Implications of improved representations of plant respiration in a changing climate

Type of content
Journal Article
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Journal Title
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Volume Title
Language
English
Date
2017
Authors
Huntingford C
Atkin OK
Martinez-De La Torre A
Mercado LM
Heskel MA
Harper AB
Bloomfield KJ
O'Sullivan OS
Reich PB
Wythers KR
Abstract

© 2017 The Author(s). Land-atmosphere exchanges influence atmospheric CO 2 . Emphasis has been on describing photosynthetic CO 2 uptake, but less on respiration losses. New global datasets describe upper canopy dark respiration (R d ) and temperature dependencies. This allows characterisation of baseline R d , instantaneous temperature responses and longer-term thermal acclimation effects. Here we show the global implications of these parameterisations with a global gridded land model. This model aggregates R d to whole-plant respiration R p , driven with meteorological forcings spanning uncertainty across climate change models. For pre-industrial estimates, new baseline R d increases R p and especially in the tropics. Compared to new baseline, revised instantaneous response decreases R p for mid-latitudes, while acclimation lowers this for the tropics with increases elsewhere. Under global warming, new R d estimates amplify modelled respiration increases, although partially lowered by acclimation. Future measurements will refine how R d aggregates to whole-plant respiration. Our analysis suggests R p could be around 30% higher than existing estimates.

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Citation
Huntingford C, Atkin O, Martinez-de la Torre A, Mercado L, Heskel M, Harper A, Bloomfield K, O'Sullivan O, Reich P, Wythers K, Butler E, Chen M, Griffin K, Meir P, Tjoelker M, Turnbull M, Sitch S, Wiltshire A, Malhi Y (2017). Implications of improved representations of plant respiration in a changing climate. Nature Communications 8:1602.
Keywords
Ngā upoko tukutuku/Māori subject headings
ANZSRC fields of research
Field of Research::05 - Environmental Sciences::0501 - Ecological Applications::050101 - Ecological Impacts of Climate Change
Field of Research::06 - Biological Sciences::0607 - Plant Biology::060705 - Plant Physiology
Field of Research::04 - Earth Sciences::0401 - Atmospheric Sciences
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