Predicting resilience through the lens of competing adjustments to vegetation function

Manon E.B. Sabot; Martin G. De Kauwe; Andy J. Pitman; David S. Ellsworth; Belinda E. Medlyn; Silvia Caldararu; Sönke Zaehle; Kristine Y. Crous; Teresa E. Gimeno; Agnieszka Wujeska-Klause; Mengyuan Mu; Jinyan Yang

doi:10.1111/pce.14376

Predicting resilience through the lens of competing adjustments to vegetation function

Manon E.B. Sabot^*, Martin G. De Kauwe, Andy J. Pitman, David S. Ellsworth, Belinda E. Medlyn, Silvia Caldararu, Sönke Zaehle, Kristine Y. Crous, Teresa E. Gimeno, Agnieszka Wujeska-Klause, Mengyuan Mu, Jinyan Yang

^*Corresponding author for this work

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Abstract

There is a pressing need to better understand ecosystem resilience to droughts and heatwaves. Eco-evolutionary optimization approaches have been proposed as means to build this understanding in land surface models and improve their predictive capability, but competing approaches are yet to be tested together. Here, we coupled approaches that optimize canopy gas exchange and leaf nitrogen investment, respectively, extending both approaches to account for hydraulic impairment. We assessed model predictions using observations from a native Eucalyptus woodland that experienced repeated droughts and heatwaves between 2013 and 2020, whilst exposed to an elevated [CO₂] treatment. Our combined approaches improved predictions of transpiration and enhanced the simulated magnitude of the CO₂ fertilization effect on gross primary productivity. The competing approaches also worked consistently along axes of change in soil moisture, leaf area, and [CO₂]. Despite predictions of a significant percentage loss of hydraulic conductivity due to embolism (PLC) in 2013, 2014, 2016, and 2017 (99th percentile PLC > 45%), simulated hydraulic legacy effects were small and short-lived (2 months). Our analysis suggests that leaf shedding and/or suppressed foliage growth formed a strategy to mitigate drought risk. Accounting for foliage responses to water availability has the potential to improve model predictions of ecosystem resilience.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	2744-2761
Number of pages	18
Journal	Plant Cell and Environment
Volume	45
Issue number	9
Early online date	10 Jun 2022
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1111/pce.14376
Publication status	E-pub ahead of print - 10 Jun 2022

Bibliographical note

Funding Information:
MEBS, MDK, and AJP acknowledge support from the Australian Research Council (ARC) Centre of Excellence for Climate Extremes (CE170100023). MEBS was also supported by the UNSW Scientia PhD Scholarship Scheme. MDK and AJP acknowledge support from the ARC Discovery Grant (DP190101823) and MDK also acknowledges Eucalypt Australia and the NSW Research Attraction and Acceleration Program, which separately supported the EucFACE infrastructure. EucFACE was built as an initiative of the Australian Government, as part of the Nation-building Economic Stimulus Package, and is supported by the Australian Commonwealth in collaboration with Western Sydney University. BEM acknowledges support from the ARC Laureate Fellowship FL190100003. Finally, we thank the Editor, Dr Danielle Way, and two anonymous reviewers for their constructive comments. Open access publishing facilitated by University of New South Wales, as part of the Wiley - University of New South Wales agreement via the Council of Australian University Librarians. All model, analysis code, and data files are freely available from https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.6717290 (Sabot, 2022) and the code is also available from https://github.com/ManonSabot/Competing_Optimal_Adjustments. Previously published data sets used in this study can be accessed at: http://doi.org/10.4225/35/563159f223739 (Duursma et al., 2016). http://doi.org/10.4225/35/57ec5d4a2b78e (Ellsworth et al., 2017). http://doi.org/10.4225/35/55b6e313444ff (Gimeno et al., 2016). http://doi.org/10.4225/35/5ab9bd1e2f4fb (Gimeno et al., 2018).

