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Whilst the importance of fungal primary biological aerosol particles (PBAPs) has been recognised, few studies have empirically assessed how land-use patterns influence them. Here, we show the impacts of different land-use patterns on fungal PBAPs within the Brazilian Atlantic Forest biodiversity hotspot. Spanning a distance of ca. 600 km within this biome, we collected fungal bioaerosols in the following land-use patterns: a 25-year-old coffee plantation, a 2.5-year-old Eucalyptus plantation, a 3-months-old maize crop, a 2-year-old and another 7-year-old native forest reforestation area, and a native forest fragment. Using the portable Burkard air sampler, a total of 14 morphotype-species were found. Cladosporium sp. comprised as much as about 95% of all fungal spores collected, being present in all samples (frequency of 100%). Forest systems had as much as 5-to-19-fold more fungal spores in the air than maize crops. Sampling height and time (morning vs. afternoon) did not influence fungal concentration and number of species. In addition, using data derived from an eddy covariance tower in the Eucalyptus site, we estimated the emission rate to be 6649 spores m−2 s−1. Our study confirms that land-use patterns affect fungal PBAPs, and that replacing large areas of native Atlantic Forest by monospecific stands, a homogenisation of airborne fungi is occurring, with unknown consequences for climate regulation.

The extent of the potassium (K) limitation of forest productivity is probably more widespread than previously thought, and K limitation could influence the response of forests to future global changes. To understand the effects of K limitation on forest primary production, we have developed the first ecophysiological model simulating the K cycle and its interactions with the carbon (C) and water cycles. We focused on the limitation of the gross primary productivity (GPP) by K availability in tropical eucalypt plantations in Brazil. We used results from stand-scale fertilisation experiments as well as C flux measurements in two tropical eucalypt plantations to parameterise the model. The model was parameterised for fertilised conditions and then used to test for the effects of contrasting additions of K fertiliser. Simulations showed that K deficiency limits GPP by more than 50 % during a 6-year rotation, a value in agreement with estimations in K-limited eucalypt stands. Simulations showed a decrease of modelled canopy transpiration of around 50 % and a decrease in modelled water-use efficiency WUEGPP of 10 %. Through a sensitivity analysis, we used the model to identify the most critical processes to consider when studying K limitation of GPP. The inputs of K to the stands, such as the atmospheric deposition and weathering fluxes, and the regulation of the cycle of K within the ecosystem were critical for the response of the system to K deficiency. Litter leaching processes were of lower importance, since residence time of K in litter was low. The new forest K-cycle model developed in the present study includes multiple K processes interacting with the carbon and water cycles, and strong feedbacks on GPP were outlined. This is a first step in identifying the source or sink limitation of forest growth by K.

Research in global change ecology relies heavily on global climatic grids derived from estimates of air temperature in open areas at around 2 m above the ground. These climatic grids do not reflect conditions below vegetation canopies and near the ground surface, where critical ecosystem functions occur and most terrestrial species reside. Here, we provide global maps of soil temperature and bioclimatic variables at a 1-km2 resolution for 0–5 and 5–15 cm soil depth. These maps were created by calculating the difference (i.e. offset) between in situ soil temperature measurements, based on time series from over 1200 1-km2 pixels (summarized from 8519 unique temperature sensors) across all the world's major terrestrial biomes, and coarse-grained air temperature estimates from ERA5-Land (an atmospheric reanalysis by the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts). We show that mean annual soil temperature differs markedly from the corresponding gridded air temperature, by up to 10°C (mean = 3.0 ± 2.1°C), with substantial variation across biomes and seasons. Over the year, soils in cold and/or dry biomes are substantially warmer (+3.6 ± 2.3°C) than gridded air temperature, whereas soils in warm and humid environments are on average slightly cooler (−0.7 ± 2.3°C). The observed substantial and biome-specific offsets emphasize that the projected impacts of climate and climate change on near-surface biodiversity and ecosystem functioning are inaccurately assessed when air rather than soil temperature is used, especially in cold environments. The global soil-related bioclimatic variables provided here are an important step forward for any application in ecology and related disciplines. Nevertheless, we highlight the need to fill remaining geographic gaps by collecting more in situ measurements of microclimate conditions to further enhance the spatiotemporal resolution of global soil temperature products for ecological applications.

