School of Agriculture, Food and Ecosystem Sciences - Research Publications

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    Bridge to the future: Important lessons from 20 years of ecosystem observations made by the OzFlux network
    Beringer, J ; Moore, CE ; Cleverly, J ; Campbell, D ; Cleugh, H ; De Kauwe, MG ; Kirschbaum, MUF ; Griebel, A ; Grover, S ; Huete, A ; Hutley, LB ; Laubach, J ; Van Niel, T ; Arndt, SK ; Bennett, AC ; Cernusak, LA ; Eamus, D ; Ewenz, CM ; Goodrich, JP ; Jiang, M ; Hinko-Najera, N ; Isaac, P ; Hobeichi, S ; Knauer, J ; Koerber, GR ; Liddell, M ; Ma, X ; Macfarlane, C ; McHugh, ID ; Medlyn, BE ; Meyer, WS ; Norton, AJ ; Owens, J ; Pitman, A ; Pendall, E ; Prober, SM ; Ray, RL ; Restrepo-Coupe, N ; Rifai, SW ; Rowlings, D ; Schipper, L ; Silberstein, RP ; Teckentrup, L ; Thompson, SE ; Ukkola, AM ; Wall, A ; Wang, Y-P ; Wardlaw, TJ ; Woodgate, W (WILEY, 2022-06)
    In 2020, the Australian and New Zealand flux research and monitoring network, OzFlux, celebrated its 20th anniversary by reflecting on the lessons learned through two decades of ecosystem studies on global change biology. OzFlux is a network not only for ecosystem researchers, but also for those 'next users' of the knowledge, information and data that such networks provide. Here, we focus on eight lessons across topics of climate change and variability, disturbance and resilience, drought and heat stress and synergies with remote sensing and modelling. In distilling the key lessons learned, we also identify where further research is needed to fill knowledge gaps and improve the utility and relevance of the outputs from OzFlux. Extreme climate variability across Australia and New Zealand (droughts and flooding rains) provides a natural laboratory for a global understanding of ecosystems in this time of accelerating climate change. As evidence of worsening global fire risk emerges, the natural ability of these ecosystems to recover from disturbances, such as fire and cyclones, provides lessons on adaptation and resilience to disturbance. Drought and heatwaves are common occurrences across large parts of the region and can tip an ecosystem's carbon budget from a net CO2 sink to a net CO2 source. Despite such responses to stress, ecosystems at OzFlux sites show their resilience to climate variability by rapidly pivoting back to a strong carbon sink upon the return of favourable conditions. Located in under-represented areas, OzFlux data have the potential for reducing uncertainties in global remote sensing products, and these data provide several opportunities to develop new theories and improve our ecosystem models. The accumulated impacts of these lessons over the last 20 years highlights the value of long-term flux observations for natural and managed systems. A future vision for OzFlux includes ongoing and newly developed synergies with ecophysiologists, ecologists, geologists, remote sensors and modellers.
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    Concurrent Measurements of Soil and Ecosystem Respiration in a Mature Eucalypt Woodland: Advantages, Lessons, and Questions
    Renchon, AA ; Drake, JE ; Macdonald, CA ; Sihi, D ; Hinko-Najera, N ; Tjoelker, MG ; Arndt, SK ; Noh, NJ ; Davidson, E ; Pendall, E (AMER GEOPHYSICAL UNION, 2021-03)
    Abstract Understanding seasonal and diurnal dynamics of ecosystem respiration (Reco) in forests is challenging, because Reco can only be measured directly during night‐time by eddy‐covariance flux towers. Reco is the sum of soil respiration (Rsoil) and above‐ground respiration (in theory, RAG = Reco − Rsoil). Rsoil can be measured day and night and can provide a check of consistency on Reco, as the difference in magnitude and time dynamic between Reco and Rsoil should be explained by RAG. We assessed the temporal patterns and climatic drivers of Rsoil and Reco in a mature eucalypt woodland, using continuous measurements (only at night for Reco) at half‐hourly resolution over 4 years (2014–2017). Our data showed large seasonal and diurnal (overnight) variation of Reco, while Rsoil had a low diurnal amplitude and their difference (Reco − Rsoil, or RAG) had a low seasonal amplitude. This result implies at first glance that seasonal variation of Reco was mainly influenced by Rsoil while its diurnal variation was mainly influenced by RAG. However, our analysis suggests that the night‐time Reco decline cannot realistically be explained by a decline of RAG. Chamber measurements of autotrophic components at half‐hourly time resolution are needed to quantify how much of the Reco decline overnight is due to declines in leaf or stem respiration, and how much is due to missing storage or advection, which may create a systematic bias in Reco measurements. Our findings emphasize the need for reconciling bottom‐up (via components measured with chambers) and direct estimates of Reco (via eddy‐covariance method).
