Coupling of ecosystem-scale plant water storage and leaf phenology observed by satellite

Feng Tian; Jean Pierre Wigneron; Philippe Ciais; Jérôme Chave; Jérôme Ogée; Josep Peñuelas; Anders Ræbild; Jean Christophe Domec; Xiaoye Tong; Martin Brandt; Arnaud Mialon; Nemesio Rodriguez-Fernandez; Torbern Tagesson; Amen Al-Yaari; Yann Kerr; Chi Chen; Ranga B. Myneni; Wenmin Zhang; Jonas Ardö; Rasmus Fensholt

doi:10.1038/s41559-018-0630-3

Coupling of ecosystem-scale plant water storage and leaf phenology observed by satellite

Feng Tian^*, Jean Pierre Wigneron, Philippe Ciais, Jérôme Chave, Jérôme Ogée, Josep Peñuelas, Anders Ræbild, Jean Christophe Domec, Xiaoye Tong, Martin Brandt, Arnaud Mialon, Nemesio Rodriguez-Fernandez, Torbern Tagesson, Amen Al-Yaari, Yann Kerr, Chi Chen, Ranga B. Myneni, Wenmin Zhang, Jonas Ardö, Rasmus Fensholt

^*Corresponding author for this work

48 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Plant water storage is fundamental to the functioning of terrestrial ecosystems by participating in plant metabolism, nutrient and sugar transport, and maintenance of the integrity of the hydraulic system of the plant. However, a global view of the size and dynamics of the water pools stored in plant tissues is still lacking. Here, we report global patterns of seasonal variations in ecosystem-scale plant water storage and their relationship with leaf phenology, based on space-borne measurements of L-band vegetation optical depth. We find that seasonal variations in plant water storage are highly synchronous with leaf phenology for the boreal and temperate forests, but asynchronous for the tropical woodlands, where the seasonal development of plant water storage lags behind leaf area by up to 180 days. Contrasting patterns of the time lag between plant water storage and terrestrial groundwater storage are also evident in these ecosystems. A comparison of the water cycle components in seasonally dry tropical woodlands highlights the buffering effect of plant water storage on the seasonal dynamics of water supply and demand. Our results offer insights into ecosystem-scale plant water relations globally and provide a basis for an improved parameterization of eco-hydrological and Earth system models.

Original language	English
Journal	Nature Ecology and Evolution
Volume	2
Issue number	9
Pages (from-to)	1428-1435
Number of pages	8
ISSN	2397-334X
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1038/s41559-018-0630-3
Publication status	Published - 2018

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Tian, F., Wigneron, J. P., Ciais, P., Chave, J., Ogée, J., Peñuelas, J., Ræbild, A., Domec, J. C., Tong, X., Brandt, M., Mialon, A., Rodriguez-Fernandez, N., Tagesson, T., Al-Yaari, A., Kerr, Y., Chen, C., Myneni, R. B., Zhang, W., Ardö, J., & Fensholt, R. (2018). Coupling of ecosystem-scale plant water storage and leaf phenology observed by satellite. Nature Ecology and Evolution, 2(9), 1428-1435. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41559-018-0630-3

Tian, F, Wigneron, JP, Ciais, P, Chave, J, Ogée, J, Peñuelas, J, Ræbild, A, Domec, JC, Tong, X , Brandt, M, Mialon, A, Rodriguez-Fernandez, N, Tagesson, T, Al-Yaari, A, Kerr, Y, Chen, C, Myneni, RB, Zhang, W, Ardö, J & Fensholt, R 2018, 'Coupling of ecosystem-scale plant water storage and leaf phenology observed by satellite', Nature Ecology and Evolution, vol. 2, no. 9, pp. 1428-1435. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41559-018-0630-3

