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Title: Novel Representation of Leaf Phenology Improves Simulation of Amazonian Evergreen Forest Photosynthesis in a Land Surface Model

Journal Article · · Journal of Advances in Modeling Earth Systems
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1029/2018MS001565· OSTI ID:1614972
 [1];  [2];  [2];  [3];  [2];  [4];  [5];  [6];  [7];  [8];  [9];  [10];  [2]
  1. Sun Yat‐Sen Univ., Guangzhou (China); Laboratoire des Sciences du Climat et de l'Environnement/IPSL, Gif‐sur‐Yvette (France); Southern Marine Science and Engineering Guangdong Lab., Zhuhai (China)
  2. Laboratoire des Sciences du Climat et de l'Environnement/IPSL, Gif‐sur‐Yvette (France)
  3. Laboratoire des Sciences du Climat et de l'Environnement/IPSL, Gif‐sur‐Yvette (France); Ludwig‐Maximilians Univ., Munich (Germany)
  4. Brookhaven National Lab. (BNL), Upton, NY (United States); The Univ. of Hong Kong, Pokfulam (Hong Kong)
  5. Laboratoire des Sciences du Climat et de l'Environnement/IPSL, Gif‐sur‐Yvette (France); Southern Marine Science and Engineering Guangdong Lab., Zhuhai (China)
  6. Northwest A&F Univ., Yangling (China)
  7. Peking Univ., Beijing (China)
  8. Sun Yat‐Sen Univ., Guangzhou (China); Southern Marine Science and Engineering Guangdong Lab., Zhuhai (China)
  9. National Inst. for Amazonian Research (INPA), Manaus (Brazil)
  10. Univ. of Exeter (United Kingdom)

Leaf phenology in the humid tropics largely regulates the seasonality of forest carbon and water exchange. However, it is inadequately represented in most global land surface models due to limited understanding of its controls. Based on intensive field studies at four Amazonian evergreen forests, we propose a novel, quantitative representation of tropical forest leaf phenology, which links multiple environmental variables with the seasonality of new leaf production and old leaf litterfall. The new phenology simulates higher rates of leaf turnover (new leaves replacing old leaves) in dry seasons with more sunlight, which is then implemented in ORCHIDEE, together with recent findings of ontogeny-associated photosynthetic capacity, and is evaluated against ground-based measurements of leaf phenology (canopy leaf area index and litterfall), eddy covariance fluxes (photosynthesis and latent heat), and carbon allocations from field observations. Results show the periodical cycles of solar radiation and vapor pressure deficit are the two most important environmental variables that are empirically related to new leaf production and old leaf abscission in tropical evergreen forests. The model with new representation of leaf phenology captures the seasonality of canopy photosynthesis at three out of four sites, as well as the seasonality of litterfall, latent heat, and light use efficiency of photosynthesis at all tested sites, and improves the seasonality of carbon allocations to leaves, roots, and sapwoods. This study advances understanding of the environmental controls on tropical leaf phenology and offers an improved modeling tool for gridded simulations of interannual CO2 and water fluxes in the tropics.

Research Organization:
Brookhaven National Lab. (BNL), Upton, NY (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE Office of Science (SC), Biological and Environmental Research (BER); National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC); Belgian Science Policy Office (Belspo)
Grant/Contract Number:
SC0012704; 41401055; 31500357; SR/00/334
OSTI ID:
1614972
Report Number(s):
BNL-213828-2020-JAAM
Journal Information:
Journal of Advances in Modeling Earth Systems, Vol. 12, Issue 1; ISSN 1942-2466
Publisher:
American Geophysical Union (AGU)Copyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Citation Metrics:
Cited by: 35 works
Citation information provided by
Web of Science

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