IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/nat/natcom/v16y2025i1d10.1038_s41467-025-60149-x.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Impacts of leaf traits on vegetation optical properties in Earth system modeling

Author

Listed:
  • Yujie Wang

    (University of Science and Technology of China
    California Institute of Technology)

  • Renato K. Braghiere

    (California Institute of Technology
    California Institute of Technology)

  • Woodward W. Fischer

    (California Institute of Technology)

  • Yitong Yao

    (California Institute of Technology)

  • Zhaoyi Shen

    (California Institute of Technology)

  • Tapio Schneider

    (California Institute of Technology)

  • A. Anthony Bloom

    (California Institute of Technology)

  • David Schimel

    (California Institute of Technology)

  • Holly Croft

    (University of Sheffield)

  • Alexander J. Winkler

    (Max-Planck-Institute for Biogeochemistry)

  • Markus Reichstein

    (Max-Planck-Institute for Biogeochemistry)

  • Christian Frankenberg

    (California Institute of Technology
    California Institute of Technology)

Abstract

Quantifying surface energy and carbon budgets is essential for projecting Earth’s climate. Earth System Models (ESMs) typically simulate land surface processes based on plant functional types (PFTs), neglecting the diversity of plant functional traits or characteristics (PFCs; e.g., chlorophyll content and leaf mass per area). Here, we demonstrate substantial differences in modeled leaf optical properties (LOP) and surface albedo between traditional PFT-based and PFC-based approaches, particularly in tropical and boreal forests. We configure the canopy radiative transfer scheme in the Community Earth System Model using PFC-based LOP. This new configuration produces lower shortwave surface albedo in the tropics but higher albedo in boreal regions (>5 W m−2 radiative flux differences), and a weaker tropical but stronger boreal carbon sink. Through land-atmosphere coupling, the PFC-based configuration further alters atmospheric processes, leading to different temperature, cloud cover, and precipitation patterns. Our findings highlight the need to move beyond traditional PFT-based approaches in ESMs.

Suggested Citation

  • Yujie Wang & Renato K. Braghiere & Woodward W. Fischer & Yitong Yao & Zhaoyi Shen & Tapio Schneider & A. Anthony Bloom & David Schimel & Holly Croft & Alexander J. Winkler & Markus Reichstein & Christ, 2025. "Impacts of leaf traits on vegetation optical properties in Earth system modeling," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 16(1), pages 1-10, December.
  • Handle: RePEc:nat:natcom:v:16:y:2025:i:1:d:10.1038_s41467-025-60149-x
    DOI: 10.1038/s41467-025-60149-x
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-025-60149-x
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: no

