The three major axes of terrestrial ecosystem function

The three major axes of terrestrial ecosystem function. Migliavacca, M., Musavi, T., Mahecha, M. D., Nelson, J. A., Knauer, J., Baldocchi, D. D., Perez-Priego, O., Christiansen, R., Peters, J., Anderson, K., Bahn, M., Black, T. A., Blanken, P. D., Bonal, D., Buchmann, N., Caldararu, S., Carrara, A., Carvalhais, N., Cescatti, A., Chen, J., Cleverly, J., Cremonese, E., Desai, A. R., El-Madany, T. S., Farella, M. M., Fernández-Martínez, M., Filippa, G., Forkel, M., Galvagno, M., Gomarasca, U., Gough, C. M., Göckede, M., Ibrom, A., Ikawa, H., Janssens, I. A., Jung, M., Kattge, J., Keenan, T. F., Knohl, A., Kobayashi, H., Kraemer, G., Law, B. E., Liddell, M. J., Ma, X., Mammarella, I., Martini, D., Macfarlane, C., Matteucci, G., Montagnani, L., Pabon-Moreno, D. E., Panigada, C., Papale, D., Pendall, E., Penuelas, J., Phillips, R. P., Reich, P. B., Rossini, M., Rotenberg, E., Scott, R. L., Stahl, C., Weber, U., Wohlfahrt, G., Wolf, S., Wright, I. J., Yakir, D., Zaehle, S., & Reichstein, M. Nature, 598(7881):468–472, October, 2021.

Paper doi abstract bibtex

Abstract The leaf economics spectrum 1,2 and the global spectrum of plant forms and functions 3 revealed fundamental axes of variation in plant traits, which represent different ecological strategies that are shaped by the evolutionary development of plant species 2 . Ecosystem functions depend on environmental conditions and the traits of species that comprise the ecological communities 4 . However, the axes of variation of ecosystem functions are largely unknown, which limits our understanding of how ecosystems respond as a whole to anthropogenic drivers, climate and environmental variability 4,5 . Here we derive a set of ecosystem functions 6 from a dataset of surface gas exchange measurements across major terrestrial biomes. We find that most of the variability within ecosystem functions (71.8%) is captured by three key axes. The first axis reflects maximum ecosystem productivity and is mostly explained by vegetation structure. The second axis reflects ecosystem water-use strategies and is jointly explained by variation in vegetation height and climate. The third axis, which represents ecosystem carbon-use efficiency, features a gradient related to aridity, and is explained primarily by variation in vegetation structure. We show that two state-of-the-art land surface models reproduce the first and most important axis of ecosystem functions. However, the models tend to simulate more strongly correlated functions than those observed, which limits their ability to accurately predict the full range of responses to environmental changes in carbon, water and energy cycling in terrestrial ecosystems 7,8 .

@article{migliavacca_three_2021,
title = {The three major axes of terrestrial ecosystem function},
volume = {598},
issn = {0028-0836, 1476-4687},
url = {https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-021-03939-9},
doi = {10.1038/s41586-021-03939-9},
abstract = {Abstract

The leaf economics spectrum
1,2
and the global spectrum of plant forms and functions
3
revealed fundamental axes of variation in plant traits, which represent different ecological strategies that are shaped by the evolutionary development of plant species
2
. Ecosystem functions depend on environmental conditions and the traits of species that comprise the ecological communities
4
. However, the axes of variation of ecosystem functions are largely unknown, which limits our understanding of how ecosystems respond as a whole to anthropogenic drivers, climate and environmental variability
4,5
. Here we derive a set of ecosystem functions
6
from a dataset of surface gas exchange measurements across major terrestrial biomes. We find that most of the variability within ecosystem functions (71.8\%) is captured by three key axes. The first axis reflects maximum ecosystem productivity and is mostly explained by vegetation structure. The second axis reflects ecosystem water-use strategies and is jointly explained by variation in vegetation height and climate. The third axis, which represents ecosystem carbon-use efficiency, features a gradient related to aridity, and is explained primarily by variation in vegetation structure. We show that two state-of-the-art land surface models reproduce the first and most important axis of ecosystem functions. However, the models tend to simulate more strongly correlated functions than those observed, which limits their ability to accurately predict the full range of responses to environmental changes in carbon, water and energy cycling in terrestrial ecosystems
7,8
.},
language = {en},
number = {7881},
urldate = {2022-10-26},
journal = {Nature},
author = {Migliavacca, Mirco and Musavi, Talie and Mahecha, Miguel D. and Nelson, Jacob A. and Knauer, Jürgen and Baldocchi, Dennis D. and Perez-Priego, Oscar and Christiansen, Rune and Peters, Jonas and Anderson, Karen and Bahn, Michael and Black, T. Andrew and Blanken, Peter D. and Bonal, Damien and Buchmann, Nina and Caldararu, Silvia and Carrara, Arnaud and Carvalhais, Nuno and Cescatti, Alessandro and Chen, Jiquan and Cleverly, Jamie and Cremonese, Edoardo and Desai, Ankur R. and El-Madany, Tarek S. and Farella, Martha M. and Fernández-Martínez, Marcos and Filippa, Gianluca and Forkel, Matthias and Galvagno, Marta and Gomarasca, Ulisse and Gough, Christopher M. and Göckede, Mathias and Ibrom, Andreas and Ikawa, Hiroki and Janssens, Ivan A. and Jung, Martin and Kattge, Jens and Keenan, Trevor F. and Knohl, Alexander and Kobayashi, Hideki and Kraemer, Guido and Law, Beverly E. and Liddell, Michael J. and Ma, Xuanlong and Mammarella, Ivan and Martini, David and Macfarlane, Craig and Matteucci, Giorgio and Montagnani, Leonardo and Pabon-Moreno, Daniel E. and Panigada, Cinzia and Papale, Dario and Pendall, Elise and Penuelas, Josep and Phillips, Richard P. and Reich, Peter B. and Rossini, Micol and Rotenberg, Eyal and Scott, Russell L. and Stahl, Clement and Weber, Ulrich and Wohlfahrt, Georg and Wolf, Sebastian and Wright, Ian J. and Yakir, Dan and Zaehle, Sönke and Reichstein, Markus},
month = oct,
year = {2021},
pages = {468--472},
}

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