Historical changes in the stomatal limitation of photosynthesis: empirical support for an optimality principle

Lavergne, Aliénor; Voelker, Steven L.; Csank, A. Z.; Graven, Heather; Boer, Hugo J. de; Daux, Valérie; Robertson, Iain; Dorado‐Liñán, Isabel; Martínez-Sancho, Elisabet; Battipaglia, Giovanna; Bloomfield, Keith J.; Still, Christopher J.; Meinzer, Frederick C.; Dawson, Todd E.; Camarero, J. Julio; Clisby, Rory; Fang, Yunting; Menzel, Annette; Keen, R. A.; Roden, John S.; Prentice, Iain Colin

doi:10.1111/nph.16314

Cited by 48 publications

(65 citation statements)

References 115 publications

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“…Stomatal behaviour then minimises aE / A + bV cmax / A where a and b are the unit costs for transpiration and carboxylation capacity ( V cmax ), respectively (Prentice et al , 2014). The least‐cost hypothesis has been shown to generate realistic predictions of variation in both N area and χ in response to environmental variables, specifically site temperature during the growing season, vapour pressure deficit (VPD) and elevation (Wang et al , 2017; Dong et al , 2017a; Lavergne et al , 2020). Finally, the ‘coordination hypothesis’ states that the Rubisco‐ and electron transport‐limited rates of photosynthesis are co‐limiting under typical daytime conditions in the field (Chen et al , 1993; Dong et al , 2017a; Togashi et al , 2018).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Components of leaf‐trait variation along environmental gradients

et al. 2020

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Summary Leaf area (LA), mass per area (LMA), nitrogen per unit area (Narea) and the leaf‐internal to ambient CO2 ratio (χ) are fundamental traits for plant functional ecology and vegetation modelling. Here we aimed to assess how their variation, within and between species, tracks environmental gradients. Measurements were made on 705 species from 116 sites within a broad north–south transect from tropical to temperate Australia. Trait responses to environment were quantified using multiple regression; within‐ and between‐species responses were compared using analysis of covariance and trait‐gradient analysis. Leaf area, the leaf economics spectrum (indexed by LMA and Narea) and χ (from stable carbon isotope ratios) varied almost independently among species. Across sites, however, χ and LA increased with mean growing‐season temperature (mGDD0) and decreased with vapour pressure deficit (mVPD0) and soil pH. LMA and Narea showed the reverse pattern. Climate responses agreed with expectations based on optimality principles. Within‐species variability contributed < 10% to geographical variation in LA but > 90% for χ, with LMA and Narea intermediate. These findings support the hypothesis that acclimation within individuals, adaptation within species and selection among species combine to create predictable relationships between traits and environment. However, the contribution of acclimation/adaptation vs species selection differs among traits.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Components of leaf‐trait variation along environmental gradients

et al. 2020

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“…The inter-annual variations of vegetation productivity in semi-arid areas are closely related to drought and inter-annual variability of precipitation [9,10], and vegetation dynamics in turn exerts a strong controlling effect on regional water circulation [11]. Consequently, the terrestrial carbon and water cycles are strongly coupled in the semi-arid regions [12]. Understanding the relationship between plant production and water usage is critical for projecting the dynamics of semi-arid ecosystems and their responses to climate change.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Water use efficiency (WUE), defined as the amount of carbon fixed per unit of water transpired, measures the trade-off between carbon gain and water loss of terrestrial ecosystems [13], and has been used as a key indicator of the coupling of ecosystem carbon and water cycles. However, the variability of WUE and its controlling factors in semi-arid regions are not well understood [12,14].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Increased carbon uptake and water use efficiency in global semi-arid ecosystems

Zhang

Xiao

Zheng

et al. 2020

Environ. Res. Lett.