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title = "Coupling of ecosystem-scale plant water storage and leaf phenology observed by satellite",

abstract = "Plant water storage is fundamental to the functioning of terrestrial ecosystems by participating in plant metabolism, nutrient and sugar transport, and maintenance of the integrity of the hydraulic system of the plant. However, a global view of the size and dynamics of the water pools stored in plant tissues is still lacking. Here, we report global patterns of seasonal variations in ecosystem-scale plant water storage and their relationship with leaf phenology, based on space-borne measurements of L-band vegetation optical depth. We find that seasonal variations in plant water storage are highly synchronous with leaf phenology for the boreal and temperate forests, but asynchronous for the tropical woodlands, where the seasonal development of plant water storage lags behind leaf area by up to 180 days. Contrasting patterns of the time lag between plant water storage and terrestrial groundwater storage are also evident in these ecosystems. A comparison of the water cycle components in seasonally dry tropical woodlands highlights the buffering effect of plant water storage on the seasonal dynamics of water supply and demand. Our results offer insights into ecosystem-scale plant water relations globally and provide a basis for an improved parameterization of eco-hydrological and Earth system models.",

author = "Feng Tian and Wigneron, {Jean Pierre} and Philippe Ciais and J{\'e}r{\^o}me Chave and J{\'e}r{\^o}me Og{\'e}e and Josep Pe{\~n}uelas and Anders R{\ae}bild and Domec, {Jean Christophe} and Xiaoye Tong and Martin Brandt and Arnaud Mialon and Nemesio Rodriguez-Fernandez and Torbern Tagesson and Amen Al-Yaari and Yann Kerr and Chi Chen and Myneni, {Ranga B.} and Wenmin Zhang and Jonas Ard{\"o} and Rasmus Fensholt",

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AU - Tian, Feng

AU - Wigneron, Jean Pierre

AU - Ciais, Philippe

AU - Chave, Jérôme

AU - Ogée, Jérôme

AU - Peñuelas, Josep

AU - Ræbild, Anders

AU - Domec, Jean Christophe

AU - Tong, Xiaoye

AU - Brandt, Martin

AU - Mialon, Arnaud

AU - Rodriguez-Fernandez, Nemesio

AU - Tagesson, Torbern

AU - Al-Yaari, Amen

AU - Kerr, Yann

AU - Chen, Chi

AU - Myneni, Ranga B.

AU - Zhang, Wenmin

AU - Ardö, Jonas

AU - Fensholt, Rasmus

PY - 2018

Y1 - 2018

N2 - Plant water storage is fundamental to the functioning of terrestrial ecosystems by participating in plant metabolism, nutrient and sugar transport, and maintenance of the integrity of the hydraulic system of the plant. However, a global view of the size and dynamics of the water pools stored in plant tissues is still lacking. Here, we report global patterns of seasonal variations in ecosystem-scale plant water storage and their relationship with leaf phenology, based on space-borne measurements of L-band vegetation optical depth. We find that seasonal variations in plant water storage are highly synchronous with leaf phenology for the boreal and temperate forests, but asynchronous for the tropical woodlands, where the seasonal development of plant water storage lags behind leaf area by up to 180 days. Contrasting patterns of the time lag between plant water storage and terrestrial groundwater storage are also evident in these ecosystems. A comparison of the water cycle components in seasonally dry tropical woodlands highlights the buffering effect of plant water storage on the seasonal dynamics of water supply and demand. Our results offer insights into ecosystem-scale plant water relations globally and provide a basis for an improved parameterization of eco-hydrological and Earth system models.

AB - Plant water storage is fundamental to the functioning of terrestrial ecosystems by participating in plant metabolism, nutrient and sugar transport, and maintenance of the integrity of the hydraulic system of the plant. However, a global view of the size and dynamics of the water pools stored in plant tissues is still lacking. Here, we report global patterns of seasonal variations in ecosystem-scale plant water storage and their relationship with leaf phenology, based on space-borne measurements of L-band vegetation optical depth. We find that seasonal variations in plant water storage are highly synchronous with leaf phenology for the boreal and temperate forests, but asynchronous for the tropical woodlands, where the seasonal development of plant water storage lags behind leaf area by up to 180 days. Contrasting patterns of the time lag between plant water storage and terrestrial groundwater storage are also evident in these ecosystems. A comparison of the water cycle components in seasonally dry tropical woodlands highlights the buffering effect of plant water storage on the seasonal dynamics of water supply and demand. Our results offer insights into ecosystem-scale plant water relations globally and provide a basis for an improved parameterization of eco-hydrological and Earth system models.

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DO - 10.1038/s41559-018-0630-3

M3 - Journal article

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EP - 1435

JO - Nature Ecology & Evolution

JF - Nature Ecology & Evolution

IS - 9

ER -

Coupling of ecosystem-scale plant water storage and leaf phenology observed by satellite

Abstract

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