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      Climate seasonality limits leaf carbon assimilation and wood productivity in tropical forests

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      Biogeosciences
      Copernicus GmbH

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          Abstract

          <p><strong>Abstract.</strong> The seasonal climate drivers of the carbon cycle in tropical forests remain poorly known, although these forests account for more carbon assimilation and storage than any other terrestrial ecosystem. Based on a unique combination of seasonal pan-tropical data sets from 89 experimental sites (68 include aboveground wood productivity measurements and 35 litter productivity measurements), their associated canopy photosynthetic capacity (enhanced vegetation index, EVI) and climate, we ask how carbon assimilation and aboveground allocation are related to climate seasonality in tropical forests and how they interact in the seasonal carbon cycle. We found that canopy photosynthetic capacity seasonality responds positively to precipitation when rainfall is &amp;lt; 2000<span class="thinspace"></span>mm<span class="thinspace"></span>yr<sup>−1</sup> (water-limited forests) and to radiation otherwise (light-limited forests). On the other hand, independent of climate limitations, wood productivity and litterfall are driven by seasonal variation in precipitation and evapotranspiration, respectively. Consequently, light-limited forests present an asynchronism between canopy photosynthetic capacity and wood productivity. First-order control by precipitation likely indicates a decrease in tropical forest productivity in a drier climate in water-limited forest, and in current light-limited forest with future rainfall &amp;lt; 2000<span class="thinspace"></span>mm<span class="thinspace"></span>yr<sup>−1</sup>.</p>

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          Towards a worldwide wood economics spectrum.

          Wood performs several essential functions in plants, including mechanically supporting aboveground tissue, storing water and other resources, and transporting sap. Woody tissues are likely to face physiological, structural and defensive trade-offs. How a plant optimizes among these competing functions can have major ecological implications, which have been under-appreciated by ecologists compared to the focus they have given to leaf function. To draw together our current understanding of wood function, we identify and collate data on the major wood functional traits, including the largest wood density database to date (8412 taxa), mechanical strength measures and anatomical features, as well as clade-specific features such as secondary chemistry. We then show how wood traits are related to one another, highlighting functional trade-offs, and to ecological and demographic plant features (growth form, growth rate, latitude, ecological setting). We suggest that, similar to the manifold that tree species leaf traits cluster around the 'leaf economics spectrum', a similar 'wood economics spectrum' may be defined. We then discuss the biogeography, evolution and biogeochemistry of the spectrum, and conclude by pointing out the major gaps in our current knowledge of wood functional traits.
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            Toward Optimal Closure of the Earth's Top-of-Atmosphere Radiation Budget

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              Climate change mitigation: A spatial analysis of global land suitability for clean development mechanism afforestation and reforestation

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                Author and article information

                Journal
                Biogeosciences
                Biogeosciences
                Copernicus GmbH
                1726-4189
                2016
                April 28 2016
                : 13
                : 8
                : 2537-2562
                Article
                10.5194/bg-13-2537-2016
                bdabbbd0-a42b-4971-8650-3ddcf1bd9568
                © 2016

                https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

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