    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1038/s41467-025-60149-x?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
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Ian J. Wright & Peter B. Reich & Mark Westoby & David D. Ackerly & Zdravko Baruch & Frans Bongers & Jeannine Cavender-Bares & Terry Chapin & Johannes H. C. Cornelissen & Matthias Diemer & Jaume Flexas, 2004. "The worldwide leaf economics spectrum," Nature, Nature, vol. 428(6985), pages 821-827, April.
    2. Sonia I. Seneviratne & Markus G. Donat & Brigitte Mueller & Lisa V. Alexander, 2014. "No pause in the increase of hot temperature extremes," Nature Climate Change, Nature, vol. 4(3), pages 161-163, March.
    3. E. M. Fischer & R. Knutti, 2015. "Anthropogenic contribution to global occurrence of heavy-precipitation and high-temperature extremes," Nature Climate Change, Nature, vol. 5(6), pages 560-564, June.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Carl-Friedrich Schleussner & Joeri Rogelj & Michiel Schaeffer & Tabea Lissner & Rachel Licker & Erich M. Fischer & Reto Knutti & Anders Levermann & Katja Frieler & William Hare, 2016. "Science and policy characteristics of the Paris Agreement temperature goal," Nature Climate Change, Nature, vol. 6(9), pages 827-835, September.
    2. Thomas R. Knutson & Jeffrey J. Ploshay, 2016. "Detection of anthropogenic influence on a summertime heat stress index," Climatic Change, Springer, vol. 138(1), pages 25-39, September.
    3. Nick Obradovich, 2017. "Climate change may speed democratic turnover," Climatic Change, Springer, vol. 140(2), pages 135-147, January.
    4. Zoe E. Petropoulos & Oriana Ramirez-Rubio & Madeleine K. Scammell & Rebecca L. Laws & Damaris Lopez-Pilarte & Juan José Amador & Joan Ballester & Cristina O’Callaghan-Gordo & Daniel R. Brooks, 2021. "Climate Trends at a Hotspot of Chronic Kidney Disease of Unknown Causes in Nicaragua, 1973–2014," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(10), pages 1-13, May.
    5. Coderoni, Silvia & Pagliacci, Francesco, 2023. "The impact of climate change on land productivity. A micro-level assessment for Italian farms," Agricultural Systems, Elsevier, vol. 205(C).
    6. Fengchun Ye & Pinya Wang & Yang Yang & Lili Ren & Jianping Tang & Hong Liao, 2025. "Anthropogenic forcing dominates changes in compound long-duration dry and heat extremes in China," Climatic Change, Springer, vol. 178(2), pages 1-19, February.
    7. Xing Zhang & Tianjun Zhou & Wenxia Zhang & Liwen Ren & Jie Jiang & Shuai Hu & Meng Zuo & Lixia Zhang & Wenmin Man, 2023. "Increased impact of heat domes on 2021-like heat extremes in North America under global warming," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 14(1), pages 1-11, December.
    8. Maria Wanic & Mariola Parzonka, 2023. "Assessing the Role of Crop Rotation in Shaping Foliage Characteristics and Leaf Gas Exchange Parameters for Winter Wheat," Agriculture, MDPI, vol. 13(5), pages 1-20, April.
    9. Frances C. Moore, 2017. "Learning, Adaptation, And Weather In A Changing Climate," Climate Change Economics (CCE), World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd., vol. 8(04), pages 1-21, November.
    10. Dae II Jeong & Alex J. Cannon & Bin Yu, 2022. "Influences of atmospheric blocking on North American summer heatwaves in a changing climate: a comparison of two Canadian Earth system model large ensembles," Climatic Change, Springer, vol. 172(1), pages 1-21, May.
    11. Hong Ying & Hongyan Zhang & Ying Sun & Jianjun Zhao & Zhengxiang Zhang & Xiaoyi Guo & Hang Zhao & Rihan Wu & Guorong Deng, 2020. "CMIP5-Based Spatiotemporal Changes of Extreme Temperature Events during 2021–2100 in Mainland China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(11), pages 1-18, May.
    12. Luke J. Harrington & Carl-Friedrich Schleussner & Friederike E. L. Otto, 2021. "Quantifying uncertainty in aggregated climate change risk assessments," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 12(1), pages 1-10, December.
    13. Xiaoting Sun & Qinghua Ding & Shih-Yu Simon Wang & Dániel Topál & Qingquan Li & Christopher Castro & Haiyan Teng & Rui Luo & Yihui Ding, 2022. "Enhanced jet stream waviness induced by suppressed tropical Pacific convection during boreal summer," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 13(1), pages 1-10, December.
    14. Yeonggeun Song & Sukwoo Kim & Haeun Koo & Hyeonhwa Kim & Kidae Kim & Jaeuk Lee & Sujin Jang & Kyeong Cheol Lee, 2023. "Assessing the Suitability of Sediment Soil to Be Reused by Different Soil Treatments for Forest Agriculture," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(15), pages 1-18, July.
    15. Frank A. La Sorte & Alison Johnston & Toby R. Ault, 2021. "Global trends in the frequency and duration of temperature extremes," Climatic Change, Springer, vol. 166(1), pages 1-14, May.
    16. Yi Lei & Jing Gao & Qi Wang & Weiying Zeng & Dhungana Diwakar & Yaodan Zhang & Xianming Tan & Zudong Sun & Feng Yang & Wenyu Yang, 2024. "Cyclic Electron Flow Alleviates the Stress of Light Fluctuation on Soybean Photosynthesis," Agriculture, MDPI, vol. 14(7), pages 1-12, June.
    17. Sato, Hisashi & Itoh, Akihiko & Kohyama, Takashi, 2007. "SEIB–DGVM: A new Dynamic Global Vegetation Model using a spatially explicit individual-based approach," Ecological Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 200(3), pages 279-307.
    18. Zhang, Peng & Li, Kefeng & Liu, Qingyuan & Zou, Qingping & Liang, Ruifeng & Qin, Leilei & Wang, Yuanming, 2024. "Thermal stratification characteristics and cooling water shortage risks for pumped storage reservoir–green data centers under extreme climates," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 229(C).
    19. Auke M. Woude & Wouter Peters & Emilie Joetzjer & Sébastien Lafont & Gerbrand Koren & Philippe Ciais & Michel Ramonet & Yidi Xu & Ana Bastos & Santiago Botía & Stephen Sitch & Remco Kok & Tobias Kneue, 2023. "Temperature extremes of 2022 reduced carbon uptake by forests in Europe," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 14(1), pages 1-11, December.
    20. Francisco J. Muñoz-Gálvez & José I. Querejeta & Cristina Moreno-Gutiérrez & Wei Ren & Enrique G. de la Riva & Iván Prieto, 2025. "Trait coordination and trade-offs constrain the diversity of water use strategies in Mediterranean woody plants," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 16(1), pages 1-17, December.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    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:natcom:v:16:y:2025:i:1:d:10.1038_s41467-025-60149-x. 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.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with 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.