Spatial and temporal variations in plant water-use efficiency inferred from tree-ring, eddy covariance and atmospheric observations
Abstract
Plant water-use efficiency (WUE), which is the ratio of the uptake of carbon dioxide through photosynthesis to the loss of water through transpiration, is a very useful metric of the functioning of the land biosphere. WUE is expected to increase with atmospheric CO2, but to decline with increasing atmospheric evaporative demand – which can arise from increases in near-surface temperature or decreases in relative humidity. We have used Δ13C measurements from tree rings, along with eddy covariance measurements from Fluxnet sites, to estimate the sensitivities of WUE to changes in CO2 and atmospheric humidity deficit. This enables us to reconstruct fractional changes in WUE, based on changes in atmospheric climate and CO2, for the entire period of the instrumental global climate record. We estimate that overall WUE increased from 1900 to 2010 by 48 ± 22 %, which is more than double that simulated by the latest Earth System Models. This long-term trend is largely driven by increases in CO2, but significant inter-annual variability and regional differences are evident due to variations in temperature and relative humidity. Here, there are several highly populated regions, such as western Europe and East Asia, where the rate of increase of WUE has declined sharplymore »
- Authors:
-
- Utrecht Univ., Utrecht (The Netherlands)
- Univ. of Exeter, Exeter (United Kingdom)
- Met Office Hadley Centre, Exeter (United Kingdom)
- Centre for Ecology and Hydrology, Wallingford (United Kingdom)
- Publication Date:
- Research Org.:
- Oregon State Univ., Corvallis, OR (United States)
- Sponsoring Org.:
- USDOE Office of Science (SC), Biological and Environmental Research (BER); National Science Foundation (NSF)
- OSTI Identifier:
- 1313713
- Grant/Contract Number:
- FG02-04ER63917; FG02-04ER63911
- Resource Type:
- Accepted Manuscript
- Journal Name:
- Earth System Dynamics (Online)
- Additional Journal Information:
- Journal Name: Earth System Dynamics (Online); Journal Volume: 7; Journal Issue: 2; Journal ID: ISSN 2190-4987
- Publisher:
- European Geosciences Union
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
- Subject:
- 58 GEOSCIENCES; 54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES
Citation Formats
Dekker, Stefan C., Groenendijk, Margriet, Booth, Ben B. B., Huntingford, Chris, and Cox, Peter M. Spatial and temporal variations in plant water-use efficiency inferred from tree-ring, eddy covariance and atmospheric observations. United States: N. p., 2016.
Web. doi:10.5194/esd-7-525-2016.
Dekker, Stefan C., Groenendijk, Margriet, Booth, Ben B. B., Huntingford, Chris, & Cox, Peter M. Spatial and temporal variations in plant water-use efficiency inferred from tree-ring, eddy covariance and atmospheric observations. United States. https://doi.org/10.5194/esd-7-525-2016
Dekker, Stefan C., Groenendijk, Margriet, Booth, Ben B. B., Huntingford, Chris, and Cox, Peter M. Tue .
"Spatial and temporal variations in plant water-use efficiency inferred from tree-ring, eddy covariance and atmospheric observations". United States. https://doi.org/10.5194/esd-7-525-2016. https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1313713.
@article{osti_1313713,
title = {Spatial and temporal variations in plant water-use efficiency inferred from tree-ring, eddy covariance and atmospheric observations},
author = {Dekker, Stefan C. and Groenendijk, Margriet and Booth, Ben B. B. and Huntingford, Chris and Cox, Peter M.},
abstractNote = {Plant water-use efficiency (WUE), which is the ratio of the uptake of carbon dioxide through photosynthesis to the loss of water through transpiration, is a very useful metric of the functioning of the land biosphere. WUE is expected to increase with atmospheric CO2, but to decline with increasing atmospheric evaporative demand – which can arise from increases in near-surface temperature or decreases in relative humidity. We have used Δ13C measurements from tree rings, along with eddy covariance measurements from Fluxnet sites, to estimate the sensitivities of WUE to changes in CO2 and atmospheric humidity deficit. This enables us to reconstruct fractional changes in WUE, based on changes in atmospheric climate and CO2, for the entire period of the instrumental global climate record. We estimate that overall WUE increased from 1900 to 2010 by 48 ± 22 %, which is more than double that simulated by the latest Earth System Models. This long-term trend is largely driven by increases in CO2, but significant inter-annual variability and regional differences are evident due to variations in temperature and relative humidity. Here, there are several highly populated regions, such as western Europe and East Asia, where the rate of increase of WUE has declined sharply in the last 2 decades. Our data-based analysis indicates increases in WUE that typically exceed those simulated by Earth System Models – implying that these models are either underestimating increases in photosynthesis or underestimating reductions in transpiration.},
doi = {10.5194/esd-7-525-2016},
journal = {Earth System Dynamics (Online)},
number = 2,
volume = 7,
place = {United States},
year = {Tue Jun 28 00:00:00 EDT 2016},
month = {Tue Jun 28 00:00:00 EDT 2016}
}
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