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| Titel |
Terrestrial water and carbon fluxes across climatic gradients: does plant diversity matter? |
| VerfasserIn |
Christoforos Pappas, Simone Fatichi, Paolo Burlando |
| Konferenz |
EGU General Assembly 2014
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| Medientyp |
Artikel
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| Sprache |
Englisch
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| Digitales Dokument |
PDF |
| Erschienen |
In: GRA - Volume 16 (2014) |
| Datensatznummer |
250089460
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| Publikation (Nr.) |
 EGU/EGU2014-3663.pdf |
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| Zusammenfassung |
| Vegetation diversity in many land-surface, ecohydrological, and dynamic vegetation models is crudely represented using a discrete classification of a handful of "plant types" (named Plant Functional Types; PFTs). The parameterization of PFTs typically reflects mean properties of observed plant functional traits over broad categories (e.g., temperate broadleaf deciduous forest) ignoring most of the inter- and intra-specific trait variability. In the present study, taking advantage of well-established plant-trait cross-correlations described by the Leaf Economics Spectrum, we generated coordinated hypothetical species across a continuous spectrum of leaf traits, rather than using pre-defined categories. The behavior of these proxy species is then tested using a mechanistic ecohydrological model (T&C) that operates as a filter of their performance. Simulations are carried out for a range of climates representative of different elevations and wetness conditions in Switzerland. Using this framework the following questions are addressed: (i) how sensitive are the carbon and water dynamics to species diversity? and (ii) which is the correlation between plant physiological traits, plant performance and observed trait distribution across climatic gradients? |
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