Global variability in leaf respiration in relation to climate, plant functional types and leaf traits

• Published in: New Phytologist
• Main Authors: Atkin, Owen K., Bloomfield, Keith J., Reich, Peter B., Tjoelker, Mark G., Asner, Gregory P., Bonal, Damien, Bönisch, Jen, Bradford, Matt G., Cernusak, Lucas A., Cosio, Eric G., Creek, Danielle, Crous, Kristine Y., Domingues, Tomas F., Dukes, Jeffrey S., Egerton, John J. G., Evans, John R., Farquhar, Graham D., Fyllas, Nikolaos M., Gauthier, Paul P. G., Gloor, Emanuel, Gimeno, Teresa E., Griffin, Kevin L., Guerrieri, Rossella, Heskel, Mary A., Huntingford, Chris, Ishida, Françoise Yoko, Kattge, Jen, Lambers, Hans, Liddell, Michael J., Lloyd, Jon, Lusk, Christopher H., Martin, Roberta E., Maksimov, Ayal P., Maximov, Trofim C., Malhi, Yadvinder, Medlyn, Belinda E., Meir, Patrick, Mercado, Lina M., Mirotchnick, Nicholas, Ng, Desmond, O'Sullivan, Odhran S., Phillips, Oliver L., Poorter, Lourens, Poot, Pieter, Prentice, I. Colin, Salinas, Norma, Rowland, Lucy M., Ryan, Michael G., Sitch, Stephen, Slot, Martijn
• Other Authors: Australian National University (ANU), Hawkesbury Institute for the Environment Richmond (HIE), Western Sydney University, University of Minnesota Twin Cities (UMN), University of Minnesota System, Carnegie Institution for Science Washington, Ecologie et Ecophysiologie Forestières devient SILVA en 2018 (EEF), Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique (INRA)-Université de Lorraine (UL), Max-Planck-Institut für Biogeochemie (MPI-BGC), CSIRO Land and Water, Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation Canberra (CSIRO), James Cook University (JCU), Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú (PUCP), Universidade de São Paulo (USP), Purdue University West Lafayette, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens (NKUA), Department of Geosciences Princeton, Princeton University, School of Geography Leeds, University of Leeds, Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory (LDEO), Columbia University New York, School of Geosciences Edinburgh, University of Edinburgh, University of New Hampshire (UNH), Centre for Ecology and Hydrology Wallingford (CEH), Natural Environment Research Council (NERC), School of Plant Biology, Faculty of Natural and Agricultural Sciences, The University of Western Australia, The University of Western Australia (UWA), Department of Life Sciences, Imperial College London, Silwood Park Campus, Ascot, UK, University of Waikato Hamilton, Institute of Biological Problems of the Cryolithozone, Russian Academy of Sciences Moscow (RAS), School of Geography and the Environment Oxford (SoGE), University of Oxford Oxford, Macquarie University, College of Life and Environmental Sciences, University of Exeter, Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology University of Toronto (EEB), University of Toronto, Wageningen University and Research Wageningen (WUR), School of Biological Sciences, University of Canterbury, Colorado State University Fort Collins (CSU), Department of Biology Gainesville (UF|Biology), University of Florida Gainesville (UF), Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, University of Regina (UR), Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas Madrid (CSIC), University of Peradeniya, Universität Leipzig Leipzig, Chinese Academy of Sciences Beijing (CAS)
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: HAL CCSD 2015
• Subjects: climate models; acclimation; aridity; leaf nitrogen (N); photosynthesis; plant functional types (PFTs); respiration; temperature; [SDV]Life Sciences [q-bio]; Arctic
• Online Access: https://hal.univ-lorraine.fr/hal-01556923; https://doi.org/10.1111/nph.13253

International audience Leaf dark respiration (R-dark) is an important yet poorly quantified component of the global carbon cycle. Given this, we analyzed a new global database of R-dark and associated leaf traits. Data for 899 species were compiled from 100 sites (from the Arctic to the tropics). Several woody and nonwoody plant functional types (PFTs) were represented. Mixed-effects models were used to disentangle sources of variation in R-dark. Area-based R-dark at the prevailing average daily growth temperature (T) of each siteincreased only twofold from the Arctic to the tropics, despite a 20 degrees C increase in growing T (8-28 degrees C). By contrast, R-dark at a standard T (25 degrees C, R-dark(25)) was threefold higher in the Arctic than in the tropics, and twofold higher at arid than at mesic sites. Species and PFTs at cold sites exhibited higher R-dark(25) at a given photosynthetic capacity (V-cmax(25)) or leaf nitrogen concentration ([N]) than species at warmer sites. R-dark(25) values at any given V-cmax(25) or [N] were higher in herbs than in woody plants. The results highlight variation in R-dark among species and across global gradients in T and aridity. In addition to their ecological significance, the results provide a framework for improving representation of R-dark in terrestrial biosphere models (TBMs) and associated land-surface components of Earth system models (ESMs).