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Century‐long apparent decrease in iWUE with no evidence of progressive nutrient limitation in African tropical forests

Marijn Bauters (UGent) , Sofie Meeus, Matti Barthel, Piet Stoffelen, Hannes De Deurwaerder (UGent) , Félicien Meunier (UGent) , Travis W. Drake, Quentin Ponette, Jerôme Ebuy, Pieter Vermeir (UGent) , et al.
(2020) GLOBAL CHANGE BIOLOGY. 26(8). p.4449-4461
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Abstract
Forests exhibit leaf- and ecosystem-level responses to environmental changes. Specifically, rising carbon dioxide (CO2) levels over the past century are expected to have increased the intrinsic water-use efficiency (iWUE) of tropical trees while the ecosystem is gradually pushed into progressive nutrient limitation. Due to the long-term character of these changes, however, observational datasets to validate both paradigms are limited in space and time. In this study, we used a unique herbarium record to go back nearly a century and show that despite the rise in CO2 concentrations, iWUE has decreased in central African tropical trees in the Congo Basin. Although we find evidence that points to leaf-level adaptation to increasing CO2-that is, increasing photosynthesis-related nutrients and decreasing maximum stomatal conductance, a decrease in leaf delta C-13 clearly indicates a decreasing iWUE over time. Additionally, the stoichiometric carbon to nitrogen and nitrogen to phosphorus ratios in the leaves show no sign of progressive nutrient limitation as they have remained constant since 1938, which suggests that nutrients have not increasingly limited productivity in this biome. Altogether, the data suggest that other environmental factors, such as increasing temperature, might have negatively affected net photosynthesis and consequently downregulated the iWUE. Results from this study reveal that the second largest tropical forest on Earth has responded differently to recent environmental changes than expected, highlighting the need for further on-ground monitoring in the Congo Basin.
Keywords
cavelab, Ecology, Global and Planetary Change, General Environmental Science, Environmental Chemistry, cavelab, aggravated nutrient limitation, CO2 fertilization, Congo Basin, herbarium, photosynthesis, stomata, tropical forest, water-use efficiency, CARBON-DIOXIDE UPTAKE, PHOSPHORUS LIMITATION, PHOTOSYNTHETIC CAPACITY, LEAF NITROGEN, STABLE OXYGEN, GROWTH, CO2, ISOTOPES, INCREASE, PRODUCTIVITY

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Citation

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MLA
Bauters, Marijn, et al. “Century‐long Apparent Decrease in IWUE with No Evidence of Progressive Nutrient Limitation in African Tropical Forests.” GLOBAL CHANGE BIOLOGY, vol. 26, no. 8, 2020, pp. 4449–61, doi:10.1111/gcb.15145.
APA
Bauters, M., Meeus, S., Barthel, M., Stoffelen, P., De Deurwaerder, H., Meunier, F., … Boeckx, P. (2020). Century‐long apparent decrease in iWUE with no evidence of progressive nutrient limitation in African tropical forests. GLOBAL CHANGE BIOLOGY, 26(8), 4449–4461. https://doi.org/10.1111/gcb.15145
Chicago author-date
Bauters, Marijn, Sofie Meeus, Matti Barthel, Piet Stoffelen, Hannes De Deurwaerder, Félicien Meunier, Travis W. Drake, et al. 2020. “Century‐long Apparent Decrease in IWUE with No Evidence of Progressive Nutrient Limitation in African Tropical Forests.” GLOBAL CHANGE BIOLOGY 26 (8): 4449–61. https://doi.org/10.1111/gcb.15145.
Chicago author-date (all authors)
Bauters, Marijn, Sofie Meeus, Matti Barthel, Piet Stoffelen, Hannes De Deurwaerder, Félicien Meunier, Travis W. Drake, Quentin Ponette, Jerôme Ebuy, Pieter Vermeir, Hans Beeckman, Francis wyffels, Samuel Bodé, Hans Verbeeck, Filip Vandelook, and Pascal Boeckx. 2020. “Century‐long Apparent Decrease in IWUE with No Evidence of Progressive Nutrient Limitation in African Tropical Forests.” GLOBAL CHANGE BIOLOGY 26 (8): 4449–4461. doi:10.1111/gcb.15145.
Vancouver
1.
Bauters M, Meeus S, Barthel M, Stoffelen P, De Deurwaerder H, Meunier F, et al. Century‐long apparent decrease in iWUE with no evidence of progressive nutrient limitation in African tropical forests. GLOBAL CHANGE BIOLOGY. 2020;26(8):4449–61.
IEEE
[1]
M. Bauters et al., “Century‐long apparent decrease in iWUE with no evidence of progressive nutrient limitation in African tropical forests,” GLOBAL CHANGE BIOLOGY, vol. 26, no. 8, pp. 4449–4461, 2020.
@article{8660747,
  abstract     = {{Forests exhibit leaf- and ecosystem-level responses to environmental changes. Specifically, rising carbon dioxide (CO2) levels over the past century are expected to have increased the intrinsic water-use efficiency (iWUE) of tropical trees while the ecosystem is gradually pushed into progressive nutrient limitation. Due to the long-term character of these changes, however, observational datasets to validate both paradigms are limited in space and time. In this study, we used a unique herbarium record to go back nearly a century and show that despite the rise in CO2 concentrations, iWUE has decreased in central African tropical trees in the Congo Basin. Although we find evidence that points to leaf-level adaptation to increasing CO2-that is, increasing photosynthesis-related nutrients and decreasing maximum stomatal conductance, a decrease in leaf delta C-13 clearly indicates a decreasing iWUE over time. Additionally, the stoichiometric carbon to nitrogen and nitrogen to phosphorus ratios in the leaves show no sign of progressive nutrient limitation as they have remained constant since 1938, which suggests that nutrients have not increasingly limited productivity in this biome. Altogether, the data suggest that other environmental factors, such as increasing temperature, might have negatively affected net photosynthesis and consequently downregulated the iWUE. Results from this study reveal that the second largest tropical forest on Earth has responded differently to recent environmental changes than expected, highlighting the need for further on-ground monitoring in the Congo Basin.}},
  author       = {{Bauters, Marijn and Meeus, Sofie and Barthel, Matti and Stoffelen, Piet and De Deurwaerder, Hannes and Meunier, Félicien and Drake, Travis W. and Ponette, Quentin and Ebuy, Jerôme and Vermeir, Pieter and Beeckman, Hans and wyffels, Francis and Bodé, Samuel and Verbeeck, Hans and Vandelook, Filip and Boeckx, Pascal}},
  issn         = {{1354-1013}},
  journal      = {{GLOBAL CHANGE BIOLOGY}},
  keywords     = {{cavelab,Ecology,Global and Planetary Change,General Environmental Science,Environmental Chemistry,cavelab,aggravated nutrient limitation,CO2 fertilization,Congo Basin,herbarium,photosynthesis,stomata,tropical forest,water-use efficiency,CARBON-DIOXIDE UPTAKE,PHOSPHORUS LIMITATION,PHOTOSYNTHETIC CAPACITY,LEAF NITROGEN,STABLE OXYGEN,GROWTH,CO2,ISOTOPES,INCREASE,PRODUCTIVITY}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  number       = {{8}},
  pages        = {{4449--4461}},
  title        = {{Century‐long apparent decrease in iWUE with no evidence of progressive nutrient limitation in African tropical forests}},
  url          = {{http://doi.org/10.1111/gcb.15145}},
  volume       = {{26}},
  year         = {{2020}},
}
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