Representing leaf and root physiological traits in CLM improves global carbon and nitrogen cycling predictions
Abstract
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 improvedmore »
- Authors:
-
- Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States). Earth Sciences Division
- Univ. of California, Irvine, CA (United States). Dept. of Earth System Science
- Publication Date:
- Research Org.:
- Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States)
- Sponsoring Org.:
- USDOE Office of Science (SC), Biological and Environmental Research (BER)
- OSTI Identifier:
- 1379371
- Grant/Contract Number:
- AC02-05CH11231
- Resource Type:
- Accepted Manuscript
- Journal Name:
- Journal of Advances in Modeling Earth Systems
- Additional Journal Information:
- Journal Volume: 8; Journal Issue: 2; Journal ID: ISSN 1942-2466
- Publisher:
- American Geophysical Union (AGU)
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
- Subject:
- 54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES
Citation Formats
Ghimire, Bardan, Riley, William J., Koven, Charles D., Mu, Mingquan, and Randerson, James T. Representing leaf and root physiological traits in CLM improves global carbon and nitrogen cycling predictions. United States: N. p., 2016.
Web. doi:10.1002/2015MS000538.
Ghimire, Bardan, Riley, William J., Koven, Charles D., Mu, Mingquan, & Randerson, James T. Representing leaf and root physiological traits in CLM improves global carbon and nitrogen cycling predictions. United States. https://doi.org/10.1002/2015MS000538
Ghimire, Bardan, Riley, William J., Koven, Charles D., Mu, Mingquan, and Randerson, James T. Sun .
"Representing leaf and root physiological traits in CLM improves global carbon and nitrogen cycling predictions". United States. https://doi.org/10.1002/2015MS000538. https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1379371.
@article{osti_1379371,
title = {Representing leaf and root physiological traits in CLM improves global carbon and nitrogen cycling predictions},
author = {Ghimire, Bardan and Riley, William J. and Koven, Charles D. and Mu, Mingquan and Randerson, James T.},
abstractNote = {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.},
doi = {10.1002/2015MS000538},
journal = {Journal of Advances in Modeling Earth Systems},
number = 2,
volume = 8,
place = {United States},
year = {Sun May 01 00:00:00 EDT 2016},
month = {Sun May 01 00:00:00 EDT 2016}
}
Free Publicly Available Full Text
Publisher's Version of Record
Other availability
Search WorldCat to find libraries that may hold this journal
Cited by: 57 works
Citation information provided by
Web of Science
Web of Science
Save to My Library
You must Sign In or Create an Account in order to save documents to your library.
Works referenced in this record:
Evaluation of ecosystem dynamics, plant geography and terrestrial carbon cycling in the LPJ dynamic global vegetation model
journal, February 2003
- Sitch, S.; Smith, B.; Prentice, I. C.
- Global Change Biology, Vol. 9, Issue 2
Carbon-nitrogen interactions regulate climate-carbon cycle feedbacks: results from an atmosphere-ocean general circulation model
journal, January 2009
- Thornton, P. E.; Doney, S. C.; Lindsay, K.
- Biogeosciences, Vol. 6, Issue 10
Improving the representation of roots in terrestrial models
journal, November 2014
- Smithwick, Erica A. H.; Lucash, Melissa S.; McCormack, M. Luke
- Ecological Modelling, Vol. 291
A global model of carbon, nitrogen and phosphorus cycles for the terrestrial biosphere
journal, January 2010
- Wang, Y. P.; Law, R. M.; Pak, B.
- Biogeosciences, Vol. 7, Issue 7
Improving canopy processes in the Community Land Model version 4 (CLM4) using global flux fields empirically inferred from FLUXNET data
journal, January 2011
- Bonan, Gordon B.; Lawrence, Peter J.; Oleson, Keith W.
- Journal of Geophysical Research, Vol. 116, Issue G2
Influence of carbon-nitrogen cycle coupling on land model response to CO 2 fertilization and climate variability : INFLUENCE OF CARBON-NITROGEN COUPLING
journal, December 2007
- Thornton, Peter E.; Lamarque, Jean-François; Rosenbloom, Nan A.
- Global Biogeochemical Cycles, Vol. 21, Issue 4
Recent decline in the global land evapotranspiration trend due to limited moisture supply
journal, October 2010
- Jung, Martin; Reichstein, Markus; Ciais, Philippe
- Nature, Vol. 467, Issue 7318
Root nitrogen acquisition and assimilation
book, January 2005
- Miller, A. J.; Cramer, M. D.
