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Title: Convergence in the temperature response of leaf respiration across biomes and plant functional types

Journal Article · · Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
 [1];  [2];  [3];  [4];  [5];  [6];  [6];  [7];  [6];  [8];  [9];  [10];  [11];  [12];  [11];  [13];  [14];  [15];  [16]
  1. Australian National Univ., Canberra, ACT (Australia). Research School of Biology and Division of Plant Sciences; Marine Biological Lab., Woods Hole, MA (United States). The Ecosystems Center
  2. Australian National Univ., Canberra, ACT (Australia). Research School of Biology and Division of Plant Sciences; Univ. of Sheffield (United Kingdom). Animal and Plant Sciences
  3. Univ. of Western Sydney, NSW (Australia). Hawkesbury Inst. for the Environment; Univ. of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN (United States). Dept. of Forest Resources
  4. Univ. of Western Sydney, NSW (Australia). Hawkesbury Inst. for the Environment
  5. Australian National Univ., Canberra, ACT (Australia). Research School of Biology and Division of Plant Sciences; Univ. of Peradeniya (Sri Lanka). Faculty of Agriculture
  6. Australian National Univ., Canberra, ACT (Australia). Research School of Biology and Division of Plant Sciences
  7. Australian National Univ., Canberra, ACT (Australia). Research School of Biology and Division of Plant Sciences; Univ. of Western Sydney, NSW (Australia). Hawkesbury Inst. for the Environment
  8. Australian National Univ., Canberra, ACT (Australia). ARC Center of Excellence in Plant Energy Biology and Research School of Biology
  9. Stanford Univ., CA (United States). Carnegie Inst. for Science and Dept. of Global Ecology
  10. Umea Univ. (Sweden). Umea Plant Science Center and Dept. of Plant Physiology
  11. Centre for Ecology and Hydrology (CEH), Wallingford (United Kingdom). Biosphere-Atmosphere Interactions
  12. Columbia Univ., New York, NY (United States). Dept. of Earth and Environment Sciences and Dept. of Ecology, Evolution, and Environmental Biology
  13. Swedish Univ. of Agricultural Sciences (SLU), Umea (Sweden). Umea Plant Science Center and Dept. of Forest Genetics and Plant Physiology
  14. Australian National Univ., Canberra, ACT (Australia). Research School of Biology and Division of Plant Sciences; Univ. of Edinburgh, Scotland (United Kingdom). School of Geosciences
  15. Univ. of Canterbury, Christchurch (New Zealand). Center for Integrative Ecology and School of Biological Sciences
  16. Australian National Univ., Canberra, ACT (Australia). ARC Center of Excellence in Plant Energy Biology, Research School of Biology and Division of Plant Sciences
+ Show Author Affiliations

Plant respiration constitutes a massive carbon flux to the atmosphere, and a major control on the evolution of the global carbon cycle. It therefore has the potential to modulate levels of climate change due to the human burning of fossil fuels. Neither current physiological nor terrestrial biosphere models adequately describe its short-term temperature response, and even minor differences in the shape of the response curve can significantly impact estimates of ecosystem carbon release and/or storage. Given this, it is critical to establish whether there are predictable patterns in the shape of the respiration–temperature response curve, and thus in the intrinsic temperature sensitivity of respiration across the globe. By analyzing measurements in a comprehensive database for 231 species spanning 7 biomes, we demonstrate that temperature-dependent increases in leaf respiration do not follow a commonly used exponential function. Instead, we find a decelerating function as leaves warm, reflecting a declining sensitivity to higher temperatures that is remarkably uniform across all biomes and plant functional types. Such convergence in the temperature sensitivity of leaf respiration suggests that there are universally applicable controls on the temperature response of plant energy metabolism, such that a single new function can predict the temperature dependence of leaf respiration for global vegetation. This simple function enables straightforward description of plant respiration in the land-surface components of coupled earth system models. Our cross-biome analyses shows significant implications for such fluxes in cold climates, generally projecting lower values compared with previous estimates.

Research Organization:
Univ. of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
Office of Science (SC), Biological and Environmental Research (BER) (SC-23); Australian Research Council (ARC); Natural Environment Research Council (NERC); National Science Foundation (NSF)
Grant/Contract Number:
FG02-07ER64456; DP0986823; DP130101252; CE140100008; FT0991448; FT110100457; DP140103415; NE/F002149/1
OSTI ID:
1469106
Journal Information:
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, Vol. 113, Issue 14; ISSN 0027-8424
Publisher:
National Academy of Sciences, Washington, DC (United States)Copyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Citation Metrics:
Cited by: 170 works
Citation information provided by
Web of Science

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Cited By (48)

