological response of respiration rates to temperature, implying a top-down regulation of carbon loss, perhaps reflecting the higher carbon costs of nutrient acquisition in colder climates. Current ecosystem models do not reproduce this phenomenon. They consistently predict lower FPE in warmer climates, and are therefore likely to overestimate carbon losses in a warming climate., Many models assume a universal carbon use efficiency across forest biomes, in contrast to assumptions of other process-based models. Here the authors analyse forest production efficiency across a wide range of climates to show a positive relationship with annual temperature and precipitation, indicating that ecosystem models are overestimating forest carbon losses under warming.
- Published
- 2020