Funding Information:
MEBS, MDK, and AJP acknowledge support from the Australian Research Council (ARC) Centre of Excellence for Climate Extremes (CE170100023). MEBS was also supported by the UNSW Scientia PhD Scholarship Scheme. MDK and AJP acknowledge support from the ARC Discovery Grant (DP190101823) and MDK also acknowledges Eucalypt Australia and the NSW Research Attraction and Acceleration Program, which separately supported the EucFACE infrastructure. EucFACE was built as an initiative of the Australian Government, as part of the Nation‐building Economic Stimulus Package, and is supported by the Australian Commonwealth in collaboration with Western Sydney University. BEM acknowledges support from the ARC Laureate Fellowship FL190100003. Finally, we thank the Editor, Dr Danielle Way, and two anonymous reviewers for their constructive comments. Open access publishing facilitated by University of New South Wales, as part of the Wiley ‐ University of New South Wales agreement via the Council of Australian University Librarians.

Publisher Copyright:
© 2022 The Authors. Plant, Cell & Environment published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Keywords

drought
elevated CO
gas exchange
hydraulic legacies
land surface models
leaf area index
nitrogen
optimization
plant optimality
vegetation models

UN SDGs

This output contributes to the following UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

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Sabot, M. E. B., De Kauwe, M. G., Pitman, A. J., Ellsworth, D. S., Medlyn, B. E., Caldararu, S., Zaehle, S., Crous, K. Y., Gimeno, T. E., Wujeska-Klause, A., Mu, M., & Yang, J. (2022). Predicting resilience through the lens of competing adjustments to vegetation function. Plant Cell and Environment, 45(9), 2744-2761. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1111/pce.14376

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abstract = "There is a pressing need to better understand ecosystem resilience to droughts and heatwaves. Eco-evolutionary optimization approaches have been proposed as means to build this understanding in land surface models and improve their predictive capability, but competing approaches are yet to be tested together. Here, we coupled approaches that optimize canopy gas exchange and leaf nitrogen investment, respectively, extending both approaches to account for hydraulic impairment. We assessed model predictions using observations from a native Eucalyptus woodland that experienced repeated droughts and heatwaves between 2013 and 2020, whilst exposed to an elevated [CO2] treatment. Our combined approaches improved predictions of transpiration and enhanced the simulated magnitude of the CO2 fertilization effect on gross primary productivity. The competing approaches also worked consistently along axes of change in soil moisture, leaf area, and [CO2]. Despite predictions of a significant percentage loss of hydraulic conductivity due to embolism (PLC) in 2013, 2014, 2016, and 2017 (99th percentile PLC > 45%), simulated hydraulic legacy effects were small and short-lived (2 months). Our analysis suggests that leaf shedding and/or suppressed foliage growth formed a strategy to mitigate drought risk. Accounting for foliage responses to water availability has the potential to improve model predictions of ecosystem resilience.",

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note = "Funding Information: MEBS, MDK, and AJP acknowledge support from the Australian Research Council (ARC) Centre of Excellence for Climate Extremes (CE170100023). MEBS was also supported by the UNSW Scientia PhD Scholarship Scheme. MDK and AJP acknowledge support from the ARC Discovery Grant (DP190101823) and MDK also acknowledges Eucalypt Australia and the NSW Research Attraction and Acceleration Program, which separately supported the EucFACE infrastructure. EucFACE was built as an initiative of the Australian Government, as part of the Nation-building Economic Stimulus Package, and is supported by the Australian Commonwealth in collaboration with Western Sydney University. BEM acknowledges support from the ARC Laureate Fellowship FL190100003. Finally, we thank the Editor, Dr Danielle Way, and two anonymous reviewers for their constructive comments. Open access publishing facilitated by University of New South Wales, as part of the Wiley - University of New South Wales agreement via the Council of Australian University Librarians. All model, analysis code, and data files are freely available from https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.6717290 (Sabot, 2022) and the code is also available from https://github.com/ManonSabot/Competing_Optimal_Adjustments. Previously published data sets used in this study can be accessed at: http://doi.org/10.4225/35/563159f223739 (Duursma et al., 2016). http://doi.org/10.4225/35/57ec5d4a2b78e (Ellsworth et al., 2017). http://doi.org/10.4225/35/55b6e313444ff (Gimeno et al., 2016). http://doi.org/10.4225/35/5ab9bd1e2f4fb (Gimeno et al., 2018). Funding Information: MEBS, MDK, and AJP acknowledge support from the Australian Research Council (ARC) Centre of Excellence for Climate Extremes (CE170100023). MEBS was also supported by the UNSW Scientia PhD Scholarship Scheme. MDK and AJP acknowledge support from the ARC Discovery Grant (DP190101823) and MDK also acknowledges Eucalypt Australia and the NSW Research Attraction and Acceleration Program, which separately supported the EucFACE infrastructure. EucFACE was built as an initiative of the Australian Government, as part of the Nation‐building Economic Stimulus Package, and is supported by the Australian Commonwealth in collaboration with Western Sydney University. BEM acknowledges support from the ARC Laureate Fellowship FL190100003. Finally, we thank the Editor, Dr Danielle Way, and two anonymous reviewers for their constructive comments. Open access publishing facilitated by University of New South Wales, as part of the Wiley ‐ University of New South Wales agreement via the Council of Australian University Librarians. Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} 2022 The Authors. Plant, Cell & Environment published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.",

