Factsheet

Issue3
October2013
Newdataonthetemperatureresponseof
photosynthesisintheAmazonforests:rstresults
Dynamicvegetaonmodelsgenerallypredictthatinawarmingclimate,photosynthesisandhenceforestproduc-
vityandresiliencewilldecline.Weaimtotesttheassumedtemperaturedependencethatiscausingthesepre-
dicons.Duringtwoeldcampaignsmeasurementsofleafphotosynthesishavebeencarriedoutintworainforest
plotthathavebeensubjectedtoarcialdroughtforanextendedperiod.Temperaturedependenceofphotosyn-
thesis,bothonshortandlongmescales,hasbeenassessedinthisway.Firstresultsdonotsupportadeclinein
photosynthesisasassumedinthemodels,butmoredataareneededfordeniveconclusions.
ATAGLANCE

Measurements have been

done on more than 50
leaves, in a drought ex
posedandacontrolplot.
Each measurement set
results in a temperature
response curve for key
parameters of photosyn
theccapacity.
Subsets of leaves were
heated with about 12
degrees temperature in
creaseoverextendedperi
ods.
Heated leaves were meas
uredagainaer7months
First results do not sup
port decline in photosyn
thec capacity with in
creasingtemperature.
Introducon
Longterm computer simulaons of the sensivity of Amazon forests to climate
changeoenshowtendenciesoftheforeststodegradewithincreasingtempera
tures.Thereasonsforthismodelbehaviourincludeapredictedincreaseinrespi
raon with temperature, but also a decrease in photosynthesis. The laer is a
consequenceoftheassumedopmumtemperaturesforphotosynthesis,usually
assumed between 25 and 30 degrees, originang from data on temperate, not
tropicalvegetaon.
As the posioning of this opmum is crucial for the temperature sensivity of
vegetaon,weaimtoestablishthesefromoriginaldatatakeninAmazonforests.
Inparcular,weaimtoestablishthetemperaturedependenceoftheunderlying
photosynthec capacity parameters, both at short me scales (immediate re
sponse)andlongmescales(acclimaonacrossseasons).
DuringSeptember/October 2012(dry season) and inMay2013 (wet season) we
measuredtheresponseofleaflevelgasexchangetoshorttermvariaoninleaf
temperature;CO2andlightresponsecurveswerecarriedouttoderivephotosyn
thec parameters (e.g., Jmax and Vcmax) under dierent temperature levels.
Measurementsweretakeninthecontrolanddroughtexposedplotsinthelong
term moisture manipulaon experiment carried out in the Caxiuana Naonal
Forest, Brazil,which will allow us to invesgate the combinaon ofdrought and
leafheangongasexchange.

Photographsontheright:

1)Leafwithheaterplate
mountedunderneath

2)Researchersperforming
photosynthesismeasure
mentsusingLICor6400gas
exchangeequipment

Graphsontheright:

Showingthemeasuredand
averagedphotosynthec
capacityratesVcmaxand
Jmaxalongtemperature,for
October2012(inial,pre
heatedstate),andfornon
heatedandheatedleavesin
May,2013(seelegend).
Dataarealsoshownsepara
telyforthecontrolplot(top)
andthedroughtedplot
(boom).Dataconsistof
measurementsondierent
species.

Method
Leafheangsystem:
Weusedelectricresistanceheatersto
establish connuous warming. Each
heater had a 75 cm long, 10 con
stantan wire folded into a 4x10 cm
rectangular iron wire frame. The
frames were closed with aluminium tape and wrapped in aluminium foil. Three
voltswererunthroughthewire(1.2W).Theheaterswereplacedapproximately2
cm below the leaf by aaching them to the peole and branch with iron wire
extendingfromtheframe.
At the control and dry plot respecvely 3 and 2 tree species were selected.
Depending on the distance of the
trees to the tower, sun and shaded
leaves were selected for measure
ments. Together and nearby each
heang element an element was
installed below a leaf without any
heang to measure the inuence of
theelementitselfontheleaf.Andat
the same spot a leaf was selected as
a reference (no element installed
below).
The heang eect of the leaf heaters was veried by a set of thermocouples
aachedwithMicroporetapetothelowersurfaceofasubsampleofleaves.
LightandCO
2
responsecurves:
LeafgasexchangewasmeasuredwithaLI6400portablephotosynthesissystem
(LICOR,Lincoln,NE,USA),underdierentcombinaonsofCO
2
,temperatureand
lightlevelsonyoung,fullyexpandedleaves.

ResultsandDiscussion
These are rst results only. A subsequent measurement campaign in October
2013 is to increase condence and completeness of the temperature data, and
alternaveanalysismethodsshouldconrmthepresentanalysis.Also,weighng
of average parameters should be improved to quanfy uncertainty. However,
theseresultssuggestthatVcmaxdoesnotdeclinewithtemperatureandpossibly
increases up to over 40 C. The temperature dependence of Jmax is even more
uncertain as a result of the analysis method, but here a weak opmum can be
observedaround35C,inthecontrolplot.Theeectofleafheangisweakifat
allpresentand,counterintuively,seemstoinducealoweropmum.Theeect
of arcial drought on thesetemperature dependences isunclear.Although the
relaonshipswithtemperaturedier,noclearpaerncanbedisnguished.

Conclusions
Inial analysis of the rst two eld campaigns on temperature dependence of
Amazon forest photosynthec temperature dependence have been shown.
These rst results do not support a decline in photosynthesis as assumed in the
models, but more data are needed for denive conclusions. If the observed
paerns persist in subsequent analysis and other experiments, this means that
vegetaonmodelsmayneedtobeadjustedastheforestsoftheAmazonwould
belesssensivetotemperatureincreasesaspreviouslyassumed.Consequently,
predicted forest decline associated with temperature increase would be less
severe.

References
Doughty,C.E.,andM.L.Goulden(2008),Aretropicalforestsnearahightemperature
threshold?J.Geophys.Res.,113,G00B07,doi:10.1029/2007JG000632

Galbraith,D.,Levy,P.E.,Sitch,S.,Hunngford,C.,Cox,P.,Williams,M.andMeir,P.(2010),
MulplemechanismsofAmazonianforestbiomasslossesinthreedynamicglobalvegeta
onmodelsunderclimatechange.NewPhytologist,187(3):647665.

Hunngford,C.,Zelazowski,P.,Galbraith,D.,Mercado,L.M.,Sitch,S.,Fisher,R.,Lomas,
M.,Walker,A.P.,Jones,C.D.,Booth,B.B.B.,Malhi,Y.,Hemming,D.,Kay,G.,Good,P.,Lew
is,S.L.,Phillips,O.L.,Atkin,O.K.,Lloyd,J.,Gloor,E.,ZaragozaCastells,J.,Meir,P.,Bes,R.,
Harris,P.P.,Nobre,C.,Marengo,J.andCox,P.M.(2013),Simulatedresilienceoftropical
rainforeststoCO2inducedclimatechange.NatureGeosci,6(4):268273.

Lloyd,J.andFarquhar,G.D.(2008),Eectsofrisingtemperaturesand[CO2]onthephysiolo
gyoftropicalforesttrees.TheRoyalSociety,363:18117.

Wrienby
WilmaJansandBartKruijt,
WageningenUR(seebelow),
alsosupportedbySteel
Vasconcelos,
EMBRAPACPATU,
Belem(PA),Brazil

ProjectCoordinator
AMAZALERT

Dr.BartKruijt
Alterra,WageningenUR,Wage
ningen,theNetherlands
Bart.Kruijt@wur.nl
AMAZALERT(20112014)iscofundedby