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    The FLUXNET2015 dataset and the ONEFlux processing pipeline for eddy covariance data (vol 7, 225, 2020)
    Pastorello, G ; Trotta, C ; Canfora, E ; Chu, H ; Christianson, D ; Cheah, Y-W ; Poindexter, C ; Chen, J ; Elbashandy, A ; Humphrey, M ; Isaac, P ; Polidori, D ; Reichstein, M ; Ribeca, A ; van Ingen, C ; Vuichard, N ; Zhang, L ; Amiro, B ; Ammann, C ; Arain, MA ; Ardo, J ; Arkebauer, T ; Arndt, SK ; Arriga, N ; Aubinet, M ; Aurela, M ; Baldocchi, D ; Barr, A ; Beamesderfer, E ; Marchesini, LB ; Bergeron, O ; Beringer, J ; Bernhofer, C ; Berveiller, D ; Billesbach, D ; Black, TA ; Blanken, PD ; Bohrer, G ; Boike, J ; Bolstad, PV ; Bonal, D ; Bonnefond, J-M ; Bowling, DR ; Bracho, R ; Brodeur, J ; Brummer, C ; Buchmann, N ; Burban, B ; Burns, SP ; Buysse, P ; Cale, P ; Cavagna, M ; Cellier, P ; Chen, S ; Chini, I ; Christensen, TR ; Cleverly, J ; Collalti, A ; Consalvo, C ; Cook, BD ; Cook, D ; Coursolle, C ; Cremonese, E ; Curtis, PS ; D'Andrea, E ; da Rocha, H ; Dai, X ; Davis, KJ ; De Cinti, B ; de Grandcourt, A ; De Ligne, A ; De Oliveira, RC ; Delpierre, N ; Desai, AR ; Di Bella, CM ; di Tommasi, P ; Dolman, H ; Domingo, F ; Dong, G ; Dore, S ; Duce, P ; Dufrene, E ; Dunn, A ; Dusek, J ; Eamus, D ; Eichelmann, U ; ElKhidir, HAM ; Eugster, W ; Ewenz, CM ; Ewers, B ; Famulari, D ; Fares, S ; Feigenwinter, I ; Feitz, A ; Fensholt, R ; Filippa, G ; Fischer, M ; Frank, J ; Galvagno, M ; Gharun, M ; Gianelle, D ; Gielen, B ; Gioli, B ; Gitelson, A ; Goded, I ; Goeckede, M ; Goldstein, AH ; Gough, CM ; Goulden, ML ; Graf, A ; Griebel, A ; Gruening, C ; Grunwald, T ; Hammerle, A ; Han, S ; Han, X ; Hansen, BU ; Hanson, C ; Hatakka, J ; He, Y ; Hehn, M ; Heinesch, B ; Hinko-Najera, N ; Hortnagl, L ; Hutley, L ; Ibrom, A ; Ikawa, H ; Jackowicz-Korczynski, M ; Janous, D ; Jans, W ; Jassal, R ; Jiang, S ; Kato, T ; Khomik, M ; Klatt, J ; Knohl, A ; Knox, S ; Kobayashi, H ; Koerber, G ; Kolle, O ; Kosugi, Y ; Kotani, A ; Kowalski, A ; Kruijt, B ; Kurbatova, J ; Kutsch, WL ; Kwon, H ; Launiainen, S ; Laurila, T ; Law, B ; Leuning, R ; Li, Y ; Liddell, M ; Limousin, J-M ; Lion, M ; Liska, AJ ; Lohila, A ; Lopez-Ballesteros, A ; Lopez-Blanco, E ; Loubet, B ; Loustau, D ; Lucas-Moffat, A ; Luers, J ; Ma, S ; Macfarlane, C ; Magliulo, V ; Maier, R ; Mammarella, I ; Manca, G ; Marcolla, B ; Margolis, HA ; Marras, S ; Massman, W ; Mastepanov, M ; Matamala, R ; Matthes, JH ; Mazzenga, F ; McCaughey, H ; McHugh, I ; McMillan, AMS ; Merbold, L ; Meyer, W ; Meyers, T ; Miller, SD ; Minerbi, S ; Moderow, U ; Monson, RK ; Montagnani, L ; Moore, CE ; Moors, E ; Moreaux, V ; Moureaux, C ; Munger, JW ; Nakai, T ; Neirynck, J ; Nesic, Z ; Nicolini, G ; Noormets, A ; Northwood, M ; Nosetto, M ; Nouvellon, Y ; Novick, K ; Oechel, W ; Olesen, JE ; Ourcival, J-M ; Papuga, SA ; Parmentier, F-J ; Paul-Limoges, E ; Pavelka, M ; Peichl, M ; Pendall, E ; Phillips, RP ; Pilegaard, K ; Pirk, N ; Posse, G ; Powell, T ; Prasse, H ; Prober, SM ; Rambal, S ; Rannik, U ; Raz-Yaseef, N ; Rebmann, C ; Reed, D ; de Dios, VR ; Restrepo-Coupe, N ; Reverter, BR ; Roland, M ; Sabbatini, S ; Sachs, T ; Saleska, SR ; Sanchez-Canete, EP ; Sanchez-Mejia, ZM ; Schmid, HP ; Schmidt, M ; Schneider, K ; Schrader, F ; Schroder, I ; Scott, RL ; Sedlak, P ; Serrano-Ortiz, P ; Shao, C ; Shi, P ; Shironya, I ; Siebicke, L ; Sigut, L ; Silberstein, R ; Sirca, C ; Spano, D ; Steinbrecher, R ; Stevens, RM ; Sturtevant, C ; Suyker, A ; Tagesson, T ; Takanashi, S ; Tang, Y ; Tapper, N ; Thom, J ; Tomassucci, M ; Tuovinen, J-P ; Urbanski, S ; Valentini, R ; van der Molen, M ; van Gorsel, E ; van Huissteden, K ; Varlagin, A ; Verfaillie, J ; Vesala, T ; Vincke, C ; Vitale, D ; Vygodskaya, N ; Walker, JP ; Walter-Shea, E ; Wang, H ; Weber, R ; Westermann, S ; Wille, C ; Wofsy, S ; Wohlfahrt, G ; Wolf, S ; Woodgate, W ; Li, Y ; Zampedri, R ; Zhang, J ; Zhou, G ; Zona, D ; Agarwal, D ; Biraud, S ; Torn, M ; Papale, D (NATURE RESEARCH, 2021-02-25)
    A Correction to this paper has been published: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41597-021-00851-9.
