| 1. |
- Kattge, Jens, et al.
(författare)
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TRY plant trait database - enhanced coverage and open access
- 2020
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Ingår i: Global Change Biology. - : Wiley-Blackwell. - 1354-1013 .- 1365-2486. ; 26:1, s. 119-188
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Plant traits-the morphological, anatomical, physiological, biochemical and phenological characteristics of plants-determine how plants respond to environmental factors, affect other trophic levels, and influence ecosystem properties and their benefits and detriments to people. Plant trait data thus represent the basis for a vast area of research spanning from evolutionary biology, community and functional ecology, to biodiversity conservation, ecosystem and landscape management, restoration, biogeography and earth system modelling. Since its foundation in 2007, the TRY database of plant traits has grown continuously. It now provides unprecedented data coverage under an open access data policy and is the main plant trait database used by the research community worldwide. Increasingly, the TRY database also supports new frontiers of trait-based plant research, including the identification of data gaps and the subsequent mobilization or measurement of new data. To support this development, in this article we evaluate the extent of the trait data compiled in TRY and analyse emerging patterns of data coverage and representativeness. Best species coverage is achieved for categorical traits-almost complete coverage for 'plant growth form'. However, most traits relevant for ecology and vegetation modelling are characterized by continuous intraspecific variation and trait-environmental relationships. These traits have to be measured on individual plants in their respective environment. Despite unprecedented data coverage, we observe a humbling lack of completeness and representativeness of these continuous traits in many aspects. We, therefore, conclude that reducing data gaps and biases in the TRY database remains a key challenge and requires a coordinated approach to data mobilization and trait measurements. This can only be achieved in collaboration with other initiatives.
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| 2. |
- Lehmann, Johannes, et al.
(författare)
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Persistence of soil organic carbon caused by functional complexity
- 2020
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Ingår i: Nature Geoscience. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 1752-0894 .- 1752-0908. ; 13, s. 529-534
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Soil organic carbon management has the potential to aid climate change mitigation through drawdown of atmospheric carbon dioxide. To be effective, such management must account for processes influencing carbon storage and re-emission at different space and time scales. Achieving this requires a conceptual advance in our understanding to link carbon dynamics from the scales at which processes occur to the scales at which decisions are made. Here, we propose that soil carbon persistence can be understood through the lens of decomposers as a result of functional complexity derived from the interplay between spatial and temporal variation of molecular diversity and composition. For example, co-location alone can determine whether a molecule is decomposed, with rapid changes in moisture leading to transport of organic matter and constraining the fitness of the microbial community, while greater molecular diversity may increase the metabolic demand of, and thus potentially limit, decomposition. This conceptual shift accounts for emergent behaviour of the microbial community and would enable soil carbon changes to be predicted without invoking recalcitrant carbon forms that have not been observed experimentally. Functional complexity as a driver of soil carbon persistence suggests soil management should be based on constant care rather than one-time action to lock away carbon in soils. Dynamic interactions between chemical and biological controls govern the stability of soil organic carbon and drive complex, emergent patterns in soil carbon persistence.
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| 3. |
- Ahlström, Anders, et al.
(författare)
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The dominant role of semi-arid ecosystems in the trend and variability of the land CO2 sink
- 2015
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Ingår i: Science. - : American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS). - 1095-9203 .- 0036-8075. ; 348:6237, s. 895-899
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The growth rate of atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2) concentrations since industrialization is characterized by large interannual variability, mostly resulting from variability in CO2 uptake by terrestrial ecosystems (typically termed carbon sink). However, the contributions of regional ecosystems to that variability are not well known. Using an ensemble of ecosystem and land-surface models and an empirical observation-based product of global gross primary production, we show that the mean sink, trend, and interannual variability in CO2 uptake by terrestrial ecosystems are dominated by distinct biogeographic regions. Whereas the mean sink is dominated by highly productive lands (mainly tropical forests), the trend and interannual variability of the sink are dominated by semi-arid ecosystems whose carbon balance is strongly associated with circulation-driven variations in both precipitation and temperature.
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| 4. |
- Beer, Christian, et al.
