Journal article
Covariations between plant functional traits emerge from constraining parameterization of a terrestrial biosphere model
CNRS1
Mediterranean Center for Environmental Studies2
DG Joint Research Centre3
Centre for Ecology and Hydrology4
Department of Environmental Engineering, Technical University of Denmark5
Air, Land & Water Resources, Department of Environmental Engineering, Technical University of Denmark6
Université de Montpellier7
Hokkaido University8
Northern Arizona University9
Oregon State University10
Lund University11
Noveltis12
University of Helsinki13
International Livestock Research Institute14
Autonomous Province of Bolzano15
Global Change Research Institute CAS16
Russian Academy of Sciences17
University of Innsbruck18
Weizmann Institute of Science19
University of Aberdeen20
Edmund Mach Foundation21
University of Colorado Boulder22
Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zurich23
Michigan State University24
Université Paris-Saclay25
University of Wisconsin-Madison26
...and 16 moreAim: The mechanisms of plant trait adaptation and acclimation are still poorly understood and, consequently, lack a consistent representation in terrestrial biosphere models (TBMs). Despite the increasing availability of geo-referenced trait observations, current databases are still insufficient to cover all vegetation types and environmental conditions.
In parallel, the growing number of continuous eddy-covariance observations of energy and CO2 fluxes has enabled modellers to optimize TBMs with these data. Past attempts to optimize TBM parameters mostly focused on model performance, overlooking the ecological properties of ecosystems. The aim of this study was to assess the ecological consistency of optimized trait-related parameters while improving the model performances for gross primary productivity (GPP) at sites.
Location: Worldwide. Time period: 1992–2012. Major taxa studied: Trees and C3 grasses. Methods: We optimized parameters of the ORCHIDEE model against 371 site-years of GPP estimates from the FLUXNET network, and we looked at global covariation among parameters and with climate. Results: The optimized parameter values were shown to be consistent with leaf-scale traits, in particular, with well-known trade-offs observed at the leaf level, echoing the leaf economic spectrum theory.
Results showed a marked sensitivity of trait-related parameters to local bioclimatic variables and reproduced the observed relationships between traits and climate. Main conclusions: Our approach validates some biological processes implemented in the model and enables us to study ecological properties of vegetation at the canopy level, in addition to some traits that are difficult to observe experimentally.
This study stresses the need for: (a) implementing explicit trade-offs and acclimation processes in TBMs; (b) improving the representation of processes to avoid model-specific parameterization; and (c) performing systematic measurements of traits at FLUXNET sites in order to gather information on plant ecophysiology and plant diversity, together with micro-meteorological conditions.
Language: | English |
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Year: | 2019 |
Pages: | 1351-1365 |
ISSN: | 14668238 and 1466822x |
Types: | Journal article |
DOI: | 10.1111/geb.12937 |
ORCIDs: | 0000-0003-0324-4628 , 0000-0001-8560-4943 , 0000-0003-3632-2100 , 0000-0002-7215-0150 , 0000-0001-8408-4675 , 0000-0002-7405-2220 , 0000-0003-0826-2980 , 0000-0003-0761-9458 , 0000-0003-0906-9402 , 0000-0002-5226-6041 , 0000-0001-7697-5793 , 0000-0001-9532-5577 , 0000-0002-6169-2827 , 0000-0001-5773-4652 , 0000-0002-5569-0761 , Ibrom, Andreas , 0000-0001-8205-7710 , 0000-0003-3757-3243 , 0000-0002-1605-1203 , 0000-0002-7669-784X , 0000-0002-8516-3356 , 0000-0003-4974-170X , 0000-0002-6620-2735 , 0000-0003-2957-9071 , 0000-0003-1951-4100 , 0000-0002-2549-5236 , 0000-0002-4852-7464 , 0000-0003-3080-6702 , 0000-0001-7717-6993 , 0000-0003-3381-1398 and 0000-0002-9197-6417 |