The role of climate, foliar stoichiometry and plant diversity on ecosystem carbon balance

Abstract

Anthropogenic activities, and their consequent global change, are altering ecosystems worldwide. Climate change, the alteration of global biogeochemical cycles and biodiversity loss are among the most important impacts of global change (Rockström et al., 2009; Steffen et al., 2015). Firstly, climate change is characterized by increasing mean global temperatures and altering precipitation regimes (Ciais et al., 2013), causing dramatic changes in ecosystem functioning (Fernández-Martínez et al., 2019). Secondly, the extensive use of fossil fuels (emitting CO 2 and NO x , among others) and the production of fertilizers have triggered unprecedented rates of atmospheric nitrogen (N) deposition (Galloway et al., 2004), completely modifying global biogeochemical cycles (Peñuelas et al., 2020). These changes can induce elemental stoichiometric shifts (Penuelas et al., 2020) which can produce imbalances between essential elements for life, such as N and phosphorus (P; Peñuelas et al., 2012, 2013). Thirdly, biodiversity loss, caused by habitat destruction, climate change and altered biogeochemical cycles, can entail important changes in species composition and functionality of ecosystems (Hooper et al., 2012) and the ecosystem services they provide (Gamfeldt et al., 2013).

Exploring complex water stress–gross primary production relationships: Impact of climatic drivers, main effects, and interactive effects

“…We grouped the 10 PFTs into the following four categories to facilitate the SHAP analysis, with forests (ENF, EBF, DBF, and MF), shrublands and savannas (CSH, OSH, WSA, and SAV), grasslands and croplands. The classification method was based on Fernández-Martínez et al (2020).…”

Heat and drought impact on carbon exchange in an age-sequence of temperate pine forests

“…Plantation forests in Eastern North America are managed with the vision to enhance their growth, resilience to stresses, and to maximize their carbon sequestration potential (Meehl et al 2007 ; Sippel et al 2016 ). As heat and drought events are likely to be more frequent in the area, due to the predicted warmer climate in the future (IPCC 2014 ; 2018 ; Niinemets 2010 ; Xu et al 2020 ; Chen et al 2020a ; Fernández-Martínez et al 2020 ), their combined effects especially over multiple years, may have serious implications for net carbon sequestration in temperate conifer forests of Eastern North America. The impact of concurrent and consecutive extreme events should be considered while developing forest management practices for climate resiliency and sustainability with the aim of climate change mitigation by way of greenhouse gas reduction.…”

“…Some studies suggest that the occurrence of heat and drought events may be shifted into both the spring and autumn shoulder seasons or they may occur simultaneously (Monson et al 2005 ; Piao et al 2008 ; Hanson and Weltzin 2000 ; Schwarz et al 2004 ; Sippel et al 2016 ). The change of severity and timing of climate events may have a profound impact on the carbon cycle in temperate forests (Zscheischle et al 2014 ; van Gorsel et al 2016 ; Hogg et al 2017 ; Wu et al 2017 ; Fernández-Martínez et al 2020 ). For example, in Europe, a severe summer heatwave and drought caused forest ecosystems to lose large amount of carbon in the summer of 2003 (Ciais et al 2005 ; Bréda et al 2006 ; Granier et al 2007 ).…”

From atoms to ecosystems: elementome diversity meets ecosystem functioning

“…2). The alteration of those cycles has increased the availability of nutrients for plants, creating nutrient imbalances (Peñuelas et al ., 2020b) that could hinder ecosystem functioning (Fernández‐Martínez et al ., 2020). Increasing atmospheric CO 2 concentrations have been shown to reduce the concentration of N and P in trees (Peñuelas et al ., 2020a), potentially constraining the CO 2 fertilization effect globally (Wang et al ., 2020).…”

“…Climate and community‐weighted elementome means (Fig. 3a) have been proven to be very useful to understand ecosystem functioning (Craven et al ., 2018; Fernández‐Martínez et al ., 2020). Similarly, literature shows that biodiversity, and particularly functional diversity, increases productivity and stability of ecosystems under natural and experimental conditions (Liang et al ., 2016; Craven et al ., 2018) through selection and complementarity effects (Cardinale, 2011).…”