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    Thermal optima of gross primary productivity are closely aligned with mean air temperatures across Australian wooded ecosystems
    Bennett, AC ; Arndt, SK ; Bennett, LT ; Knauer, J ; Beringer, J ; Griebel, A ; Hinko-Najera, N ; Liddell, MJ ; Metzen, D ; Pendall, E ; Silberstein, RP ; Wardlaw, TJ ; Woodgate, W ; Haverd, V (WILEY, 2021-10)
    Gross primary productivity (GPP) of wooded ecosystems (forests and savannas) is central to the global carbon cycle, comprising 67%-75% of total global terrestrial GPP. Climate change may alter this flux by increasing the frequency of temperatures beyond the thermal optimum of GPP (Topt ). We examined the relationship between GPP and air temperature (Ta) in 17 wooded ecosystems dominated by a single plant functional type (broadleaf evergreen trees) occurring over a broad climatic gradient encompassing five ecoregions across Australia ranging from tropical in the north to Mediterranean and temperate in the south. We applied a novel boundary-line analysis to eddy covariance flux observations to (a) derive ecosystem GPP-Ta relationships and Topt (including seasonal analyses for five tropical savannas); (b) quantitatively and qualitatively assess GPP-Ta relationships within and among ecoregions; (c) examine the relationship between Topt and mean daytime air temperature (MDTa) across all ecosystems; and (d) examine how down-welling short-wave radiation (Fsd) and vapour pressure deficit (VPD) influence the GPP-Ta relationship. GPP-Ta relationships were convex parabolas with narrow curves in tropical forests, tropical savannas (wet season), and temperate forests, and wider curves in temperate woodlands, Mediterranean woodlands, and tropical savannas (dry season). Ecosystem Topt ranged from 15℃ (temperate forest) to 32℃ (tropical savanna-wet and dry seasons). The shape of GPP-Ta curves was largely determined by daytime Ta range, MDTa, and maximum GPP with the upslope influenced by Fsd and the downslope influenced by VPD. Across all ecosystems, there was a strong positive linear relationship between Topt and MDTa (Adjusted R2 : 0.81; Slope: 1.08) with Topt exceeding MDTa by >1℃ at all but two sites. We conclude that ecosystem GPP has adjusted to local MDTa within Australian broadleaf evergreen forests and that GPP is buffered against small Ta increases in the majority of these ecosystems.
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    Soil Methane Uptake Increases under Continuous Throughfall Reduction in a Temperate Evergreen, Broadleaved Eucalypt Forest
    Fest, B ; Hinko-Najera, N ; von Fischer, JC ; Livesley, SJ ; Arndt, SK (SPRINGER, 2017-03)
    Soils in temperate forests ecosystems are the greatest terrestrial CH₄ sink globally. Global and regional circulation models predict decreased average rainfall, increased extreme rainfall events and increased temperatures for many temperate ecosystems. However, most studies of soil CH₄ uptake have only considered extended periods of drought rather than an overall decrease in rainfall amount. We measured soil CH₄ uptake from March 2010 to March 2012 after installing passive rainfall reduction systems to intercept approximately 40% of throughfall in a temperate broadleaf evergreen eucalypt forest in south-eastern Australia. Throughfall reduction caused an average reduction of 15.1 ± 6.4% (SE) in soil volumetric water content, a reduction of 19.8 ± 6.9% in soil water-filled pore space (%WFPS) and a 20.1 ± 6.8% increase in soil air-filled porosity. In response to these changes, soil CH₄ uptake increased by 54.7 ± 19.3%. The increase in soil CH₄ uptake could be explained by increased diffusivity in drier soils, whilst the activity of methanotrophs remained relatively unchanged. It is likely that soil CH₄ uptake will increase if rainfall reduces in temperate broadleaf evergreen forests of Australia as a consequence of climate change.