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The semi-arid ecosystems dominate the inter-annual variability of the global carbon sink and the driving role of semi-arid ecosystems is becoming increasingly important. However, the impacts of climate change on the dynamics of carbon and water fluxes in global semi-arid ecosystems are still not well understood. We used a data-driven (or machine learning) approach, along with observations from a number of FLUXNET sites and spatially continuous satellite and meteorological data, to generate gridded carbon and water flux estimates for semi-arid regions globally, and then examined the magnitude, spatial patterns, and trends of carbon and water fluxes and their responses to climate change during the period 1982-2015. The average annual gross primary productivity (GPP), net ecosystem productivity (NEP), evapotranspiration (ET), and water use efficiency (WUE) were 628.6 g C m −2 yr −1 , 9.6 g C m −2 yr −1 , 463.1 mm yr −1 , and 1.60 g C Kg −1 H 2 O, respectively. The climate conditions during the period 1982-2015 enhanced gross and net carbon uptake in global semi-arid regions. The spatially-averaged annual GPP, NEP, ET, and WUE in semi-arid regions showed significant increases both globally and regionally (Asia, Africa, and Australia). As with GPP and ET, WUE significantly increased in North America, Asia, Africa, and Australia. Australia was the most sensitive semi-arid region in terms of changes in carbon and water fluxes and their responses to climate. Semi-arid forests, shrublands, and savannas were net carbon sinks; croplands were minor carbon sources; grasslands were nearly carbon neutral. Overall, precipitation was the most important climate factor influencing the carbon and water fluxes; WUE in 40.9% of the semi-arid region was significantly influenced by precipitation. The global climate change is expected to influence global semi-arid ecosystems in many ways and our findings have implications for semi-arid ecosystem management and policy making.

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“…We calculated monthly mean daytime air T (°C) and D (kPa) at each site from monthly 0.5° resolution climate data provided by the Climatic Research Unit (CRU TS4.03; Harris et al., 2014), as in our previous study (Lavergne et al., 2020; see Text S1). Monthly atmospheric CO 2 concentrations ([CO 2 ], ppm) for the 1901–2018 period were obtained at each site by extrapolating monthly data extracted from the nearest grid cell of the CarbonTraker measurements and modelling system (2000–2018 period; 3° × 2° resolution; version CT2019 [Jacobson et al., 2020]; http://www.esrl.noaa.gov/gmd/ccgg/carbontracker/; last access July 2020) using a recent compilation based on ice core data and direct measurements (Köhler et al., 2017).…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Impacts of soil water stress on the acclimated stomatal limitation of photosynthesis: Insights from stable carbon isotope data

Lavergne

Sandoval

Hare

et al. 2020

Global Change Biology

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Atmospheric aridity and drought both influence physiological function in plant leaves, but their relative contributions to changes in the ratio of leaf internal to ambient partial pressure of CO2 (χ) – an index of adjustments in both stomatal conductance and photosynthetic rate to environmental conditions – are difficult to disentangle. Many stomatal models predicting χ include the influence of only one of these drivers. In particular, the least‐cost optimality hypothesis considers the effect of atmospheric demand for water on χ but does not predict how soils with reduced water further influence χ, potentially leading to an overestimation of χ under dry conditions. Here, we use a large network of stable carbon isotope measurements in C3 woody plants to examine the acclimated response of χ to soil water stress. We estimate the ratio of cost factors for carboxylation and transpiration (β) expected from the theory to explain the variance in the data, and investigate the responses of β (and thus χ) to soil water content and suction across seed plant groups, leaf phenological types and regions. Overall, β decreases linearly with soil drying, implying that the cost of water transport along the soil–plant–atmosphere continuum increases as water available in the soil decreases. However, despite contrasting hydraulic strategies, the stomatal responses of angiosperms and gymnosperms to soil water tend to converge, consistent with the optimality theory. The prediction of β as a simple, empirical function of soil water significantly improves χ predictions by up to 6.3 ± 2.3% (mean ± SD of adjusted‐R2) over 1980–2018 and results in a reduction of around 2% of mean χ values across the globe. Our results highlight the importance of soil water status on stomatal functions and plant water‐use efficiency, and suggest the implementation of trait‐based hydraulic functions into the model to account for soil water stress.

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Historical changes in the stomatal limitation of photosynthesis: empirical support for an optimality principle

Cited by 48 publications

References 115 publications

Components of leaf‐trait variation along environmental gradients

Components of leaf‐trait variation along environmental gradients

Increased carbon uptake and water use efficiency in global semi-arid ecosystems

Impacts of soil water stress on the acclimated stomatal limitation of photosynthesis: Insights from stable carbon isotope data

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