- Plant Ecophysiology
Redefining fine roots improves understanding of below-ground contributions to terrestrial biosphere processes
journal, March 2015
- McCormack, M. Luke; Dickie, Ian A.; Eissenstat, David M.
- New Phytologist, Vol. 207, Issue 3
Multiple soil nutrient competition between plants, microbes, and mineral surfaces: model development, parameterization, and example applications in several tropical forests
journal, January 2015
- Zhu, Q.; Riley, W. J.; Tang, J.
- Biogeosciences Discussions, Vol. 12, Issue 5
Assessing future nitrogen deposition and carbon cycle feedback using a multimodel approach: Analysis of nitrogen deposition
journal, January 2005
- Lamarque, J. -F.
- Journal of Geophysical Research, Vol. 110, Issue D19
Terrestrial Gross Carbon Dioxide Uptake: Global Distribution and Covariation with Climate
journal, July 2010
- Beer, C.; Reichstein, M.; Tomelleri, E.
- Science, Vol. 329, Issue 5993
The North American Carbon Program Multi-Scale Synthesis and Terrestrial Model Intercomparison Project – Part 1: Overview and experimental design
journal, January 2013
- Huntzinger, D. N.; Schwalm, C.; Michalak, A. M.
- Geoscientific Model Development, Vol. 6, Issue 6
Carbon and nitrogen cycle dynamics in the O-CN land surface model: 1. Model description, site-scale evaluation, and sensitivity to parameter estimates: SITE-SCALE EVALUATION OF A C-N MODEL
journal, February 2010
- Zaehle, S.; Friend, A. D.
- Global Biogeochemical Cycles, Vol. 24, Issue 1
Nitrogen limitation on land and in the sea: How can it occur?
journal, January 1991
- Vitousek, PeterM.; Howarth, RobertW.
- Biogeochemistry, Vol. 13, Issue 2
From tropics to tundra: Global convergence in plant functioning
journal, December 1997
- Reich, P. B.; Walters, M. B.; Ellsworth, D. S.
- Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Vol. 94, Issue 25
Improved modelling of soil nitrogen losses
journal, July 2015
- Zhu, Qing; Riley, William J.
- Nature Climate Change, Vol. 5, Issue 8
A global scale mechanistic model of the photosynthetic capacity
journal, January 2015
- Ali, A. A.; Xu, C.; Rogers, A.
- Geoscientific Model Development Discussions, Vol. 8, Issue 8
A framework for benchmarking land models
journal, January 2012
- Luo, Y. Q.; Randerson, J. T.; Abramowitz, G.
- Biogeosciences, Vol. 9, Issue 10
Benchmark map of forest carbon stocks in tropical regions across three continents
journal, May 2011
- Saatchi, S. S.; Harris, N. L.; Brown, S.
- Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Vol. 108, Issue 24
Photosynthesis and nitrogen relationships in leaves of C3 plants
journal, January 1989
- Evans, John R.
- Oecologia, Vol. 78, Issue 1
The use and misuse of V c,max in Earth System Models
journal, April 2013
- Rogers, Alistair
- Photosynthesis Research, Vol. 119, Issue 1-2
Competition for nitrogen between plants and soil microorganisms
journal, April 1997
- Kaye, Jason P.; Hart, Stephen C.
- Trends in Ecology & Evolution, Vol. 12, Issue 4
Uptake, assimilation and transport of nitrogen compounds by plants
journal, January 1973
- Pate, J. S.
- Soil Biology and Biochemistry, Vol. 5, Issue 1
Root structural and functional dynamics in terrestrial biosphere models - evaluation and recommendations
journal, September 2014
- Warren, Jeffrey M.; Hanson, Paul J.; Iversen, Colleen M.
- New Phytologist, Vol. 205, Issue 1
The allocation of ecosystem net primary productivity in tropical forests
journal, November 2011
- Malhi, Yadvinder; Doughty, Christopher; Galbraith, David
- Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, Vol. 366, Issue 1582
The Globalization of Nitrogen Deposition: Consequences for Terrestrial Ecosystems
journal, March 2002
- Matson, Pamela; Lohse, Kathleen A.; Hall, Sharon J.