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    Soil methane oxidation in both dry and wet temperate eucalypt forests shows a near-identical relationship with soil air-filled porosity
    Fest, BJ ; Hinko-Najera, N ; Wardlaw, T ; Griffith, DWT ; Livesley, SJ ; Arndt, SK (Copernicus Publications, 2017-01-27)
    Well-drained, aerated soils are important sinks for atmospheric methane (CH4) via the process of CH4 oxidation by methane-oxidising bacteria (MOB). This terrestrial CH4 sink may contribute towards climate change mitigation, but the impact of changing soil moisture and temperature regimes on CH4 uptake is not well understood in all ecosystems. Soils in temperate forest ecosystems are the greatest terrestrial CH4 sink globally. Under predicted climate change scenarios, temperate eucalypt forests in south-eastern Australia are predicted to experience rapid and extreme changes in rainfall patterns, temperatures and wild fires. To investigate the influence of environmental drivers on seasonal and inter-annual variation of soil–atmosphere CH4 exchange, we measured soil–atmosphere CH4 exchange at high-temporal resolution (<  2 h) in a dry temperate eucalypt forest in Victoria (Wombat State Forest, precipitation 870 mm yr−1) and in a wet temperature eucalypt forest in Tasmania (Warra Long-Term Ecological Research site, 1700 mm yr−1). Both forest soil systems were continuous CH4 sinks of −1.79 kg CH4 ha−1 yr−1 in Victoria and −3.83 kg CH4 ha−1 yr−1 in Tasmania. Soil CH4 uptake showed substantial temporal variation and was strongly controlled by soil moisture at both forest sites. Soil CH4 uptake increased when soil moisture decreased and this relationship explained up to 90 % of the temporal variability. Furthermore, the relationship between soil moisture and soil CH4 flux was near-identical at both forest sites when soil moisture was expressed as soil air-filled porosity (AFP). Soil temperature only had a minor influence on soil CH4 uptake. Soil nitrogen concentrations were generally low and fluctuations in nitrogen availability did not influence soil CH4 uptake at either forest site. Our data suggest that soil MOB activity in the two forests was similar and that differences in soil CH4 exchange between the two forests were related to differences in soil moisture and thereby soil gas diffusivity. The differences between forest sites and the variation in soil CH4 exchange over time could be explained by soil AFP as an indicator of soil moisture status.
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    Reduced throughfall decreases autotrophic respiration, but not heterotrophic respiration in a dry temperate broadleaved evergreen forest
    Hinko-Najera, N ; Fest, B ; Livesley, SJ ; Arndt, SK (ELSEVIER, 2015-01-15)
    Climate change may have major implications on soil respiration dynamics and the carbon sink strength of forest soils. To assess the effect of climate change on soil respiration (RS), it is crucial to understand individual responses of autotrophic (RA) and heterotrophic (RH) components. We investigated the effect of continuously (20 months) reduced throughfall (TFR, −40%) and the influence of seasonal changes in soil temperature and moisture on RS, RA and RH, partitioned by root exclusion, in a dry temperate broadleaved evergreen eucalypt forest in south-eastern Australia. TFR decreased mean RS from 4.7±0.1 (Control) to 3.8±0.1 (TFR) μmolCO2m−2s−1 (−19%). TFR indicated a strong decrease in RA from 2.5±0.1 (Control) to 1.5±0.1 (TFR) μmolCO2m−2s−1 (−40%), but had no effect on RH. The mean relative contribution of RH to RS was 47% in the Control and increased to 61% under TFR. RS was the result of distinct seasonal patterns and dependencies of RH and RA on environmental variables. Soil temperature was a good predictor of RH (Control: R2=0.72, TFR: R2=0.75), but not of RA. In contrast, RH was not limited by soil moisture, while RA was partly influenced by soil moisture (Control: R2=0.29, TFR: R2=0.56). The lack of response of RH to changes in soil moisture (seasonal and under TFR) was likely influenced by the high rainfall conditions such that soil moisture did not decrease to a point where it limited soil microbial decomposition processes. Our results show that TFR implied the strongest effect on RA and that changes in soil temperature and moisture alone do not sufficiently explain seasonal changes in RA and RS. This indicates that biotic factors, such as plant internal carbon allocation, may exert a stronger influence on RA and hence, RS. In short-term a reduction in rainfall will lead to a decrease of soil respiration in dry temperate broadleaved evergreen eucalypt forests. The magnitude of this decrease and its persistence under extended drought will be greatly influenced by seasonal and inter-annual climate variability and potential changes in plant carbon allocation.