What is it about?

Tropical rainforest–atmosphere exchanges of carbon dioxide and water vapor are essential for the carbon balance and represent a major source of global hydrological fluxes. Their interannual variations in a Bornean rainforest are likely induced by the El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO) and regulate the global carbon and water cycles, but the controlling processes remain poorly understood.

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Why is it important?

Combining 10 years of field observations that included several ENSO events with a canopy photosynthesis model to derive key ecophysiological traits, such as photosynthetic capacity and stomatal behavior, we investigated the influence of meteorological and biological drivers on forest–atmosphere exchanges in each ENSO phase. We established that ENSO-induced ecophysiological factor variations primarily influenced the long-term carbon cycle in Southeast Asian tropical rainforests.

Perspectives

This paper demonstrated that understanding the ENSO control mechanisms of the forest exchanges of carbon dioxide and water vapor is essential to refine terrestrial model projections of carbon and water cycling in Southeast Asian tropical rainforests.

Tomo'omi Kumagai
Graduate School of Agricultural and Life Sciences, The University of Tokyo

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This page is a summary of: El Niño-Southern Oscillation forcing on carbon and water cycling in a Bornean tropical rainforest, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, October 2023, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences,
DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2301596120.
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