(författare)
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Harmonized European Long-Term Climate Data for Assessing the Effect of Changing Temporal Variability on Land-Atmosphere CO2 Fluxes
- 2014
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Ingår i: Journal of Climate. - 0894-8755 .- 1520-0442. ; 27:13, s. 4815-4834
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Temporal variability of meteorological variables and extreme weather events is projected to increase in many regions of the world during the next century. Artificial experiments using process-oriented terrestrial ecosystem models make it possible to isolate effects of temporal variability from effects of gradual climate change on terrestrial ecosystem functions and the system state. Such factorial experiments require two long-term climate datasets: 1) a control dataset that represents observed and projected climate and 2) a dataset with the same long-term mean as the control dataset but with altered short-term variability. Using a bias correction method, various climate datasets spanning different periods are harmonized and then combined with the control dataset with consistent time series for Europe during 1901-2100. Then, parameters of a distribution transformation function are estimated for individual meteorological variables to derive the second climate dataset, which has similar long-term means but reduced temporal variability. The transformation conserves the number of rainy days within a month and the shape of the daily meteorological data distributions, which is important to ensure that, for example, drought duration does not modify the suitability of localized vegetation type to precipitation regimes. The median absolute difference between daily data of both datasets is 5% to 20%. On average, decadal extreme values are reduced by 2% to 35%. Driving a terrestrial ecosystem model with both climate datasets shows a general higher gross primary production under reduced temporal climate variability. This effect of climate variability on productivity demonstrates the potential of the climate datasets for studying various effects of temporal variability on ecosystem state and functions over large domains.
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| 5. |
- Beer, Christian, et al.
(författare)
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Terrestrial Gross Carbon Dioxide Uptake: Global Distribution and Covariation with Climate
- 2010
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Ingår i: Science. - : American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS). - 1095-9203 .- 0036-8075. ; 329:5993, s. 834-838
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Terrestrial gross primary production (GPP) is the largest global CO2 flux driving several ecosystem functions. We provide an observation-based estimate of this flux at 123 +/- 8 petagrams of carbon per year (Pg C year(-1)) using eddy covariance flux data and various diagnostic models. Tropical forests and savannahs account for 60%. GPP over 40% of the vegetated land is associated with precipitation. State-of-the-art process-oriented biosphere models used for climate predictions exhibit a large between-model variation of GPP's latitudinal patterns and show higher spatial correlations between GPP and precipitation, suggesting the existence of missing processes or feedback mechanisms which attenuate the vegetation response to climate. Our estimates of spatially distributed GPP and its covariation with climate can help improve coupled climate-carbon cycle process models.
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| 6. |
- Besnard, Simon, et al.
(författare)
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Quantifying the effect of forest age in annual net forest carbon balance
- 2018
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Ingår i: Environmental Research Letters. - : IOP Publishing. - 1748-9326. ; 13:12
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Forests dominate carbon (C) exchanges between the terrestrial biosphere and the atmosphere on land. In the long term, the net carbon flux between forests and the atmosphere has been significantly impacted by changes in forest cover area and structure due to ecological disturbances and management activities. Current empirical approaches for estimating net ecosystem productivity (NEP) rarely consider forest age as a predictor, which represents variation in physiological processes that can respond differently to environmental drivers, and regrowth following disturbance. Here, we conduct an observational synthesis to empirically determine to what extent climate, soil properties, nitrogen deposition, forest age and management influence the spatial and interannual variability of forest NEP across 126 forest eddy-covariance flux sites worldwide. The empirical models explained up to 62% and 71% of spatio-temporal and across-site variability of annual NEP, respectively. An investigation of model structures revealed that forest age was a dominant factor of NEP spatio-temporal variability in both space and time at the global scale as compared to abiotic factors, such as nutrient availability, soil characteristics and climate. These findings emphasize the importance of forest age in quantifying spatio-temporal variation in NEP using empirical approaches.
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| 7. |
- Bondeau, Alberte, et al.
