A roadmap for improving the representation of photosynthesis in Earth system models

Alistair Rogers; Belinda E Medlyn; Jeffrey S Dukes; Gordon Bonan; Susanne von Caemmerer; Michael C Dietze; Jens Kattge; Andrew D B Leakey; Lina M Mercado; Ülo Niinemets; I Colin Prentice; Shawn P Serbin; Stephen Sitch; Danielle A Way; Sönke Zaehle

doi:10.1111/nph.14283

A roadmap for improving the representation of photosynthesis in Earth system models

New Phytol. 2017 Jan;213(1):22-42. doi: 10.1111/nph.14283.

Authors

Alistair Rogers¹, Belinda E Medlyn², Jeffrey S Dukes³, Gordon Bonan⁴, Susanne von Caemmerer⁵, Michael C Dietze⁶, Jens Kattge^{7

8}, Andrew D B Leakey⁹, Lina M Mercado^{10

11}, Ülo Niinemets¹², I Colin Prentice^{13

14

15}, Shawn P Serbin¹, Stephen Sitch¹⁰, Danielle A Way^{16

17}, Sönke Zaehle¹⁸

Affiliations

¹ Environmental and Climate Sciences Department, Brookhaven National Laboratory, Upton, NY, 11973-5000, USA.
² Hawkesbury Institute for the Environment, University of Western Sydney, Locked Bag 1797, Penrith, NSW, 2751, Australia.
³ Department of Forestry and Natural Resources and Department of Biological Sciences, Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN, 47907-2061, USA.
⁴ National Center for Atmospheric Research, Boulder, CO, 80307-3000, USA.
⁵ Research School of Biology, College of Medicine, Biology and the Environment, The Australian National University, Linnaeus Building (Bldg 134) Linnaeus Way, Canberra, ACT, 0200, Australia.
⁶ Department of Earth and Environment, Boston University, Boston, MA, 02215, USA.
⁷ Max Planck Institute for Biogeochemistry, 07701, Jena, Germany.
⁸ German Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research (iDiv) Halle-Jena-Leipzig, Deutscher Platz 5e, 04103, Leipzig, Germany.
⁹ Department of Plant Biology and Institute for Genomic Biology, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, IL, 61801, USA.
¹⁰ Geography Department, College of Life and Environmental Sciences, University of Exeter, Exeter, EX4 4SB, UK.
¹¹ Center for Ecology and Hydrology, Wallingford, OX10 8BB, UK.
¹² Department of Plant Physiology, Estonian University of Life Sciences, Kreutzwaldi 1, 51014, Tartu, Estonia.
¹³ AXA Chair of Biosphere and Climate Impacts, Grand Challenges in Ecosystems and the Environment and Grantham Institute for Climate Change, Department of Life Sciences, Imperial College London, Silwood Park Campus, Buckhurst Road, Ascot, SL5 7PY, UK.
¹⁴ Department of Biological Sciences, Macquarie University, North Ryde, NSW, 2109, Australia.
¹⁵ State Key Laboratory of Soil Erosion and Dryland Farming on the Loess Plateau, College of Forestry, Northwest Agriculture & Forestry University, Yangling, 712100, China.
¹⁶ Department of Biology, University of Western Ontario, London, ON, N6A 5B7, Canada.
¹⁷ Nicholas School of the Environment, Duke University, Durham, NC, 27708, USA.
¹⁸ Biogeochemical Integration Department, Max Planck Institute for Biogeochemistry, Hans-Knöll-Str. 10, 07745, Jena, Germany.

PMID: 27891647
DOI: 10.1111/nph.14283

Abstract

Accurate representation of photosynthesis in terrestrial biosphere models (TBMs) is essential for robust projections of global change. However, current representations vary markedly between TBMs, contributing uncertainty to projections of global carbon fluxes. Here we compared the representation of photosynthesis in seven TBMs by examining leaf and canopy level responses of photosynthetic CO₂ assimilation (A) to key environmental variables: light, temperature, CO₂ concentration, vapor pressure deficit and soil water content. We identified research areas where limited process knowledge prevents inclusion of physiological phenomena in current TBMs and research areas where data are urgently needed for model parameterization or evaluation. We provide a roadmap for new science needed to improve the representation of photosynthesis in the next generation of terrestrial biosphere and Earth system models.

Keywords: carbon dioxide CO2; light; soil water content; stomatal conductance; temperature; terrestrial biosphere models; vapor pressure deficit (VPD).

MeSH terms

Earth, Planet*
Ecosystem
Models, Biological*
Photosynthesis*
Plant Leaves / physiology
Vapor Pressure