Ecophysiological adjustments of a pine forest to enhance early spring activity in hot and dry climate
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 15550653 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Huanhuan Wang (0000-0002-8886-8589, Weizmann Institute of Science, corresponding author), Anatoly A Gitelson (0000-0003-4208-7661, Technion – Israel Institute of Technology), Anatoly Gitelson, Michael Sprintsin (0000-0001-6707-5179), Eyal Rotenberg (0000-0002-7214-9897, Weizmann Institute of Science), Dan Yakir (0000-0003-3381-1398, Weizmann Institute of Science) |
| Year | 2020 |
| Volume | 15 |
| Issue | 11 |
| Pages | 114054-114054 |
| Publication date | 2020-10-20 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Environmental Research Letters (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 1748-9326 • E-ISSN: 1748-9326 |
| Publisher | IOP Publishing (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1088/1748-9326/abc2f9 |
| OpenAlex | W3094518766 |
| Language | EN |
| References cited | 80 |
Climate change can impose large offsets between the seasonal cycle of photosynthesis and that in solar radiation and temperature which drive it. Ecophysiological adjustments to such offsets in forests growing under hot and dry conditions are critical for maintaining carbon uptake and survival. Here, we investigate the adjustments that underlie the unusually short and intense early spring productive season, under suboptimal radiation and temperature conditions in a semi-arid pine forest. We used eddy covariance flux, meteorological, and close-range sensing measurements, together with leaf chlorophyll content over four years in a semi-arid pine forest to identify the canopy-scale ecophysiological adjustments to the short active season, and long seasonal drought. The results reveal a range of processes that intricately converge to support the early spring peak (March) in photosynthetic activity, including peaks in light use efficiency, leaf chlorophyll content, increase in the absorption of solar radiation, and high leaf scattering properties (indicating optimizing leaf orientation). These canopy-scale adjustments exploit the tradeoffs between the yet increasing temperature and solar radiation, but the concurrently rapidly diminishing soil moisture. In contrast, during the long dry stressful period with rapidly declining photosynthesis under high and potentially damaging solar radiation, physiological photoprotection was conferred by strongly relaxing the early spring adjustments. The results provide evidence for canopy-scale ecophysiological adjustments, detectable by spectral measurements, that support the survival and productivity of a pine forest under the hot and dry conditions, which may apply to large areas in the Mediterranean and other regions in the next few decades due to the current warming and drying trends
Agronomy · Arid · Atmospheric sciences · Biology · Canopy · Ecosystem · Eddy covariance · Growing season · Shortwave radiation · Water content · Environmental Science · Plant Water Relations and Carbon Dynamics · Remote Sensing in Agriculture · Tree-ring climate responses · Ecology · Radiation
On underestimation of global vulnerability to tree mortality and forest die‐off from hotter drought in the Anthropocene
Mechanisms of plant survival and mortality during drought
Changes in growing season duration and productivity of northern vegetation inferred from long-term remote sensing data
Shifting relative importance of climatic constraints on land surface phenology
| Citation velocity | historical |
|---|---|
| Highly cited | No |