Uncovering the critical soil moisture thresholds of plant water stress for European ecosystems.

Understanding the critical soil moisture (SM) threshold (θcrit ) of plant water stress and land surface energy partitioning is a basis to evaluate drought impacts and improve models for predicting future ecosystem condition and climate. Quantifying the θcrit across biomes and climates is challenging because observations of surface energy fluxes and SM remain sparse. Here, we used the latest database of eddy covariance measurements to estimate θcrit across Europe by evaluating evaporative fraction (EF)-SM relationships and investigating the covariance between vapor pressure deficit (VPD) and gross primary production (GPP) during SM dry-down periods. We found that the θcrit and soil matric potential threshold in Europe are 16.5% and -0.7 MPa, respectively. Surface energy partitioning characteristics varied among different vegetation types; EF in savannas had the highest sensitivities to SM in water-limited stage, and the lowest in forests. The sign of the covariance between daily VPD and GPP consistently changed from positive to negative during dry-down across all sites when EF shifted from relatively high to low values. This sign of the covariance changed after longer period of SM decline in forests than in grasslands and savannas. Estimated θcrit from the VPD-GPP covariance method match well with the EF-SM method, showing this covariance method can be used to detect the θcrit . We further found that soil texture dominates the spatial variability of θcrit while shortwave radiation and VPD are the major drivers in determining the spatial pattern of EF sensitivities. Our results highlight for the first time that the sign change of the covariance between daily VPD and GPP can be used as an indicator of how ecosystems transition from energy to SM limitation. We also characterized the corresponding θcrit and its drivers across diverse ecosystems in Europe, an essential variable to improve the representation of water stress in land surface models.

Photosynthetic parameters of a sedge-grass marsh as a big-leaf: effect of plant species composition.

The study estimates the parameters of the photosynthesis-irradiance relationship (PN/I) of a sedge-grass marsh (Czech Republic, Europe), represented as an active "green" surface-a hypothetical "big-leaf". Photosynthetic parameters of the "big-leaf" are based on in situ measurements of the leaf PN/I curves of the dominant plant species. The non-rectangular hyperbola was selected as the best model for fitting the PN/I relationships. The plant species had different parameters of this relationship. The highest light-saturated rate of photosynthesis (Asat) was recorded for Glyceria maxima and Acorus calamus followed by Carex acuta and Phalaris arundinacea. The lowest Asat was recorded for Calamagrostis canescens. The parameters of the PN/I relationship were calculated also for different growth periods. The highest Asat was calculated for the spring period followed by the summer and autumn periods. The effect of the species composition of the local plant community on the photosynthetic parameters of the "big-leaf" was addressed by introducing both real (recorded) and hypothetical species compositions corresponding to "wet" and "dry" hydrological conditions. We can conclude that the species composition (or diversity) is essential for reaching a high Asat of the "big-leaf "representing the sedge-grass marsh in different growth periods.

Non-stomatal processes reduce gross primary productivity in temperate forest ecosystems during severe edaphic drought.

Severe drought events are known to cause important reductions of gross primary productivity (GPP) in forest ecosystems. However, it is still unclear whether this reduction originates from stomatal closure (Stomatal Origin Limitation) and/or non-stomatal limitations (Non-SOL). In this study, we investigated the impact of edaphic drought in 2018 on GPP and its origin (SOL, NSOL) using a dataset of 10 European forest ecosystem flux towers. In all stations where GPP reductions were observed during the drought, these were largely explained by declines in the maximum apparent canopy scale carboxylation rate VCMAX,APP (NSOL) when the soil relative extractable water content dropped below around 0.4. Concurrently, we found that the stomatal slope parameter (G1, related to SOL) of the Medlyn et al. unified optimization model linking vegetation conductance and GPP remained relatively constant. These results strengthen the increasing evidence that NSOL should be included in stomatal conductance/photosynthesis models to faithfully simulate both GPP and water fluxes in forest ecosystems during severe drought. This article is part of the theme issue 'Impacts of the 2018 severe drought and heatwave in Europe: from site to continental scale'.

Altered energy partitioning across terrestrial ecosystems in the European drought year 2018.

Drought and heat events, such as the 2018 European drought, interact with the exchange of energy between the land surface and the atmosphere, potentially affecting albedo, sensible and latent heat fluxes, as well as CO2 exchange. Each of these quantities may aggravate or mitigate the drought, heat, their side effects on productivity, water scarcity and global warming. We used measurements of 56 eddy covariance sites across Europe to examine the response of fluxes to extreme drought prevailing most of the year 2018 and how the response differed across various ecosystem types (forests, grasslands, croplands and peatlands). Each component of the surface radiation and energy balance observed in 2018 was compared to available data per site during a reference period 2004-2017. Based on anomalies in precipitation and reference evapotranspiration, we classified 46 sites as drought affected. These received on average 9% more solar radiation and released 32% more sensible heat to the atmosphere compared to the mean of the reference period. In general, drought decreased net CO2 uptake by 17.8%, but did not significantly change net evapotranspiration. The response of these fluxes differed characteristically between ecosystems; in particular, the general increase in the evaporative index was strongest in peatlands and weakest in croplands. This article is part of the theme issue 'Impacts of the 2018 severe drought and heatwave in Europe: from site to continental scale'.