March 16, 2016

expert reaction to research letter on plant respiration and climate change

The rate of plant respiration (conversion of photosynthetic materials to carbon dioxide and energy) can change with temperature. A paper published in the journal Nature has reported that increasing temperatures due to climate change may increase plant respiration and hence atmospheric carbon dioxide, which they report to be the case in their experimental models.

Prof. Pierre Friedlingstein, Chair, Mathematical Modelling of Climate Systems at the University of Exeter, said:

“The results are of interest: leaf respiration shows acclimation to temperature. This is surely something not properly represented in global models. However, I also find that the suggested implications are largely overvalued. I’m amazed it got through the review process…

“Their findings are about leaf respiration only, not about total plant respiration and even less about whole ecosystem respiration (that includes heterotrophic respiration of soil organic matter). The positive climate-carbon cycle feedback simulated by Earth system models predominantly comes from heterotrophic respiration increasing with temperature, not from leaf respiration. I’m afraid this paper is not a game changer.

“My cautious recommendation would be not to take this study as a demonstration that global warming will not induce carbon loss from ecosystems.”

‘Boreal and temperate trees show strong acclimation of respiration to warming’ by Peter B. Reich et al. published in Nature on Wednesday 16 March 2016. 

Declared interests

None declared