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T1 - Predicting resilience through the lens of competing adjustments to vegetation function

AU - Sabot, Manon E.B.

AU - De Kauwe, Martin G.

AU - Pitman, Andy J.

AU - Ellsworth, David S.

AU - Medlyn, Belinda E.

AU - Caldararu, Silvia

AU - Zaehle, Sönke

AU - Crous, Kristine Y.

AU - Gimeno, Teresa E.

AU - Wujeska-Klause, Agnieszka

AU - Mu, Mengyuan

AU - Yang, Jinyan

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N2 - There is a pressing need to better understand ecosystem resilience to droughts and heatwaves. Eco-evolutionary optimization approaches have been proposed as means to build this understanding in land surface models and improve their predictive capability, but competing approaches are yet to be tested together. Here, we coupled approaches that optimize canopy gas exchange and leaf nitrogen investment, respectively, extending both approaches to account for hydraulic impairment. We assessed model predictions using observations from a native Eucalyptus woodland that experienced repeated droughts and heatwaves between 2013 and 2020, whilst exposed to an elevated [CO2] treatment. Our combined approaches improved predictions of transpiration and enhanced the simulated magnitude of the CO2 fertilization effect on gross primary productivity. The competing approaches also worked consistently along axes of change in soil moisture, leaf area, and [CO2]. Despite predictions of a significant percentage loss of hydraulic conductivity due to embolism (PLC) in 2013, 2014, 2016, and 2017 (99th percentile PLC > 45%), simulated hydraulic legacy effects were small and short-lived (2 months). Our analysis suggests that leaf shedding and/or suppressed foliage growth formed a strategy to mitigate drought risk. Accounting for foliage responses to water availability has the potential to improve model predictions of ecosystem resilience.

AB - There is a pressing need to better understand ecosystem resilience to droughts and heatwaves. Eco-evolutionary optimization approaches have been proposed as means to build this understanding in land surface models and improve their predictive capability, but competing approaches are yet to be tested together. Here, we coupled approaches that optimize canopy gas exchange and leaf nitrogen investment, respectively, extending both approaches to account for hydraulic impairment. We assessed model predictions using observations from a native Eucalyptus woodland that experienced repeated droughts and heatwaves between 2013 and 2020, whilst exposed to an elevated [CO2] treatment. Our combined approaches improved predictions of transpiration and enhanced the simulated magnitude of the CO2 fertilization effect on gross primary productivity. The competing approaches also worked consistently along axes of change in soil moisture, leaf area, and [CO2]. Despite predictions of a significant percentage loss of hydraulic conductivity due to embolism (PLC) in 2013, 2014, 2016, and 2017 (99th percentile PLC > 45%), simulated hydraulic legacy effects were small and short-lived (2 months). Our analysis suggests that leaf shedding and/or suppressed foliage growth formed a strategy to mitigate drought risk. Accounting for foliage responses to water availability has the potential to improve model predictions of ecosystem resilience.

KW - drought

KW - elevated CO

KW - gas exchange

KW - hydraulic legacies

KW - land surface models

KW - leaf area index

KW - nitrogen

KW - optimization

KW - plant optimality

KW - vegetation models

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DO - 10.1111/pce.14376

M3 - Article (Academic Journal)

C2 - 35686437

AN - SCOPUS:85133445998

SN - 0140-7791

VL - 45

SP - 2744

EP - 2761

JO - Plant Cell and Environment

JF - Plant Cell and Environment

IS - 9

ER -

Predicting resilience through the lens of competing adjustments to vegetation function

Abstract

Bibliographical note

Keywords

UN SDGs

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