- AMBIO: A Journal of the Human Environment, Vol. 31, Issue 2
Simulation of Global Land Surface Conditions from 1948 to 2004. Part I: Forcing Data and Evaluations
journal, October 2006
- Qian, Taotao; Dai, Aiguo; Trenberth, Kevin E.
- Journal of Hydrometeorology, Vol. 7, Issue 5
TRY - a global database of plant traits: TRY - A GLOBAL DATABASE OF PLANT TRAITS
journal, June 2011
- Kattge, J.; DÍAz, S.; Lavorel, S.
- Global Change Biology, Vol. 17, Issue 9
An Improved Canopy Integration Scheme for a Land Surface Model with Prognostic Canopy Structure
journal, August 2007
- Thornton, Peter E.; Zimmermann, Niklaus E.
- Journal of Climate, Vol. 20, Issue 15
Coupling dynamic models of climate and vegetation
journal, June 1998
- Foley, Jonathan A.; Levis, Samuel; Prentice, I. Colin
- Global Change Biology, Vol. 4, Issue 5
Insights into mechanisms governing forest carbon response to nitrogen deposition: a model–data comparison using observed responses to nitrogen addition
journal, January 2013
- Thomas, R. Q.; Bonan, G. B.; Goodale, C. L.
- Biogeosciences, Vol. 10, Issue 6
Evaluation of 11 terrestrial carbon-nitrogen cycle models against observations from two temperate Free-Air CO 2 Enrichment studies
journal, January 2014
- Zaehle, Sönke; Medlyn, Belinda E.; De Kauwe, Martin G.
- New Phytologist, Vol. 202, Issue 3
Effects of Nitrogen Nutrition on Nitrogen Partitioning between Chloroplasts and Mitochondria in Pea and Wheat
journal, June 1991
- Makino, Amane; Osmond, Barry
- Plant Physiology, Vol. 96, Issue 2
Plant root distributions and nitrogen uptake predicted by a hypothesis of optimal root foraging: Optimal Root Foraging
journal, May 2012
- McMurtrie, Ross E.; Iversen, Colleen M.; Dewar, Roderick C.
- Ecology and Evolution, Vol. 2, Issue 6
Nitrogen limitation of microbial decomposition in a grassland under elevated CO2
journal, January 2001
- Hu, S.; Chapin, F. S.; Firestone, M. K.
- Nature, Vol. 409, Issue 6817
Coupling of nutrient cycling and carbon dynamics in the Arctic, integration of soil microbial and plant processes
journal, February 1999
- Jonasson, Sven; Michelsen, Anders; Schmidt, Inger K.
- Applied Soil Ecology, Vol. 11, Issue 2-3
Net ecosystem productivity of temperate and boreal forests after clearcutting—a Fluxnet-Canada measurement and modelling synthesis
journal, January 2010
- Grant, R. F.; Barr, A. G.; Black, T. A.
- Tellus B: Chemical and Physical Meteorology, Vol. 62, Issue 5
Barriers to predicting changes in global terrestrial methane fluxes: analyses using CLM4Me, a methane biogeochemistry model integrated in CESM
journal, January 2011
- Riley, W. J.; Subin, Z. M.; Lawrence, D. M.
- Biogeosciences, Vol. 8, Issue 7
Climate–Carbon Cycle Feedback Analysis: Results from the C 4 MIP Model Intercomparison
journal, July 2006
- Friedlingstein, P.; Cox, P.; Betts, R.
- Journal of Climate, Vol. 19, Issue 14
Nitrogen limitation constrains sustainability of ecosystem response to CO2
journal, April 2006
- Reich, Peter B.; Hobbie, Sarah E.; Lee, Tali
- Nature, Vol. 440, Issue 7086
Weaker soil carbon–climate feedbacks resulting from microbial and abiotic interactions
journal, November 2014
- Tang, Jinyun; Riley, William J.
- Nature Climate Change, Vol. 5, Issue 1
Carbon cost of plant nitrogen acquisition: A mechanistic, globally applicable model of plant nitrogen uptake, retranslocation, and fixation: CARBON COST OF PLANT N ACQUISITION
journal, March 2010
- Fisher, J. B.; Sitch, S.; Malhi, Y.
- Global Biogeochemical Cycles, Vol. 24, Issue 1
Mycorrhizas and nutrient cycling in ecosystems - a journey towards relevance?
journal, March 2003
- Read, D. J.; Perez-Moreno, J.
