IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/nat/nature/v562y2018i7726d10.1038_s41586-018-0582-4.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Effects of climate warming on photosynthesis in boreal tree species depend on soil moisture

Author

Listed:
  • Peter B. Reich

    (University of Minnesota
    Western Sydney University)

  • Kerrie M. Sendall

    (University of Minnesota
    Georgia Southern University)

  • Artur Stefanski

    (University of Minnesota)

  • Roy L. Rich

    (University of Minnesota
    Smithsonian Environmental Research Center)

  • Sarah E. Hobbie

    (Evolution and Behavior, University of Minnesota)

  • Rebecca A. Montgomery

    (University of Minnesota)

Abstract

Climate warming will influence photosynthesis via thermal effects and by altering soil moisture1–11. Both effects may be important for the vast areas of global forests that fluctuate between periods when cool temperatures limit photosynthesis and periods when soil moisture may be limiting to carbon gain4–6,9–11. Here we show that the effects of climate warming flip from positive to negative as southern boreal forests transition from rainy to modestly dry periods during the growing season. In a three-year open-air warming experiment with juveniles of 11 temperate and boreal tree species, an increase of 3.4 °C in temperature increased light-saturated net photosynthesis and leaf diffusive conductance on average on the one-third of days with the wettest soils. In all 11 species, leaf diffusive conductance and, as a result, light-saturated net photosynthesis decreased during dry spells, and did so more sharply in warmed plants than in plants at ambient temperatures. Consequently, across the 11 species, warming reduced light-saturated net photosynthesis on the two-thirds of days with driest soils. Thus, low soil moisture may reduce, or even reverse, the potential benefits of climate warming on photosynthesis in mesic, seasonally cold environments, both during drought and in regularly occurring, modestly dry periods during the growing season.

Suggested Citation

  • Peter B. Reich & Kerrie M. Sendall & Artur Stefanski & Roy L. Rich & Sarah E. Hobbie & Rebecca A. Montgomery, 2018. "Effects of climate warming on photosynthesis in boreal tree species depend on soil moisture," Nature, Nature, vol. 562(7726), pages 263-267, October.
    • Handle: RePEc:nat:nature:v:562:y:2018:i:7726:d:10.1038_s41586-018-0582-4
    DOI: 10.1038/s41586-018-0582-4
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-018-0582-4
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1038/s41586-018-0582-4?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Hasan, Md. Mahedi & Islam, Tamanna & Ratan, Zubair Ahmed & Shaikh, M. Nasiruzzaman & Karim, Mohammad Rezaul & Rahman, Mohammad Mominur & Alharbi, Hamad F. & Uddin, Jamal & Aziz, Md. Abdul & Ahammad, A, 2021. "Ni and Co oxide water oxidation electrocatalysts: Effect of thermal treatment on catalytic activity and surface morphology," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 145(C).
    2. Ariane Mirabel & Martin P. Girardin & Juha Metsaranta & Danielle Way & Peter B. Reich, 2023. "Increasing atmospheric dryness reduces boreal forest tree growth," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 14(1), pages 1-12, December.
    3. Mirindi Eric Dusenge & Jeffrey M. Warren & Peter B. Reich & Eric J. Ward & Bridget K. Murphy & Artur Stefanski & Raimundo Bermudez & Marisol Cruz & David A. McLennan & Anthony W. King & Rebecca A. Mon, 2023. "Boreal conifers maintain carbon uptake with warming despite failure to track optimal temperatures," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 14(1), pages 1-11, December.
    4. Zhang, Zhongdian & Huang, Mingbin, 2021. "Effect of root-zone vertical soil moisture heterogeneity on water transport safety in soil-plant-atmosphere continuum in Robinia pseudoacacia," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 246(C).
    5. Wang, Chunyu & Li, Sien & Wu, Mousong & Zhang, Wenxin & Guo, Zhenyu & Huang, Siyu & Yang, Danni, 2023. "Co-regulation of temperature and moisture in the irrigated agricultural ecosystem productivity," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 275(C).
    6. Zhang, Xiaoyuan & Wang, Ke & Duan, Cuihua & Li, Gaoliang & Zhen, Qing & Zheng, Jiyong, 2023. "Evaporation effect of infiltration hole and its comparison with mulching," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 275(C).

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:nat:nature:v:562:y:2018:i:7726:d:10.1038_s41586-018-0582-4. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.nature.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.