Impacts of elevated temperature and vapour pressure deficit on leaf gas exchange and plant growth across six tropical rainforest tree species

Middleby, Kali B., Cheesman, Alexander W., and Cernusak, Lucas A. (2024) Impacts of elevated temperature and vapour pressure deficit on leaf gas exchange and plant growth across six tropical rainforest tree species. New Phytologist, 243 (2). pp. 648-661.

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Abstract

Elevated air temperature (Tair) and vapour pressure deficit (VPDair) significantly influence plant functioning, yet their relative impacts are difficult to disentangle. We examined the effects of elevated Tair (+6°C) and VPDair (+0.7 kPa) on the growth and physiology of six tropical tree species. Saplings were grown under well-watered conditions in climate-controlled glasshouses for 6 months under three treatments: (1) low Tair and low VPDair, (2) high Tair and low VPDair, and (3) high Tair and high VPDair. To assess acclimation, physiological parameters were measured at a set temperature. Warm-grown plants grown under elevated VPDair had significantly reduced stomatal conductance and increased instantaneous water use efficiency compared to plants grown under low VPDair. Photosynthetic biochemistry and thermal tolerance (Tcrit) were unaffected by VPDair, but elevated Tair caused Jmax25 to decrease and Tcrit to increase. Sapling biomass accumulation for all species responded positively to an increase in Tair, but elevated VPDair limited growth. This study shows that stomatal limitation caused by even moderate increases in VPDair can decrease productivity and growth rates in tropical species independently from Tair and has important implications for modelling the impacts of climate change on tropical forests.

Item ID: 83397
Item Type: Article (Research - C1)
ISSN: 1469-8137
Keywords: acclimation, leaf temperature, photosynthesis, stomatal conductance, tropical forest, vapour pressure deficit, warming
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Copyright Information: © 2024 New Phytologist Foundation. This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs License, which permits use and distribution in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited, the use is non-commercial and no modifications or adaptations are made.
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Codes added. WB 09.08.24

Funders: Australian Research Council (ARC)
Projects and Grants: ARC LP190100484, ARC DP210103186
Date Deposited: 09 Aug 2024 00:46
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