- New Phytologist, Vol. 157, Issue 3
Forests and Climate Change: Forcings, Feedbacks, and the Climate Benefits of Forests
journal, June 2008
- Bonan, G. B.
- Science, Vol. 320, Issue 5882
The effect of vertically resolved soil biogeochemistry and alternate soil C and N models on C dynamics of CLM4
journal, January 2013
- Koven, C. D.; Riley, W. J.; Subin, Z. M.
- Biogeosciences, Vol. 10, Issue 11
A Method for Scaling Vegetation Dynamics: the Ecosystem Demography Model (ed)
journal, November 2001
- Moorcroft, P. R.; Hurtt, G. C.; Pacala, S. W.
- Ecological Monographs, Vol. 71, Issue 4
Global Data Sets of Vegetation Leaf Area Index (LAI)3g and Fraction of Photosynthetically Active Radiation (FPAR)3g Derived from Global Inventory Modeling and Mapping Studies (GIMMS) Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI3g) for the Period 1981 to 2011
journal, February 2013
- Zhu, Zaichun; Bi, Jian; Pan, Yaozhong
- Remote Sensing, Vol. 5, Issue 2
Temperature acclimation in a biochemical model of photosynthesis: a reanalysis of data from 36 species
journal, September 2007
- Kattge, Jens; Knorr, Wolfgang
- Plant, Cell & Environment, Vol. 30, Issue 9
A total quasi-steady-state formulation of substrate uptake kinetics in complex networks and an example application to microbial litter decomposition
journal, January 2013
- Tang, J. Y.; Riley, W. J.
- Biogeosciences, Vol. 10, Issue 12
A biochemical model of photosynthetic CO2 assimilation in leaves of C3 species
journal, June 1980
- Farquhar, G. D.; von Caemmerer, S.; Berry, J. A.
- Planta, Vol. 149, Issue 1
The underpinnings of land-use history: three centuries of global gridded land-use transitions, wood-harvest activity, and resulting secondary lands
journal, July 2006
- Hurtt, G. C.; Frolking, S.; Fearon, M. G.
- Global Change Biology, Vol. 12, Issue 7
A model-data comparison of gross primary productivity: Results from the North American Carbon Program site synthesis: A MODEL-DATA COMPARISON OF GPP
journal, July 2012
- Schaefer, Kevin; Schwalm, Christopher R.; Williams, Chris
- Journal of Geophysical Research: Biogeosciences, Vol. 117, Issue G3
Nitrogen Limitation of net Primary Productivity in Terrestrial Ecosystems is Globally Distributed
journal, February 2008
- LeBauer, David S.; Treseder, Kathleen K.
- Ecology, Vol. 89, Issue 2
A Simple Biosphere Model (SIB) for Use within General Circulation Models
journal, March 1986
- Sellers, P. J.; Mintz, Y.; Sud, Y. C.
- Journal of the Atmospheric Sciences, Vol. 43, Issue 6
Quantifying photosynthetic capacity and its relationship to leaf nitrogen content for global-scale terrestrial biosphere models
journal, April 2009
- Kattge, Jens; Knorr, Wolfgang; Raddatz, Thomas
- Global Change Biology, Vol. 15, Issue 4
A model using marginal efficiency of investment to analyze carbon and nitrogen interactions in terrestrial ecosystems (ACONITE Version 1)
journal, January 2014
- Thomas, R. Q.; Williams, M.
- Geoscientific Model Development, Vol. 7, Issue 5
Root Nitrogen Acquisition and Assimilation
journal, July 2005
- Miller, A. J.; Cramer, M. D.
- Plant and Soil, Vol. 274, Issue 1-2
A Method for Scaling Vegetation Dynamics: The Ecosystem Demography Model (ED)
journal, November 2001
- Moorcroft, P. R.; Hurtt, G. C.; Pacala, S. W.
- Ecological Monographs, Vol. 71, Issue 4
Coupling dynamic models of climate and vegetation
journal, June 1998
- Foley, Jonathan A.; Levis, Samuel; Prentice, Colin I.
- Global Change Biology, Vol. 4, Issue 5
Net ecosystem productivity of temperate and boreal forests after clearcutting–a Fluxnet-Canada measurement and modelling synthesis
journal, November 2010
- Grant, R. F.; Barr, A. G.; Black, T. A.
