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| Titel |
The role of biodiversity for the carbon cycle: Implementation of functional diversity in a dynamic vegetation model |
| VerfasserIn |
Boris Sakschewski, Alice Boit, Werner von Bloh, Anja Rammig, Kirsten Thonicke |
| Konferenz |
EGU General Assembly 2013
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| Medientyp |
Artikel
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| Sprache |
Englisch
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| Digitales Dokument |
PDF |
| Erschienen |
In: GRA - Volume 15 (2013) |
| Datensatznummer |
250079670
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| Zusammenfassung |
| Most dynamic global vegetation models (DGVMs) condense natural plant diversity to plant functional types (PFTs). A single PFT usually represents a whole biome, e.g. the PFT “tropical broadleaved evergreen tree” and its constant set of functional trait parameters covers entire regions in the model. This approach minimizes functional diversity and neglects the effects of functional diversity on the modeled vegetation and carbon dynamics. Our work aims to overcome this limitation and extend functional diversity in the vegetation model LPJmL to explore the role of biodiversity in climate change mitigation. Our approach improves the representation of biodiversity in the model by incorporating the natural ranges and eco-physiological interrelations of relevant plant traits. Empirical data on plant traits is provided by the TRY data base (www.try-db.org) and the ROBIN project (www.robinproject.info). A first sensitivity analysis revealed that simulated carbon stocks are very stable under a large range of trait combinations. However, several model output variables appeared highly sensitive to small changes of plant trait parameters and thus the introduction of trait ranges requires several improvements of the PFT concept of LPJmL. One possible way of improvement is to implement missing plant-trait tradeoffs, which will be used to simulate the growth of individual plants with flexible parameter combinations at the landscape scale. Our improved model will enable for the simulation of local competition and complementarity of individual plants which, according to their trait values and ranges, can then be categorized into a much broader variety of PFTs. This modeling approach will allow for investigating the role of bio- and functional diversity in the global carbon cycle as well as in regional vegetation dynamics. |
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