J Plant Ecol ›› 2014, Vol. 7 ›› Issue (5): 419-428 .DOI: 10.1093/jpe/rtu014

• Research Articles •     Next Articles

Divergent apparent temperature sensitivity of terrestrial ecosystem respiration

Bing Song1,2, Shuli Niu1,*, Ruisen Luo3, Yiqi Luo3, Jiquan Chen4, Guirui Yu1, Janusz Olejnik5,6, Georg Wohlfahrt7, Gerard Kiely8, Asko Noormets9, Leonardo Montagnani10,11, Alessandro Cescatti12, Vincenzo Magliulo13, Beverly Elizabeth Law14, Magnus Lund15, Andrej Varlagin16, Antonio Raschi17, Matthias Peichl18, Mats B. Nilsson18 and Lutz Merbold19   

  1. 1 Key Laboratory of Ecosystem Network Observation and Modeling, Institute of Geographic Sciences and Natural Resources Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101, China; 2 University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Yuquan Road, Beijing 100049, China; 3 Department of Botany and Microbiology, University of Oklahoma, Norman, OK 73019, USA; 4 CGCEO/Geography, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI 48864, USA; 5 Meteorology Department, Poznan University of Life Sciences (PULS), Poznan 60–667, Poland; 6 Department of Matter and Energy Fluxes, Global Change Research Center, AS CR, v.v.i. Brno, Czech Republic; 7 Institute of Ecology, University of Innsbruck, Sternwartestr 15, Innsbruck 6020, Austria; 8 Civil and Environmental Engineering Department, University College Cork, Cork, Ireland; 9 North Carolina State University/USDA Forest Service, Southern Global Change Program, Raleigh, NC 27606, USA; 10 Servizi Forestali, Agenzia per l'Ambiente, ProvinciaAutonoma di Bolzano, Bolzano 39100, Italy; 11 Faculty of Science and Technology, Free University of Bolzano, Piazza Università 1, Bolzano 39100, Italy; 12 European Commission, Joint Research Center, Institute for Environment and Sustainability, Ispra, Italy; 13 Institute of Forest and Agricultural Mediterranean Ecosystems - CNR ISAFoM, Via Patacca, 85, Ercolano (Napoli), Italy; 14 College of Forestry, Oregon State University, Corvallis, OR 97331-2209, USA; 15 Department of Bioscience, Aarhus University, Frederiksborgvej, Roskilde 4000, Denmark; 16 A.N. Severtsov Institute of Ecology and Evolution, Russian Academy of Sciences, Lenisky pr., 33 Moscow, 119071, Russia; 17 CNR – Instituto di Biometeorologia (IBIMET), Via Giovanni Caproni 8, Firenze 50145, Italy; 18 Department of Forest Ecology & Management, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Umeå 901 83, Sweden; 19 ETH Zurich, Institute for Agricultural Sciences (IAS), Grassland Sciences Group, LFW, C55.2, Universitätstrasse 2, Zurich 8092, Switzerland
  • Received:2013-12-19 Accepted:2014-07-24 Published:2014-09-24
  • Contact: Niu, Shuli

Divergent apparent temperature sensitivity of terrestrial ecosystem respiration

Abstract: Aims Recent studies revealed convergent temperature sensitivity of ecosystem respiration (R e) within aquatic ecosystems and between terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems. We do not know yet whether various terrestrial ecosystems have consistent or divergent temperature sensitivity. Here, we synthesized 163 eddy covariance flux sites across the world and examined the global variation of the apparent activation energy (Ea), which characterizes the apparent temperature sensitivity of and its interannual variability (IAV) as well as their controlling factors.
Methods We used carbon fluxes and meteorological data across FLUXNET sites to calculate mean annual temperature, temperature range, precipitation, global radiation, potential radiation, gross primary productivity and R e by averaging the daily values over the years in each site. Furthermore, we analyzed the sites with>8 years data to examine the IAV of Ea and calculated the standard deviation of Ea across years at each site to characterize IAV.
Important findings The results showed a widely global variation of Ea, with significantly lower values in the tropical and subtropical areas than in temperate and boreal areas, and significantly higher values in grasslands and wetlands than that in deciduous broadleaf forests and evergreen forests. Globally, spatial variations of Ea were explained by changes in temperature and an index of water availability with differing contribution of each explaining variable among climate zones and biomes. IAV and the corresponding coefficient of variation of Ea decreased with increasing latitude, but increased with radiation and corresponding mean annual temperature. The revealed patterns in the spatial and temporal variations of Ea and its controlling factors indicate divergent temperature sensitivity of R e, which could help to improve our predictive understanding of R e in response to climate change.

Key words: activation energy, ecosystem respiration, index of water availability, interannual variability, gross primary productivity

摘要:
Aims Recent studies revealed convergent temperature sensitivity of ecosystem respiration (R e) within aquatic ecosystems and between terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems. We do not know yet whether various terrestrial ecosystems have consistent or divergent temperature sensitivity. Here, we synthesized 163 eddy covariance flux sites across the world and examined the global variation of the apparent activation energy (Ea), which characterizes the apparent temperature sensitivity of and its interannual variability (IAV) as well as their controlling factors.
Methods We used carbon fluxes and meteorological data across FLUXNET sites to calculate mean annual temperature, temperature range, precipitation, global radiation, potential radiation, gross primary productivity and R e by averaging the daily values over the years in each site. Furthermore, we analyzed the sites with>8 years data to examine the IAV of Ea and calculated the standard deviation of Ea across years at each site to characterize IAV.
Important findings The results showed a widely global variation of Ea, with significantly lower values in the tropical and subtropical areas than in temperate and boreal areas, and significantly higher values in grasslands and wetlands than that in deciduous broadleaf forests and evergreen forests. Globally, spatial variations of Ea were explained by changes in temperature and an index of water availability with differing contribution of each explaining variable among climate zones and biomes. IAV and the corresponding coefficient of variation of Ea decreased with increasing latitude, but increased with radiation and corresponding mean annual temperature. The revealed patterns in the spatial and temporal variations of Ea and its controlling factors indicate divergent temperature sensitivity of R e, which could help to improve our predictive understanding of R e in response to climate change.