Assessing seasonality of biochemical CO₂ exchange model parameters from micrometeorological flux observations at boreal coniferous forest

The seasonality of the NEE of the northern boreal coniferous forests was investigated by means of inversion modelling using eddy covariance data. Eddy covariance data was used to optimize the biochemical model parameters. Our study sites consisted of three Scots pine (l. Pinus sylvestris) forests and one Norway spruce (l. Picea abies) forest that were located in Finland and Sweden. We obtained temperature and seasonal dependence for the biochemical model parameters: the maximum rate of carboxylation (Vc(max)) and the maximum rate of electron transport (Jmax). Both of the parameters were optimized without assumptions about their mutual magnitude. The values obtained for the biochemical model parameters were similar at all the sites during summer time. To describe seasonality, different temperature fits were made for the spring, summer and autumn periods. During summer, average Jmax across the sites was 54.0 μmol m−2 s−1 (variance 31.2 μmol m−2 s−1) and Vc(max) was 12.0 μmol m−2 s−1 (variance 6.6 μmol m−2 s−1) at 17°C. The sensitivity of the model to LAI and atmospheric soil water stress was also studied. The impact of seasonality on annual GPP was 17% when only summertime parameterization was used throughout the year compared to seasonally changing parameterizations.

Assessing seasonality of boreal coniferous forest CO₂ exchange by estimating biochemical model parameters from micrometeorological flux observations

The biochemical seasonality of the northern boreal coniferous forests was investigated by means of inversion modelling using eddy covariance data. Eddy covariance data was used to optimize the biochemical model parameters. Our study sites consisted of three Scots pine (l. Pinus sylvestris) forests and one Norway spruce (l. Picea abies) forest that were located in Finland and Sweden. We obtained temperature and seasonal dependence for the biochemical model parameters: the maximum rate of carboxylation (Vc(max) and the maximum rate of electron transport (Jmax). Both of the parameters were optimized without assumptions about their mutual magnitude. The values obtained for the biochemical model parameters were similar at all the sites during summer time. To describe seasonality, different temperature fits were made for the spring, summer and autumn periods. During summer, average Jmax across the sites was 54.0 μmol m−2 s−1 (variance 31.2 μmol m−2 s-1) and Vc(max) was 12.0 μmol m−2 s−1 (variance 6.6 μmol m−2 s-1) at 17°C. The sensitivity of the model to LAI was also studied. Simulation runs were done to study the effect of the seasonality implemented in the model using different temperature fits. The impact of seasonality on annual GPP was 15%, which corresponded to an increase of 2°C in air temperature.

What determines rates of photosynthesis per unit nitrogen in Eucalyptus seedlings?

Species originating from xeric sites are characterised by slower rates of photosynthesis per unit nitrogen (PNUE) than species from mesic sites, but we lack mechanistic explanations for these interspecific differences. We examined N allocation to Rubisco and chlorophyll, and photosynthetic characteristics in seedlings of nine Eucalyptus species grown in a fully sunlit glasshouse with an optimal supply of nutrients. Species were selected from mesic (1800 mm year–1 rainfall) through to semi-arid habitats (300 mm year–1). All species were characterised by allocation of a large proportion of N to Rubisco (32–48%) with high in vivo specific activity. Intercellular CO2 concentration (Ci) varied between 260 and 300 μmol mol–1, and thus, stomatal limitations were low in all species. This combination of traits resulted in a PNUE (172–335 μmol mol–1 s–1) that was higher than is commonly observed in tree species and which may be related to the rapid growth, water-spender strategy of Eucalyptus seedlings. There were significant differences in photosynthetic parameters and N allocation among species, but these were only weakly related to rainfall at the site of seed origin. There were correlations of Ci with PNUE but a sensitivity analysis suggested that interspecific variation in Ci explained at most 7% of variation in PNUE. Photosynthesis and PNUE were also rather insensitive to large interspecific differences in RuBP-limited rate of electron transport per unit N (Jmax / N), because photosynthesis was primarily limited by the maximum rate of carboxylation (Vcmax). PNUE was most sensitive to changes in N allocation to Rubisco and Vcmax / Rubisco.