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Plant respiration: Controlled by photosynthesis or biomass?

  • Collalti A Institute for Agriculture and Forestry Systems in the Mediterranean, National Research Council of Italy (CNR-ISAFOM), Rende (CS), Italy.
  • Tjoelker MG Hawkesbury Institute for the Environment, Western Sydney University, Penrith, NSW, Australia.
  • Hoch G Department of Environmental Sciences - Botany, University of Basel, Basel, Switzerland.
  • Mäkelä A Institute for Atmospheric and Earth System Research (INAR), Faculty of Science and Faculty of Agriculture and Forestry, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland.
  • Guidolotti G Institute of Research on Terrestrial Ecosystem, National Research Council of Italy (CNR-IRET), Rome, Italy.
  • Heskel M Department of Biology, Macalester College, Saint Paul, MN, USA.
  • Petit G Department of Land, Environment, Agriculture and Forestry, University of Padova, Padua, Italy.
  • Ryan MG Natural Resource Ecology Laboratory, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO, USA.
  • Battipaglia G Department of Environmental, Biological and Pharmaceutical Sciences and Technologies, University of Campania "L. Vanvitelli", Caserta, Italy.
  • Matteucci G Institute for Agriculture and Forestry Systems in the Mediterranean, National Research Council of Italy (CNR-ISAFOM), Rende (CS), Italy.
  • Prentice IC AXA Chair of Biosphere and Climate Impacts, Department of Life Sciences, Imperial College London, Ascot, UK.
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  • 2019-10-04
Published in:
  • Global change biology. - 2020
biomass accumulation
carbon use efficiency
gross primary production
maintenance respiration
metabolic scaling theory
net primary production
nonstructural carbohydrates
plant respiration
Biomass
Carbon
Carbon Dioxide
Cell Respiration
Forests
Photosynthesis
Plant Leaves
Trees
English Two simplifying hypotheses have been proposed for whole-plant respiration. One links respiration to photosynthesis; the other to biomass. Using a first-principles carbon balance model with a prescribed live woody biomass turnover, applied at a forest research site where multidecadal measurements are available for comparison, we show that if turnover is fast the accumulation of respiring biomass is low and respiration depends primarily on photosynthesis; while if turnover is slow the accumulation of respiring biomass is high and respiration depends primarily on biomass. But the first scenario is inconsistent with evidence for substantial carry-over of fixed carbon between years, while the second implies far too great an increase in respiration during stand development-leading to depleted carbohydrate reserves and an unrealistically high mortality risk. These two mutually incompatible hypotheses are thus both incorrect. Respiration is not linearly related either to photosynthesis or to biomass, but it is more strongly controlled by recent photosynthates (and reserve availability) than by total biomass.
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  • English
Open access status
green
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https://sonar.ch/global/documents/194970
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