(författare)
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Modelling the role of agriculture for the 20th century global terrestrial carbon balance
- 2007
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Ingår i: Global Change Biology. - : Wiley. - 1354-1013 .- 1365-2486. ; 13:3, s. 679-706
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Forskningsöversikt (refereegranskat)abstract
- In order to better assess the role of agriculture within the global climate-vegetation system, we present a model of the managed planetary land surface, Lund-Potsdam-Jena managed Land (LPJmL), which simulates biophysical and biogeochemical processes as well as productivity and yield of the most important crops worldwide, using a concept of crop functional types (CFTs). Based on the LPJ-Dynamic Global Vegetation Model, LPJmL simulates the transient changes in carbon and water cycles due to land use, the specific phenology and seasonal CO2 fluxes of agricultural-dominated areas, and the production of crops and grazing land. It uses 13 CFTs (11 arable crops and two managed grass types), with specific parameterizations of phenology connected to leaf area development. Carbon is allocated daily towards four carbon pools, one being the yield-bearing storage organs. Management (irrigation, treatment of residues, intercropping) can be considered in order to capture their effect on productivity, on soil organic carbon and on carbon extracted from the ecosystem. For transient simulations for the 20th century, a global historical land use data set was developed, providing the annual cover fraction of the 13 CFTs, rain-fed and/or irrigated, within 0.5 degrees grid cells for the period 1901-2000, using published data on land use, crop distributions and irrigated areas. Several key results are compared with observations. The simulated spatial distribution of sowing dates for temperate cereals is comparable with the reported crop calendars. The simulated seasonal canopy development agrees better with satellite observations when actual cropland distribution is taken into account. Simulated yields for temperate cereals and maize compare well with FAO statistics. Monthly carbon fluxes measured at three agricultural sites also compare well with simulations. Global simulations indicate a similar to 24% (respectively similar to 10%) reduction in global vegetation (respectively soil) carbon due to agriculture, and 6-9 Pg C of yearly harvested biomass in the 1990s. In contrast to simulations of the potential natural vegetation showing the land biosphere to be an increasing carbon sink during the 20th century, LPJmL simulates a net carbon source until the 1970s (due to land use), and a small sink (mostly due to changing climate and CO2) after 1970. This is comparable with earlier LPJ simulations using a more simple land use scheme, and within the uncertainty range of estimates in the 1980s and 1990s. The fluxes attributed to land use change compare well with Houghton's estimates on the land use related fluxes until the 1970s, but then they begin to diverge, probably due to the different rates of deforestation considered. The simulated impacts of agriculture on the global water cycle for the 1990s are similar to 5% (respectively similar to 20%) reduction in transpiration (respectively interception), and similar to 44% increase in evaporation. Global runoff, which includes a simple irrigation scheme, is practically not affected.
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| 8. |
- Braakhekke, Maarten C., et al.
(författare)
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The use of radiocarbon to constrain current and future soil organic matter turnover and transport in a temperate forest
- 2014
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Ingår i: Journal of Geophysical Research: Biogeosciences. - 2169-8953. ; 119:3, s. 372-391
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- We investigated the merits of radiocarbon measurements for estimating soil organic matter (SOM) turnover and vertical transport for a temperate deciduous forest in Germany. Eleven parameters, defining decomposition and transport in the soil carbon model SOMPROF, were estimated using a Bayesian approach based on organic carbon measurements and radiocarbon concentration of SOM and heterotrophic respiration. The addition of radiocarbon data had strong effects on the parameters, most importantly a reduction of the decomposition and production rate of the slowest SOM pool by an order of magnitude, and a similar reduction in advective SOM transport. The modified parameters further led to changes in the partitioning of SOM over the different model pools. The calibration results were subsequently used to perform transient soil carbon projections for the period 1901-2100. These simulations were run with parameter sets from calibrations both with and without radiocarbon. The results show an increase over time of topsoil carbon and a decrease in the subsoil, adding to a net gain overall. Near the end of the 21st century, total carbon stocks stabilize andfor the radiocarbon-constrained modelstart to decrease. However, the changes are small compared to the total stocks. The model results for the calibrations with and without radiocarbon are in general quite similar, but the latter shows notably higher heterotrophic respiration fluxes. Constraining the model with radiocarbon yielded only a small reduction of uncertainty for the total carbon stocks, while for the individual depth compartments, the uncertainty wasincreased. Key Points SOM turnover and transport was estimated using Bayesian calibration Radiocarbon data strongly improved constraint of turnover rate of slow pool Predictive simulation showed small increase of soil C stocks in 21st century
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| 9. |
- Carvalhais, Nuno, et al.
