Variable influence of photosynthetic thermal acclimation on future carbon uptake in Australian wooded ecosystems under climate change

Published Nov 07, 2023 on Dryad. https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.7sqv9s4wh

Data files

Nov 07, 2023 version files 109.03 MB

CABLE_POP_Output_Variable_List.docx
25.37 KB
OzFLUX_sitelist_GT_All.txt

1.86 KB
README.md
4.54 KB
run_cable-pop.sh
67.50 KB
site_level_simulations.zip
108.59 MB
site_nml_files.zip
226.39 KB
site_params.zip
119.95 KB
site_wrapper_future.bash
1.60 KB

Abstract

Climate change will impact gross primary productivity (GPP), net primary productivity (NPP), and carbon storage in wooded ecosystems. The extent of change will be influenced by thermal acclimation of photosynthesis – the ability of plants to adjust net photosynthetic rates in response to growth temperatures – yet regional differences in acclimation effects among wooded ecosystems are currently unknown. We examined the effects of changing climate on 17 Australian wooded ecosystems with and without the effects of thermal acclimation of C₃ photosynthesis. Ecosystems were drawn from five ecoregions (tropical savanna, tropical forest, Mediterranean woodlands, temperate woodlands, and temperate forests) that span Australia’s climatic range. We used the CABLE-POP land surface model adapted with thermal acclimation functions and forced with HadGEM2-ES climate projections from RCP8.5. For each site and ecoregion, we examined a) effects of climate change on GPP, NPP, and live tree carbon storage; and b) impacts of thermal acclimation of photosynthesis on simulated changes. Between the end of the historical (1976–2005) and projected (2070–2099) periods, simulated annual carbon uptake increased in the majority of ecosystems by 26.1 to 63.3% for GPP and 15 to 61.5% for NPP. Thermal acclimation of photosynthesis further increased GPP and NPP in tropical savannas by 27.2% and 22.4% and by 11% and 10.1% in tropical forests with positive effects concentrated in the wet season (tropical savannas) and the warmer months (tropical forests). We predicted minimal effects of thermal acclimation of photosynthesis on GPP, NPP and carbon storage in Mediterranean woodlands, temperate woodlands and temperate forests. Overall, positive effects were strongly enhanced by increasing CO₂ concentrations under RCP8.5. We conclude that the direct effects of climate change will enhance carbon uptake and storage in Australian wooded ecosystems (likely due to CO₂ enrichment) and that benefits of thermal acclimation of photosynthesis will be restricted to tropical ecoregions.

This dataset contains the files related to the experiment detailed in the manuscript published in Global Change Biology whereby we used the CABLE-POP landsurface model forced with HadGEM2-ES climate forcing data to examine the influence of photosynthetic thermal acclimation on GPP, NPP and live tree carbon storage in 17 wooded ecosystems in Australia.

Included in this dataset are the parameter files (file extension .txt and .csv), setting files (file extension .nml) and runscripts (file extension .sh) needed to reproduce the experiment. In addition we provide the simulation output needed to examine our results. Full details of the methods used to produce these data are found within the manuscript methods section.

Description of the Data and file structure

Site level files:

For each of the 17 study sites, there are 8 CABLE-POP simulation output files (.nc), 6 CABLE-POP settings files (.nml), and 2 parameter files (.csv and .txt).

Simulation output:

Simulation output is found within the site_level_simulations.zip folder. Within the zip file, there are two folders - one for the acclim_on simulations and one for the acclim_off simulations under which there are folders for each site that contain four simulation output files named as follows:

plume_out_cable_1850_1900.nc
plume_out_cable_1901_2005.nc
plume_out_cable_2006_2099_8p5_varying.nc
plume_out_cable_2006_2099_8p5_static2005.nc

These are self-documenting netcdf files. A list of all variables including their units can be found in the attached document (CABLE-POP_output_variable_list.docx).

Settings:

CABLE-POP namelist files are found within the site_nml_files.zip folder. Within this zip file there are 6 namelist files for each site for the varying CO₂ simulations with files named as follows:

cable_1850-1900_sitename_acclim_off.nml
cable_1901_2005_sitename_acclim_off.nml
cable_2006_2099_sitename_acclim_off.nml
cable_1850-1900_sitename_acclim_on.nml
cable_1901_2005_sitename_acclim_on.nml
cable_2006_2099_sitename_acclim_on.nml

Namelist files are used by CABLE-POP to provide important information about the run settingsand are needed to reproduce simulations. The files can be opened in any text editor and are self-documented.

Parameters:

Parameter files are found within the site_params.zip folder. Within the zip file, there are two files for each site containing all parameters for the 17 plant functional types (pft) used by CABLE-POP. The relevant pft’s for this study are “2 forest evergreen_broadleaf”; “6 grass C3 grassland” and “7 grass C4 grassland”. Parameter names and units are listed within each of these file. These files are named and described as follows:

veg_params_sitename.txt [contains the vegetation parameters (~80). Parameters are listed in repeating blocks with a heading for the pft that begins with a number and then the pft name. Parameter values are listed to the left and parameter names listed to the right - the parameter values and names are listed in corresponding order.]
pftlookup_sitename.csv [contains additional parameters, sectioned by parameter type. In each section, parameter values are listed for each of the pft’s in rows. The pft number is given in the leftmost column with the names detailed at the top of the file.]

Additional files:

Also included are 2 run scripts and 1 site list.

Run scripts:

run_cable-pop.sh [runs cable-pop future simulations]
site_wrapper_future.bash [loops through sites to run run_cable-pop.sh]

Site list:

OzFLUX_sitelist_GT_All.txt [contains site name, eddy covariance data start year and end year, latitude, longitude, canopy height (m), eddy covariance tower height (m), reference height (m), vegetation description, NVIS5 group reference number, forest fraction, grass fraction and C4 grass fraction for each of the study sites]
NVIS5 group reference number vegetation types are available from the Australian Government NVIS v5.0 Major Vegetation Groups.

Sharing/access Information

The data is not available elsewhere publicly.

Site list, parameter files, and run_cable_pop.sh are derived from the CABLE-POP community.