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Individual-Based Modeling of Amazon Forests Suggests That Climate Controls Productivity While Traits Control Demography

Fauset, Sophie; Gloor, Manuel; Fyllas, Nikolaos M.; Phillips, Oliver L.; Asner, Gregory P.; Baker, Timothy R.; Patrick Bentley, Lisa; Brienen, Roel J. W.; Christoffersen, Bradley O.; del Aguila-Pasquel, Jhon; Doughty, Christopher E.; Feldpausch, Ted R.; Galbraith, David R.; Goodman, Rosa C.; Girardin, Cécile A. J.; Honorio Coronado, Euridice N.; Monteagudo, Abel; Salinas, Norma; Shenkin, Alexander; Silva-Espejo, Javier E.; van der Heijden, Geertje; Vasquez, Rodolfo; Alvarez-Davila, Esteban; Arroyo, Luzmila; Barroso, Jorcely G.; Brown, Foster; Castro, Wendeson; Cornejo Valverde, Fernando; Davila Cardozo, Nallarett; Di Fiore, Anthony; Erwin, Terry; Huamantupa-Chuquimaco, Isau; Núñez Vargas, Percy; Neill, David; Pallqui Camacho, Nadir; Gutierrez, Alexander Parada; Peacock, Julie; Pitman, Nigel; Prieto, Adriana; Restrepo, Zorayda; Rudas, Agustín; Quesada, Carlos A.; Silveira, Marcos; Stropp, Juliana; Terborgh, John; Vieira, Simone A.; Malhi, Yadvinder

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Authors

Sophie Fauset

Manuel Gloor

Nikolaos M. Fyllas

Oliver L. Phillips

Gregory P. Asner

Timothy R. Baker

Lisa Patrick Bentley

Roel J. W. Brienen

Bradley O. Christoffersen

Jhon del Aguila-Pasquel

Christopher E. Doughty

Ted R. Feldpausch

David R. Galbraith

Rosa C. Goodman

Cécile A. J. Girardin

Euridice N. Honorio Coronado

Abel Monteagudo

Norma Salinas

Alexander Shenkin

Javier E. Silva-Espejo

Rodolfo Vasquez

Esteban Alvarez-Davila

Luzmila Arroyo

Jorcely G. Barroso

Foster Brown

Wendeson Castro

Fernando Cornejo Valverde

Nallarett Davila Cardozo

Anthony Di Fiore

Terry Erwin

Isau Huamantupa-Chuquimaco

Percy Núñez Vargas

David Neill

Nadir Pallqui Camacho

Alexander Parada Gutierrez

Julie Peacock

Nigel Pitman

Adriana Prieto

Zorayda Restrepo

Agustín Rudas

Carlos A. Quesada

Marcos Silveira

Juliana Stropp

John Terborgh

Simone A. Vieira

Yadvinder Malhi



Abstract

Climate, species composition, and soils are thought to control carbon cycling and forest structure in Amazonian forests. Here, we add a demographics scheme (tree recruitment, growth, and mortality) to a recently developed non-demographic model—the Trait-based Forest Simulator (TFS)—to explore the roles of climate and plant traits in controlling forest productivity and structure. We compared two sites with differing climates (seasonal vs. aseasonal precipitation) and plant traits. Through an initial validation simulation, we assessed whether the model converges on observed forest properties (productivity, demographic and structural variables) using datasets of functional traits, structure, and climate to model the carbon cycle at the two sites. In a second set of simulations, we tested the relative importance of climate and plant traits for forest properties within the TFS framework using the climate from the two sites with hypothetical trait distributions representing two axes of functional variation (“fast” vs. “slow” leaf traits, and high vs. low wood density). The adapted model with demographics reproduced observed variation in gross (GPP) and net (NPP) primary production, and respiration. However, NPP and respiration at the level of plant organs (leaf, stem, and root) were poorly simulated. Mortality and recruitment rates were underestimated. The equilibrium forest structure differed from observations of stem numbers suggesting either that the forests are not currently at equilibrium or that mechanisms are missing from the model. Findings from the second set of simulations demonstrated that differences in productivity were driven by climate, rather than plant traits. Contrary to expectation, varying leaf traits had no influence on GPP. Drivers of simulated forest structure were complex, with a key role for wood density mediated by its link to tree mortality. Modeled mortality and recruitment rates were linked to plant traits alone, drought-related mortality was not accounted for. In future, model development should focus on improving allocation, mortality, organ respiration, simulation of understory trees and adding hydraulic traits. This type of model that incorporates diverse tree strategies, detailed forest structure and realistic physiology is necessary if we are to be able to simulate tropical forest responses to global change scenarios.

Citation

Fauset, S., Gloor, M., Fyllas, N. M., Phillips, O. L., Asner, G. P., Baker, T. R., Patrick Bentley, L., Brienen, R. J. W., Christoffersen, B. O., del Aguila-Pasquel, J., Doughty, C. E., Feldpausch, T. R., Galbraith, D. R., Goodman, R. C., Girardin, C. A. J., Honorio Coronado, E. N., Monteagudo, A., Salinas, N., Shenkin, A., Silva-Espejo, J. E., …Malhi, Y. (2019). Individual-Based Modeling of Amazon Forests Suggests That Climate Controls Productivity While Traits Control Demography. Frontiers in Earth Science, 7, 1-19. https://doi.org/10.3389/feart.2019.00083

Journal Article Type Article
Acceptance Date Apr 8, 2019
Online Publication Date Apr 30, 2019
Publication Date Apr 30, 2019
Deposit Date Jul 9, 2019
Publicly Available Date Jul 9, 2019
Journal Frontiers in Earth Science
Electronic ISSN 2296-6463
Publisher Frontiers Media
Peer Reviewed Peer Reviewed
Volume 7
Article Number 83
Pages 1-19
DOI https://doi.org/10.3389/feart.2019.00083
Keywords Amazon, carbon cycle, climate, forest dynamics, functional traits, leaf economics spectrum, tropical forest, vegetation model
Public URL https://nottingham-repository.worktribe.com/output/2290112
Publisher URL https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/feart.2019.00083/full
Contract Date Jul 9, 2019

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