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Title: Representing leaf and root physiological traits in CLM improves global carbon and nitrogen cycling predictions

Journal Article · · Journal of Advances in Modeling Earth Systems
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1002/2015MS000538· OSTI ID:1379371
 [1];  [1];  [1];  [2];  [2]
  1. Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States). Earth Sciences Division
  2. Univ. of California, Irvine, CA (United States). Dept. of Earth System Science

In many ecosystems, nitrogen is the most limiting nutrient for plant growth and productivity. However, current Earth System Models (ESMs) do not mechanistically represent functional nitrogen allocation for photosynthesis or the linkage between nitrogen uptake and root traits. The current version of CLM (4.5) links nitrogen availability and plant productivity via (1) an instantaneous downregulation of potential photosynthesis rates based on soil mineral nitrogen availability, and (2) apportionment of soil nitrogen between plants and competing nitrogen consumers assumed to be proportional to their relative N demands. However, plants do not photosynthesize at potential rates and then downregulate; instead photosynthesis rates are governed by nitrogen that has been allocated to the physiological processes underpinning photosynthesis. Furthermore, the role of plant roots in nutrient acquisition has also been largely ignored in ESMs. We therefore present a new plant nitrogen model for CLM4.5 with (1) improved representations of linkages between leaf nitrogen and plant productivity based on observed relationships in a global plant trait database and (2) plant nitrogen uptake based on root-scale Michaelis-Menten uptake kinetics. Our model improvements led to a global bias reduction in GPP, LAI, and biomass of 70%, 11%, and 49%, respectively. Furthermore, water use efficiency predictions were improved conceptually, qualitatively, and in magnitude. The new model's GPP responses to nitrogen deposition, CO 2 fertilization, and climate also differed from the baseline model. The mechanistic representation of leaf-level nitrogen allocation and a theoretically consistent treatment of competition with belowground consumers led to overall improvements in global carbon cycling predictions.

Research Organization:
Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE Office of Science (SC), Biological and Environmental Research (BER)
Grant/Contract Number:
AC02-05CH11231
OSTI ID:
1379371
Journal Information:
Journal of Advances in Modeling Earth Systems, Vol. 8, Issue 2; ISSN 1942-2466
Publisher:
American Geophysical Union (AGU)Copyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Citation Metrics:
Cited by: 57 works
Citation information provided by
Web of Science

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Cited By (13)

Evaluating the Interplay Between Biophysical Processes and Leaf Area Changes in Land Surface Models journal May 2018
Weaker land–climate feedbacks from nutrient uptake during photosynthesis-inactive periods journal October 2018
Divergent patterns of experimental and model-derived permafrost ecosystem carbon dynamics in response to Arctic warming journal October 2018
Using research networks to create the comprehensive datasets needed to assess nutrient availability as a key determinant of terrestrial carbon cycling journal December 2018
Building a better foundation: improving root-trait measurements to understand and model plant and ecosystem processes journal March 2017
Earth System Model Needs for Including the Interactive Representation of Nitrogen Deposition and Drought Effects on Forested Ecosystems journal July 2017
20th century changes in carbon isotopes and water-use efficiency: tree-ring-based evaluation of the CLM4.5 and LPX-Bern models journal January 2017
Decadal fates and impacts of nitrogen additions on temperate forest carbon storage: a data–model comparison journal January 2019
Impacts of microtopographic snow redistribution and lateral subsurface processes on hydrologic and thermal states in an Arctic polygonal ground ecosystem: a case study using ELM-3D v1.0 journal January 2018
The quasi-equilibrium framework revisited: analyzing long-term CO2 enrichment responses in plant–soil models journal January 2019
Large carbon cycle sensitivities to climate across a permafrost thaw gradient in subarctic Sweden journal January 2019
20th century changes in carbon isotopes and water-use efficiency: tree-ring-based evaluation of the CLM4.5 and LPX-Bern models text January 2017
Evaluating the Interplay Between Biophysical Processes and Leaf Area Changes in Land Surface Models text January 2018