(författare)
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Global covariation of carbon turnover times with climate in terrestrial ecosystems
- 2014
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Ingår i: Nature. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 0028-0836 .- 1476-4687. ; 514:7521, s. 213-
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The response of the terrestrial carbon cycle to climate change is among the largest uncertainties affecting future climate change projections(1,2). The feedback between the terrestrial carbon cycle and climate is partly determined by changes in the turnover time of carbon in land ecosystems, which in turn is an ecosystem property that emerges from the interplay between climate, soil and vegetation type(3-6). Here we present a global, spatially explicit and observation-based assessment of whole-ecosystem carbon turnover times that combines new estimates of vegetation and soil organic carbon stocks and fluxes. We find that the overall mean global carbon turnover time is 23(4)(+7) years (95 per cent confidence interval). Onaverage, carbon resides in the vegetation and soil near the Equator for a shorter time than at latitudes north of 75 degrees north (mean turnover times of 15 and 255 years, respectively). We identify a clear dependence of the turnover time on temperature, as expected from our present understanding of temperature controls on ecosystem dynamics. Surprisingly, our analysis also reveals a similarly strong association between turnover time and precipitation. Moreover, we find that the ecosystem carbon turnover times simulated by state-of-the-art coupled climate/carbon-cycle models vary widely and that numerical simulations, on average, tend to underestimate the global carbon turnover time by 36 per cent. The models show stronger spatial relationships with temperature than do observation-based estimates, but generally do not reproduce the strong relationships with precipitation and predict faster carbon turnover in many semiarid regions. Our findings suggest that future climate/carbon-cycle feedbacks may depend more strongly on changes in the hydrological cycle than is expected at present and is considered in Earth system models.
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| 10. |
- Frank, Dorothe A., et al.
(författare)
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Effects of climate extremes on the terrestrial carbon cycle : concepts, processes and potential future impacts
- 2015
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Ingår i: Global Change Biology. - : Wiley. - 1354-1013 .- 1365-2486. ; 21:8, s. 2861-2880
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Forskningsöversikt (refereegranskat)abstract
- Extreme droughts, heat waves, frosts, precipitation, wind storms and other climate extremes may impact the structure, composition and functioning of terrestrial ecosystems, and thus carbon cycling and its feedbacks to the climate system. Yet, the interconnected avenues through which climate extremes drive ecological and physiological processes and alter the carbon balance are poorly understood. Here, we review the literature on carbon cycle relevant responses of ecosystems to extreme climatic events. Given that impacts of climate extremes are considered disturbances, we assume the respective general disturbance-induced mechanisms and processes to also operate in an extreme context. The paucity of well-defined studies currently renders a quantitative meta-analysis impossible, but permits us to develop a deductive framework for identifying the main mechanisms (and coupling thereof) through which climate extremes may act on the carbon cycle. We find that ecosystem responses can exceed the duration of the climate impacts via lagged effects on the carbon cycle. The expected regional impacts of future climate extremes will depend on changes in the probability and severity of their occurrence, on the compound effects and timing of different climate extremes, and on the vulnerability of each land-cover type modulated by management. Although processes and sensitivities differ among biomes, based on expert opinion, we expect forests to exhibit the largest net effect of extremes due to their large carbon pools and fluxes, potentially large indirect and lagged impacts, and long recovery time to regain previous stocks. At the global scale, we presume that droughts have the strongest and most widespread effects on terrestrial carbon cycling. Comparing impacts of climate extremes identified via remote sensing vs. ground-based observational case studies reveals that many regions in the (sub-)tropics are understudied. Hence, regional investigations are needed to allow a global upscaling of the impacts of climate extremes on global carbon-climate feedbacks.
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