|
Biogeosciences Discuss., 7, 7449-7473, 2010
www.biogeosciences-discuss.net/7/7449/2010/ doi:10.5194/bgd-7-7449-2010 © Author(s) 2010. This work is distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License. |
The role of plant functional trade-offs for biodiversity changes and biome shifts under scenarios of global climatic change
1Max Planck Institute for Biogeochemistry, P.O. Box 10 01 64, 07701 Jena, Germany
2Institute of Geography, University Bonn, Meckenheimer Allee 166, 53115 Bonn, Germany
3Département de Chimie-Biologie, Université du Québec à Trois-Rivières, 3351 des Forges, Trois-Rivières, G9A 5H7, Canada
Abstract. The global geographic distribution of biodiversity and biomes is determined by species-specific physiological tolerances to climatic constraints. Current models implement empirical bioclimatic relationships to predict present-day vegetation patterns and to forecast biodiversity changes and biome shifts under climatic change. In this paper, we consider plant functional trade-offs and their interactions with climatic changes to forecast and explain biodiversity changes and biome shifts.
The Jena Diversity model (JeDi) simulates plant survival according to essential plant functional trade-offs, including eco-physiological processes such as water uptake, photosynthesis, allocation, reproduction and phenology. We apply JeDi to quantify biodiversity changes and biome shifts between present-day and a range of possible future climates from two scenarios (A2 and B1) and seven global climate models using metrics of plant functional richness and functional identity.
Our results show (i) a significant biodiversity loss in the tropics, (ii) an increase in biodiversity at mid and high latitudes, and (iii) a poleward shift of biomes. While these results are consistent with the findings of empirical approaches, we are able to explain them in terms of the plant functional trade-offs involved in the allocation, metabolic and reproduction strategies of plants.
We conclude that general aspects of plant physiological tolerances can be derived from plant functional trade-offs, which may provide a useful process- and trait-based alternative to bioclimatic relationships in order to address questions about the causes of biodiversity changes and biome shifts.
Citation: Reu, B., Zaehle, S., Proulx, R., Bohn, K., Kleidon, A., Pavlick, R., and Schmidtlein, S.: The role of plant functional trade-offs for biodiversity changes and biome shifts under scenarios of global climatic change, Biogeosciences Discuss., 7, 7449-7473, doi:10.5194/bgd-7-7449-2010, 2010.