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Title: Photosynthetic responses to temperature across the tropics: a meta-analytic approach

Journal Article · · Annals of Botany
ORCiD logo [1]; ORCiD logo [2]; ORCiD logo [3];  [3]; ORCiD logo [4];  [5]; ORCiD logo [5]; ORCiD logo [6]; ORCiD logo [7]; ORCiD logo [8];  [3];  [9];  [2]; ORCiD logo [5]; ORCiD logo [10]; ORCiD logo [11];  [12]; ORCiD logo [13]; ORCiD logo [14]; ORCiD logo [8] more »; ORCiD logo [15]; ORCiD logo [16]; ORCiD logo [2];  [17]; ORCiD logo [18]; ORCiD logo [19]; ORCiD logo [20]; ORCiD logo [16]; ORCiD logo [21]; ORCiD logo [22] « less
  1. Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States); Michigan Technological Univ., Houghton, MI (United States)
  2. Michigan Technological Univ., Houghton, MI (United States)
  3. Australian National Univ., Canberra, ACT (Australia)
  4. James Cook University, Cairns, QLD (Australia)
  5. Univ. of Western Sydney, NSW (Australia). Hawkesbury Institute for the Environment
  6. Northern Arizona Univ., Flagstaff, AZ (United States)
  7. Australian National Univ., Canberra, ACT (Australia); Mount Allison Univ., Sackville, NB (Canada)
  8. Brookhaven National Laboratory (BNL), Upton, NY (United States); Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States)
  9. USDA Forest Service, Rio Piedras, PR (United States). International Institute of Tropical Forestry (IITF); Univ. of Puerto Rico, Río Piedras, PR (United States)
  10. Univ. of Edinburgh, Scotland (United Kingdom)
  11. Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States); Univ. of Tennessee, Knoxville, TN (United States)
  12. Monash Univ., Melbourne, VIC (Australia)
  13. US Geological Survey, Moab, UT (United States)
  14. Univ. of Western Sydney, NSW (Australia). Hawkesbury Institute for the Environment; Univ. of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI (United States); Univ. of Minnesota, Saint Paul, MN (United States)
  15. NASA Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC), Greenbelt, MD (United States)
  16. Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, Panama City (Panama)
  17. Univ. Federal do Oeste do Pará (UFOPA), Santarém (Brazil)
  18. Univ. of Gothenburg (Sweden)
  19. Western Sydney Univ., Penrith, NSW (Australia)
  20. Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States)
  21. USDA Forest Service, Rio Piedras, PR (United States). International Institute of Tropical Forestry (IITF)
  22. Univ. of Hong Kong, Pokfulam (Hong Kong)

Background and Aims Tropical forests exchange more carbon dioxide (CO2) with the atmosphere than any other terrestrial biome. Yet, uncertainty in the projected carbon balance over the next century is roughly three times greater for the tropics than other for ecosystems. Our limited knowledge of tropical plant physiological responses, including photosynthetic, to climate change is a substantial source of uncertainty in our ability to forecast the global terrestrial carbon sink. Methods Here, we used a meta-analytic approach, focusing on tropical photosynthetic temperature responses, to address this knowledge gap. Our dataset, gleaned from 18 independent studies, included leaf-level light-saturated photosynthetic (Asat) temperature responses from 108 woody species, with additional temperature parameters (35 species) and rates (250 species) of both maximum rates of electron transport (Jmax) and Rubisco carboxylation (Vcmax). We investigated how these parameters responded to mean annual temperature (MAT), temperature variability, aridity and elevation, as well as also how responses differed among successional strategy, leaf habit and light environment. Key Results Optimum temperatures for Asat (ToptA) and Jmax (ToptJ) increased with MAT but not for Vcmax (ToptV). Although photosynthetic rates were higher for ‘light’ than ‘shaded’ leaves, light conditions did not generate differences in temperature response parameters. ToptA did not differ with successional strategy, but early successional species had ~4 °C wider thermal niches than mid/late species. Semi-deciduous species had ~1 °C higher ToptA than broadleaf evergreen species. Most global modelling efforts consider all tropical forests as a single ‘broadleaf evergreen’ functional type, but our data show that tropical species with different leaf habits display distinct temperature responses that should be included in modelling efforts. Conclusions This novel research will inform modelling efforts to quantify tropical ecosystem carbon cycling and provide more accurate representations of how these key ecosystems will respond to altered temperature patterns in the face of climate warming.

Research Organization:
Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States); Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
National Science Foundation (NSF); USDOE Office of Science (SC), Biological and Environmental Research (BER). Earth & Environmental Systems Science (EESS)
Grant/Contract Number:
AC02-05CH11231; AC05-00OR22725; SC0011806; SC0012000; SC0012704; SC0018942
OSTI ID:
3013518
Journal Information:
Annals of Botany, Journal Name: Annals of Botany Journal Issue: 7 Vol. 135; ISSN 1095-8290; ISSN 0305-7364
Publisher:
Oxford University PressCopyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English

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