- Tellus B, Vol. 62, Issue 5
Barriers to predicting changes in global terrestrial methane fluxes: analyses using CLM4Me, a methane biogeochemistry model integrated in CESM
journal, January 2011
- Riley, W. J.; Subin, Z. M.; Lawrence, D. M.
- Biogeosciences Discussions, Vol. 8, Issue 1
The North American Carbon Program Multi-scale synthesis and Terrestrial Model Intercomparison Project – Part 1: Overview and experimental design
journal, January 2013
- Huntzinger, D. N.; Schwalm, C.; Michalak, A. M.
- Geoscientific Model Development Discussions, Vol. 6, Issue 3
A model using marginal efficiency of investment to analyse carbon and nitrogen interactions in terrestrial ecosystems (ACONITE Version 1)
journal, January 2014
- Thomas, R. Q.; Williams, M.
- Geoscientific Model Development Discussions, Vol. 7, Issue 2
Multiple soil nutrient competition between plants, microbes, and mineral surfaces: model development, parameterization, and example applications in several tropical forests
journal, January 2016
- Zhu, Q.; Riley, W. J.; Tang, J.
- Biogeosciences, Vol. 13, Issue 1
A global model of carbon, nitrogen and phosphorus cycles for the terrestrial biosphere
journal, January 2009
- Wang, Y. P.; Law, R. M.; Pak, B.
- Biogeosciences Discussions, Vol. 6, Issue 5
Works referencing / citing this record:
Evaluating the Interplay Between Biophysical Processes and Leaf Area Changes in Land Surface Models
journal, May 2018
- Forzieri, Giovanni; Duveiller, Gregory; Georgievski, Goran
- Journal of Advances in Modeling Earth Systems, Vol. 10, Issue 5
Weaker land–climate feedbacks from nutrient uptake during photosynthesis-inactive periods
journal, October 2018
- Riley, W. J.; Zhu, Q.; Tang, J. Y.
- Nature Climate Change, Vol. 8, Issue 11
Divergent patterns of experimental and model-derived permafrost ecosystem carbon dynamics in response to Arctic warming
journal, October 2018
- Schädel, Christina; Koven, Charles D.; Lawrence, David M.
- Environmental Research Letters, Vol. 13, Issue 10
Using research networks to create the comprehensive datasets needed to assess nutrient availability as a key determinant of terrestrial carbon cycling
journal, December 2018
- Vicca, Sara; Stocker, Benjamin D.; Reed, Sasha
- Environmental Research Letters, Vol. 13, Issue 12
Building a better foundation: improving root-trait measurements to understand and model plant and ecosystem processes
journal, March 2017
- McCormack, M. Luke; Guo, Dali; Iversen, Colleen M.
- New Phytologist, Vol. 215, Issue 1
Earth System Model Needs for Including the Interactive Representation of Nitrogen Deposition and Drought Effects on Forested Ecosystems
journal, July 2017
- Drewniak, Beth; Gonzalez-Meler, Miquel
- Forests, Vol. 8, Issue 8
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
- Keller, Kathrin M.; Lienert, Sebastian; Bozbiyik, Anil
- Biogeosciences, Vol. 14, Issue 10
Decadal fates and impacts of nitrogen additions on temperate forest carbon storage: a data–model comparison
journal, January 2019
- Cheng, Susan J.; Hess, Peter G.; Wieder, William R.
- Biogeosciences, Vol. 16, Issue 13
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
- Bisht, Gautam; Riley, William J.; Wainwright, Haruko M.
- Geoscientific Model Development, Vol. 11, Issue 1
The quasi-equilibrium framework revisited: analyzing long-term CO2 enrichment responses in plant–soil models
journal, January 2019
- Jiang, Mingkai; Zaehle, Sönke; De Kauwe, Martin G.
- Geoscientific Model Development, Vol. 12, Issue 5
Large carbon cycle sensitivities to climate across a permafrost thaw gradient in subarctic Sweden
journal, January 2019
- Chang, Kuang-Yu; Riley, William J.; Crill, Patrick M.
- The Cryosphere, Vol. 13, Issue 2
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
- Koven, Charles D.; Leuenberger, Markus; Siegwolf, Rolf
- European Geosciences Union
Evaluating the Interplay Between Biophysical Processes and Leaf Area Changes in Land Surface Models
text, January 2018
- Forzieri, Giovanni; Duveiller, Gregory; Georgievski, Goran
- Karlsruhe