Cross-biome synthesis of source versus sink limits to tree growth
- School of Biological Sciences, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT, USA.
- McMaster Centre for Climate Change, McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario L8S 4K1, Canada.; School of Earth, Environment and Society, McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario L8S 4K1, Canada.
- School of Natural Resources and the Environment, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ, USA.; Laboratory of Tree-Ring Research, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ, USA.
- Department of Environmental Science, Policy and Management, University of California, Berkeley, CA, USA.
- Laboratory of Tree-Ring Research, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ, USA.
- Université Paris-Saclay, CNRS, AgroParisTech, Ecologie Systématique et Evolution, 91405 Orsay, France.; Institut Universitaire de France, 75231 Paris Cedex 05, France.
- DISTAL, Alma Mater Studiorum, University of Bologna, Bologna, Italy.
- Department of Geography, Indiana University, Bloomington, IN, USA.
- USDA Forest Service, Pacific Northwest Research Station, Corvallis, OR, USA.
- School of Natural Resources and the Environment, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ, USA.
- Centre d’étude de la forêt, Université du Québec à Montréal, C.P. 8888, Succursale Centre-ville, Montréal, Quebec H3C 3P8, Canada.; Département Science et Technologie, Téluq, Université du Québec, Bureau 1105, Montréal, Quebec H2S 3L5, Canada.
- Department of Biological Sciences, University of Notre Dame, Notre Dame, IN, USA.
- Geology Institute, National Autonomous University of Mexico, Coyoacán, CDMX, Mexico.
- Graduate School of Life and Environmental Sciences, Osaka Prefecture University, 1-1 Gakuen-cho, Naka-ku, Sakai 599-8531, Japan.
- Department of Ecology, Montana State University, Bozeman, MT, USA.
- Earth and Life Institute, Université Catholique de Louvain, Louvain-la-Neuve, Belgium.
- College of Forest Resources and Environmental Science, Michigan Technological University, Houghton, MI, USA.
- Department of Ecology, W. Szafer Institute of Botany, Polish Academy of Sciences, 31-512 Kraków, Poland.
Uncertainties surrounding tree carbon allocation to growth are a major limitation to projections of forest carbon sequestration and response to climate change. The prevalence and extent to which carbon assimilation (source) or cambial activity (sink) mediate wood production are fundamentally important and remain elusive. We quantified source-sink relations across biomes by combining eddy-covariance gross primary production with extensive on-site and regional tree ring observations. We found widespread temporal decoupling between carbon assimilation and tree growth, underpinned by contrasting climatic sensitivities of these two processes. Substantial differences in assimilation-growth decoupling between angiosperms and gymnosperms were determined, as well as stronger decoupling with canopy closure, aridity, and decreasing temperatures. Our results reveal pervasive sink control over tree growth that is likely to be increasingly prominent under global climate change.
- Research Organization:
- Univ. of Arizona, Tucson, AZ (United States); Univ. of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT (United States)
- Sponsoring Organization:
- USDOE Office of Science (SC)
- DOE Contract Number:
- SC0010611; SC0022052
- OSTI ID:
- 1980739
- Journal Information:
- Science, Vol. 376, Issue 6594; ISSN 0036-8075
- Publisher:
- AAAS
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
Similar Records
What drives forest carbon storage? The ramifications of source–sink decoupling
Tree Mortality Decreases Water Availability and Ecosystem Resilience to Drought in Piñon-Juniper Woodlands in the Southwestern U.S.: Tree Mortality in Semiarid Biomes