Small flux, global impact: Integrating the nuances of leaf mitochondrial respiration in estimates of ecosystem carbon exchange journal May 2018
Drivers of leaf carbon exchange capacity across biomes at the continental scale journal June 2018
Divergent responses of ecosystem respiration components to livestock exclusion on the Qinghai Tibetan Plateau journal May 2018
Interactions Between Land-Use Change and Climate-Carbon Cycle Feedbacks journal April 2018
Implications of improved representations of plant respiration in a changing climate journal November 2017
Local adaptation of a dominant coastal tree to freshwater availability and solar radiation suggested by genomic and ecophysiological approaches journal December 2019
Climate and fragmentation affect forest structure at the southern border of Amazonia journal January 2018
Coupling between the terrestrial carbon and water cycles—a review journal July 2019
Metabolic acclimation—a key to enhancing photosynthesis in changing environments? journal April 2019
Exploring high temperature responses of photosynthesis and respiration to improve heat tolerance in wheat journal May 2019
CO2 and temperature effects on morphological and physiological traits affecting risk of drought-induced mortality journal April 2018
Environmental controls on light inhibition of respiration and leaf and canopy daytime carbon exchange in a temperate deciduous forest journal September 2018
Is NPP proportional to GPP? Waring’s hypothesis 20 years on journal May 2019
Elevated temperature and CO2 cause differential growth stimulation and drought survival responses in eucalypt species from contrasting habitats journal November 2019
A widespread thermodynamic effect, but maintenance of biological rates through space across life's major domains journal October 2018
Lineage Functional Types (LFTs): Characterizing functional diversity to enhance the representation of ecological behavior in Earth System Models posted_content January 2020
Thermal limits of leaf metabolism across biomes journal October 2016
Short-term acclimation to warmer temperatures accelerates leaf carbon exchange processes across plant types journal May 2017
Modelled net carbon gain responses to climate change in boreal trees: Impacts of photosynthetic parameter selection and acclimation journal December 2018
Temperature sensitivity of biomass‐specific microbial exo‐enzyme activities and CO 2 efflux is resistant to change across short‐ and long‐term timescales journal February 2019
Plant respiration: Controlled by photosynthesis or biomass? journal October 2019
The temperature optima for tree seedling photosynthesis and growth depend on water inputs journal February 2020
Assessing trait-based scaling theory in tropical forests spanning a broad temperature gradient journal October 2017
Assessing earth system model predictions of C 4 grass cover in North America: From the glacial era to the end of this century journal November 2018
Changes in the chloroplastic CO 2 concentration explain much of the observed Kok effect: a model journal March 2017
Plant carbon metabolism and climate change: elevated CO 2 and temperature impacts on photosynthesis, photorespiration and respiration journal July 2018
Cold sensitivity of mitochondrial ATP synthase restricts oxidative phosphorylation in Arabidopsis thaliana journal November 2018
Core principles which explain variation in respiration across biological scales journal December 2018
Climate warming and tree carbon use efficiency in a whole‐tree 13 CO 2 tracer study journal February 2019
The role of thermal acclimation of plant respiration under climate warming: Putting the brakes on a runaway train?: Thermal acclimation of fine root respiration journal January 2018
Contrasting acclimation abilities of two dominant boreal conifers to elevated CO 2 and temperature: CO 2 and warming effects on spruce and pine journal March 2018
Three physiological parameters capture variation in leaf respiration of Eucalyptus grandis , as elicited by short-term changes in ambient temperature, and differing nitrogen supply: Physiological factors controlling acclimation journal April 2018
Can leaf net photosynthesis acclimate to rising and more variable temperatures? journal February 2019
The combination of gas-phase fluorophore technology and automation to enable high-throughput analysis of plant respiration journal March 2017
Phenotypic plasticity in locomotor performance of a monophyletic group of weevils accords with the ‘warmer is better’ hypothesis journal April 2019
Climate Change Impact, Adaptation, and Mitigation in Temperate Grazing Systems: A Review journal December 2019
Species composition and forest structure explain the temperature sensitivity patterns of productivity in temperate forests journal January 2018
Species composition and forest structure explain the temperature sensitivity patterns of productivity in temperate forests posted_content August 2017
P-model v1.0: an optimality-based light use efficiency model for simulating ecosystem gross primary production journal January 2020
A derivation error that affects carbon balance models exists in the current implementation of the modified Arrhenius function journal September 2020
Climate and fragmentation affect forest structure at the southern border of Amazonia text January 2018
A widespread thermodynamic effect, but maintenance of biological rates through space across life’s major domains posted_content March 2018
Local adaptation of a dominant coastal tree to freshwater availability and solar radiation suggested by genomic and ecophysiological approaches posted_content September 2019
Coupling between the terrestrial carbon and water cycles-a review text January 2019
Constraining size-dependence of vegetation respiration rates journal March 2020
Short-term thermal acclimation of dark respiration is greater in non-photosynthetic than in photosynthetic tissues journal October 2019
Evolutionary temperature compensation of carbon fixation in marine phytoplankton journal April 2020
Exchange of CO2 in Arctic tundra: impacts of meteorological variations and biological disturbance journal January 2017

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Related Subjects

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES
temperature sensitivity
climate models
carbon exchange
Q10
thermal response