Huntingford CAtkin OKMartinez-De La Torre AMercado LMHeskel MAHarper ABBloomfield KJO'Sullivan OSReich PBWythers KRButler EEChen MGriffin KLMeir PTjoelker MGTurnbull MHSitch SWiltshire AMalhi Y2018-05-212018-05-212017Huntingford 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 8:1602.2041-17232041-1723http://hdl.handle.net/10092/15406© 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.enOpen Access This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article’s Creative Commons license, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article’s Creative Commons license and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/ licenses/by/4.0/.Journal Article2018-01-04Field of Research::05 - Environmental Sciences::0501 - Ecological Applications::050101 - Ecological Impacts of Climate ChangeField of Research::06 - Biological Sciences::0607 - Plant Biology::060705 - Plant PhysiologyField of Research::04 - Earth Sciences::0401 - Atmospheric Scienceshttps://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-017-01774-z