In evergreen tropical forests, the extent, magnitude, and controls on photosynthetic seasonality are poorly resolved and inadequately represented in Earth system models. Combining camera observations with ecosystem carbon dioxide fluxes at forests across rainfall gradients in Amazônia, we show that aggregate canopy phenology, not seasonality of climate drivers, is the primary cause of photosynthetic seasonality in these forests. Specifically, synchronization of new leaf growth with dry season litterfall shifts canopy composition toward younger, more light-use efficient leaves, explaining large seasonal increases (~27%) in ecosystem photosynthesis. Coordinated leaf development and demography thus reconcile seemingly disparate observations at different scales and indicate that accounting for leaf-level phenology is critical for accurately simulating ecosystem-scale responses to climate change.

No abstract

Abstract. Tropical rainforests are an important source of isoprenoid and other volatile organic compound (VOC) emissions to the atmosphere. The seasonal variation of these compounds is however still poorly understood. In this study, vertical profiles of mixing ratios of isoprene, total monoterpenes and total sesquiterpenes, were measured within and above the canopy, in a primary rainforest in central Amazonia, using a proton transfer reaction -mass spectrometer (PTR-MS). Fluxes of these compounds from the canopy into the atmosphere were estimated from PTR-MS measurements by using an inverse Lagrangian transport model. Measurements were carried out continuously from September 2010 to January 2011, encompassing the dry and wet seasons. Mixing ratios were higher during the dry (isoprene -2.68 ± 0.9 ppbv, total monoterpenes -0.67 ± 0.3 ppbv; total sesquiterpenes -0.09 ± 0.07 ppbv) than the wet season (isoprene -1.66 ± 0.9 ppbv, total monoterpenes -0.47 ± 0.2 ppbv; total sesquiterpenes -0.03±0.02 ppbv) for all compounds. Ambient air temperature and photosynthetically active radiation (PAR) behaved similarly. Daytime isoprene and total monoterpene mixing ratios were highest within the canopy, rather than near the ground or above the canopy. By comparison, daytime total sesquiterpene mixing ratios were highest near the ground. Daytime fluxes varied significantly between seasons for all compounds. The maximums for isoprene (2.53 ± 0.5 µmol m −2 h −1 ) and total monoterpenes (1.77 ± 0.05 µmol m −2 h −1 ) were observed in the late dry season, whereas the maximum for total sesquiterpenes Published by Copernicus Publications on behalf of the European Geosciences Union. E. G. Alves et al.: Seasonality of isoprenoid emissions from a primary rainforest, Amazoniawas found during the dry-to-wet transition season (0.77 ± 0.1 µmol m −2 h −1 ). These flux estimates suggest that the canopy is the main source of isoprenoids emitted into the atmosphere for all seasons. However, uncertainties in turbulence parameterization near the ground could affect estimates of fluxes that come from the ground. Leaf phenology seemed to be an important driver of seasonal variation of isoprenoid emissions. Although remote sensing observations of changes in leaf area index were used to estimate leaf phenology, MEGAN 2.1 did not fully capture the behavior of seasonal emissions observed in this study. This could be a result of very local effects on the observed emissions, but also suggest that other parameters need to be better determined in biogenic volatile organic compound (BVOC) models. Our results support established findings that seasonality of isoprenoids are driven by seasonal changes in light, temperature and leaf phenology. However, they suggest that leaf phenology and its role on isoprenoid production and emission from tropical plant species needs to be better understood in order to develop mechanistic explanations for seasonal variation in emissions. This also may reduce the uncertainties of model estimates associated with the responses to en...

Abstract. Isoprene fluxes vary seasonally with changes in environmental factors (e.g., solar radiation and temperature) and biological factors (e.g., leaf phenology). However, our understanding of the seasonal patterns of isoprene fluxes and the associated mechanistic controls is still limited, especially in Amazonian evergreen forests. In this paper, we aim to connect intensive, field-based measurements of canopy isoprene flux over a central Amazonian evergreen forest site with meteorological observations and with tower-mounted camera leaf phenology to improve our understanding of patterns and causes of isoprene flux seasonality. Our results demonstrate that the highest isoprene emissions are observed during the dry and dry-to-wet transition seasons, whereas the lowest emissions were found during the wet-to-dry transition season. Our results also indicate that light and temperature cannot totally explain isoprene flux seasonality. Instead, the camera-derived leaf area index (LAI) of recently mature leaf age class (e.g., leaf ages of 3–5 months) exhibits the highest correlation with observed isoprene flux seasonality (R2=0.59, p<0.05). Attempting to better represent leaf phenology in the Model of Emissions of Gases and Aerosols from Nature (MEGAN 2.1), we improved the leaf age algorithm by utilizing results from the camera-derived leaf phenology that provided LAI categorized into three different leaf ages. The model results show that the observations of age-dependent isoprene emission capacity, in conjunction with camera-derived leaf age demography, significantly improved simulations in terms of seasonal variations in isoprene fluxes (R2=0.52, p<0.05). This study highlights the importance of accounting for differences in isoprene emission capacity across canopy leaf age classes and identifying forest adaptive mechanisms that underlie seasonal variation in isoprene emissions in Amazonia.

Non-structural carbohydrates (NSC) are major substrates for plant metabolism and have been implicated in mediating drought-induced tree mortality. Despite their significance, NSC dynamics in tropical forests remain little studied. We present leaf and branch NSC data for 82 Amazon canopy tree species in six sites spanning a broad precipitation gradient. During the wet season, total NSC (NSCT) concentrations in both organs were remarkably similar across communities. However, NSCT and its soluble sugar (SS) and starch components varied much more across sites during the dry season. Notably, the proportion of leaf NSCT in the form of SS (SS:NSCT) increased greatly in the dry season in almost all species in the driest sites, implying an important role of SS in mediating water stress in these sites. This adjustment of leaf NSC balance was not observed in tree species less-adapted to water deficit, even under exceptionally dry conditions. Thus, leaf carbon metabolism may help to explain floristic sorting across water availability gradients in Amazonia and enable better prediction of forest responses to future climate change.