Relative importance of climatic variables, soil properties and plant traits to spatial variability in net CO2 exchange across global forests and grasslands

Research output: Contribution to journalResearch articleContributedpeer-review

Contributors

  • Huimin Zhou - , East China Normal University (Author)
  • Junjiong Shao - , East China Normal University (Author)
  • Huiying Liu - , East China Normal University (Author)
  • Zhenggang Du - , East China Normal University (Author)
  • Lingyan Zhou - , East China Normal University (Author)
  • Ruiqiang Liu - , East China Normal University (Author)
  • Christian Bernhofer - , Chair of Meteorology (Author)
  • Thomas Grünwald - , Chair of Meteorology (Author)
  • Jiří Dušek - , Czech Academy of Sciences (Author)
  • Leonardo Montagnani - , Free University of Bozen-Bolzano, Forest Services of the Autonomous Province of Bozen-Bolzano (Author)
  • Torbern Tagesson - , Lund University, University of Copenhagen (Author)
  • Thomas Andrew Black - , University of British Columbia (Author)
  • Rachhpal Jassal - , University of British Columbia (Author)
  • William Woodgate - , University of Queensland, Commonwealth Scientific & Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) (Author)
  • Sébastien Biraud - , Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Author)
  • Andrej Varlagin - , Russian Academy of Sciences (Author)
  • Ivan Mammarella - , University of Helsinki (Author)
  • Mana Gharun - , ETH Zurich (Author)
  • Ankit Shekhar - , ETH Zurich (Author)
  • Nina Buchmann - , ETH Zurich (Author)
  • Antonio Manco - , National Research Council of Italy (CNR) (Author)
  • Enzo Magliulo - , National Research Council of Italy (CNR) (Author)
  • Dave Billesbach - , University of Nebraska-Lincoln (Author)
  • Richard P. Silberstein - , Edith Cowan University, University of Western Australia (Author)
  • Takeshi Ohta - , Nagoya University (Author)
  • Guirui Yu - , CAS - Institute of Geographical Sciences and Natural Resources Research, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences (Author)
  • Zhi Chen - , CAS - Institute of Geographical Sciences and Natural Resources Research, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences (Author)
  • Yiping Zhang - , CAS - Xishuangbanna Tropical Botanical Garden (Author)
  • Xuhui Zhou - , East China Normal University, Tongji University (Author)

Abstract

Compared to the well-known drivers of spatial variability in gross primary productivity (GPP), the relative importance of climatic variables, soil properties and plant traits to the spatial variability in net ecosystem exchange of CO2 between terrestrial ecosystem and atmosphere (NEE) is poorly understood. We used principal component regression to analyze data from 147 eddy flux sites to disentangle effects of climatic variables, soil properties and plant traits on the spatial variation in annual NEE and its components (GPP and ecosystem respiration (RE)) across global forests and grasslands. Our results showed that the largest unique contribution (proportion of variance only explained by one class of variables) to NEE variance came from climatic variables for forests (24%-30%) and soil properties for grasslands (41%-54%). Specifically, mean annual precipitation and potential evapotranspiration were the most important climatic variables driving forest NEE, whereas available soil water capacity, clay content and cation exchange capacity mainly influenced grassland NEE. Plant traits showed a small unique contribution to NEE in both forests and grasslands. However, leaf phosphorus content strongly interacted with soil total nitrogen density and clay content, and these combined factors represented a major contribution for grassland NEE. For GPP and RE, the majority of spatial variance was attributed to the common contribution of climate, soil and plant traits (50% - 62%, proportion of variance explained by more than one class of variables), rather than their unique contributions. Interestingly, those factors with only minor influences on GPP and RE variability (e.g., soil properties) have significant contributions to the spatial variability in NEE. Such emerging factors and the interactions between climatic variables, soil properties and plant traits are not well represented in current terrestrial biosphere models, which should be considered in future model improvement to accurately predict the spatial pattern of carbon cycling across forests and grasslands globally.

Details

Original languageEnglish
Article number108506
JournalAgricultural and Forest Meteorology
Volume307
Publication statusPublished - 15 Sept 2021
Peer-reviewedYes

External IDs

Scopus 85107968565
ORCID /0000-0003-2263-0073/work/163765963

Keywords

Keywords

  • Carbon, Climatic variables, Net ecosystem exchange, Plant traits, Soil properties, Spatial variability