Year: 2021
Type: article
Abstract: The leaf economics spectrum1,2 and the global spectrum of plant forms and functions3 revealed fundamental axes of variation in plant traits, which represent different ecological strategies that are shaped by the evolutionary development of plant species2. Ecosystem functions depend on environmental conditions and the traits of species that comprise the ecological communities4. However, the axes of variation of ecosystem functions are largely unknown, which limits our understanding of how ecosystems respond as a whole to anthropogenic drivers, climate and environmental variability4,5. Here we derive a set of ecosystem functions6 from a dataset of surface gas exchange measurements across major terrestrial biomes. We find that most of the variability within ecosystem functions (71.8%) is captured by three key axes. The first axis reflects maximum ecosystem productivity and is mostly explained by vegetation structure. The second axis reflects ecosystem water-use strategies and is jointly explained by variation in vegetation height and climate. The third axis, which represents ecosystem carbon-use efficiency, features a gradient related to aridity, and is explained primarily by variation in vegetation structure. We show that two state-of-the-art land surface models reproduce the first and most important axis of ecosystem functions. However, the models tend to simulate more strongly correlated functions than those observed, which limits their ability to accurately predict the full range of responses to environmental changes in carbon, water and energy cycling in terrestrial ecosystems7,8.
Source: Nature
Authors: Mirco Migliavacca, Talie Musavi, Miguel D. Mahecha, Jacob A. Nelson, Jürgen Knauer, Dennis D. Baldocchi, Oscar Perez-Priego, Rune Christiansen, Jonas Peters, Karen Anderson, Michael Bahn, T. Andrew Black, Peter D. Blanken, Damien Bonal, Nina Buchmann, Silvia Caldararu, Arnaud Carrara, Nuno Carvalhais, Alessandro Cescatti, Jiquan Chen, Jamie Cleverly, Edoardo Cremonese, Ankur R. Desai, Tarek S. El-Madany, Martha M. Farella, Marcos Fernández-Martínez, Gianluca Filippa, Matthias Forkel, Marta Galvagno, Ulisse Gomarasca, Christopher M. Gough, Mathias Göckede, Andreas Ibrom, Hiroki Ikawa, Ivan A. Janssens, Martin Jung, Jens Kattge, Trevor F. Keenan, Alexander Knohl, Hideki Kobayashi, Guido Kraemer, Beverly E. Law, Michael J. Liddell, Xuanlong Ma, Ivan Mammarella, David Martini, Craig Macfarlane, Giorgio Matteucci, Leonardo Montagnani, Daniel E. Pabon-Moreno, Cinzia Panigada, Dario Papale, Elise Pendall, Josep Penuelas, Richard P. Phillips, Peter B. Reich, Micol Rossini, Eyal Rotenberg, Russell L. Scott, Clement Stahl, Ulrich Weber, Georg Wohlfahrt, Sebastian Wolf, Ian J. Wright, Dan Yakir, Sönke Zaehle, Markus Reichstein
Institutions: European Commission, German Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research, Joint Research Center, Joint Research Centre, Joint Research Centre, Max Planck Institute for Biogeochemistry, Joint Research Centre, Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research, Leipzig University, CSIRO Oceans and Atmosphere, Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation, Western Sydney University, University of California, Berkeley, University of Córdoba, University of Copenhagen, University of Exeter, Universität Innsbruck, University of British Columbia, University of Colorado Boulder, AgroParisTech, Institut National de Recherche pour l'Agriculture, l'Alimentation et l'Environnement, Silva, Ecologie et Ecophysiologie Forestières, Université de Lorraine, ETH Zurich, Mediterranean Center for Environmental Studies, Universidade Nova de Lisboa, Michigan State University, University of Technology Sydney, Terrestrial Ecosystem Research Network, James Cook University, University of Wisconsin–Madison, Indiana University Bloomington, Indiana University, University of Antwerp, Technische Universität Dresden, Virginia Commonwealth University, Technical University of Denmark, National Agriculture and Food Research Organization, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, University of Göttingen, Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology, Universitat de València, Oregon State University, Lanzhou University, University of Helsinki, CSIRO Land and Water, National Research Council, Istituto per la BioEconomia, Free University of Bozen-Bolzano, Provincia autonoma di Bolzano - Alto Adige, University of Milano-Bicocca, Università degli Studi della Tuscia, Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas, Centre for Research on Ecology and Forestry Applications, Global Ecology Unit CREAF-CSIC-UAB, University of Minnesota, University of Michigan, Weizmann Institute of Science, Agricultural Research Service, Southwest Watershed Research Center, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, Ecologie des Forêts de Guyane, Macquarie University, Friedrich Schiller University Jena
Language: English
Subfield: Global and Planetary Change
Field: Environmental Science
Domain: Physical Sciences
SDGs: Climate action, Life on land
Open Access status: hybrid
Estimated APC paid: $11,390
Funders: National Science Foundation, U.S. Department of Energy, Alexander von Humboldt-Stiftung, Villum Fonden, Australian Government, European Commission, Schweizerischer Nationalfonds zur Förderung der Wissenschaftlichen Forschung, Eidgenössische Technische Hochschule Zürich, Board of the Swiss Federal Institutes of Technology, Office of Science, Biological and Environmental Research
Awards: Training on Remote Sensing for Ecosystem modElling, ICOS-CH: Integrated Carbon Observation System in Switzerland, BII-Implementation: The causes and consequences of plant biodiversity across scales in a rapidly changing world, G434337789, ICOS-CH Phase 2, LTER: Multi-decadal responses of prairie, savanna, and forest ecosystems to interacting environmental changes: insights from experiments, observations, and models, G711721537, G789740274, G8895202200
OpenAlex ID: W3199112784