Fine roots serve as the primary interface between trees and the soil, and they are dynamic in their response to environmental conditions. Among many functions, they are principle in gathering nutrients and water, and they constitute a major component of the tree. Their overall contribution to soil carbon flux is not well understood, nor is the effect of site and genotype on their dynamics, and these factors are crucial to understanding nutrient cycles and tree growth under variable conditions. This study evaluated how the fine root dynamics of loblolly pine (Pinus taeda L.) might be different between genotypes and on different sites. Three loblolly pine plantations were established, two in 2009 in North Carolina (NC) and Virginia (VA), and one in 2011 in Brazil (BR). Root biomass was estimated with soil cores across the three sites and between two genotypes in 2020. Seasonal and annual fine mot production was measured at the NC and VA sites over the 12th growing season using ingrowth cores. The trees in BR that were two years younger were much larger than those in NC and VA and had more fine root biomass at initial sampling than those in NC, despite similar levels of fertility. Meanwhile, fine mot production rates decreased with higher rates of aboveground productivity across all measured plots in NC and VA. These results indicate that (1) standing fine root biomass may be related to environmental conditions that are not easily manipulated, which could inform modeling of carbon cycles, and (2) in these intensively managed plots, sufficient resources were available to allow for increased aboveground growth despite lower rates of fine mot production, which supports the employment of these intensive silvicultural practices.

Mid-rotation fertilization presents an opportunity to increase the economic return of plantation forests in the southeastern United States (SEUS). For this reason, the Forest Productivity Cooperative established a series of mid-rotation fertilization trials in Pinus taeda L. plantations across the SEUS between 1984 and 1987. These trials identified site-specific responses to nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P) fertilizers, resulting in increased stand production for 6–10 years after fertilization. There are successful volume response models that allow users to quantify the gain in stand productivity resulting from fertilization. However, all the current models depend on empirical relationships that are not bounded by biological response, meaning that greater fertilizer additions continue to create more volume gains, regardless of physiological limits. To address this shortcoming, we developed a bounded response model that evaluates relative volume response gain to fertilizer addition. Site index and relative spacing are included as model parameters to help provide realistic estimates. The model is useful for evaluating productivity gain in Pinus taeda stands that are fertilized with N and P in mid-rotation.

We examined crown architecture and within crown leaf area distribution effects on Pinus taeda L. growth in North Carolina (NC), Virginia (VA), and Brazil (BR) to better understand why P. taeda can grow much better in Brazil than in the southeastern United States. The NC, VA, and BR sites were planted in 2009, 2009, and 2011, respectively. At all sites, we planted the same two genetic entries at 618, 1236, and 1854 trees ha(-1). In 2013, when trees were still open grown, the VA and NC sites had greater branch diameter (24%), branch number (14%), live crown length (44%), foliage mass (82%), and branch mass (91%), than the BR site. However, in 2017, after crown closure and when there was no significant difference in tree size, site did not significantly affect these crown variables. In 2013, site significantly affected absolute leaf area distribution, likely due to differences in live crown length and leaf area, such that there was more foliage at a given level in the crown at the VA and NC sites than at the BR site. In 2017, site was still a significant factor explaining leaf area distribution, although at this point, with crown closure and similar sized trees, there was more foliage at the BR site at a given level in the crown compared to the VA and NC sites. In 2013 and 2017, when including site, genetic entry, stand density, and leaf area distribution parameters as independent variables, site significantly affected individual tree growth efficiency, indicating that something other than leaf area distribution was influencing the site effect. Better BR P. taeda growth is likely due to a combination of factors, including leaf area distribution, crown architecture, and other factors that have been identified as influencing the site effect (heat sum), indicating that future work should include a modeling analysis to examine all known contributing factors.

We examined crown architecture and within crown leaf area distribution effects on Pinus taeda L. growth in North Carolina (NC), Virginia (VA), and Brazil (BR) to better understand why P. taeda can grow much better in Brazil than in the southeastern United States. The NC, VA, and BR sites were planted in 2009, 2009, and 2011, respectively. At all sites, we planted the same two genetic entries at 618, 1236, and 1854 trees ha(-1). In 2013, when trees were still open grown, the VA and NC sites had greater branch diameter (24%), branch number (14%), live crown length (44%), foliage mass (82%), and branch mass (91%), than the BR site. However, in 2017, after crown closure and when there was no significant difference in tree size, site did not significantly affect these crown variables. In 2013, site significantly affected absolute leaf area distribution, likely due to differences in live crown length and leaf area, such that there was more foliage at a given level in the crown at the VA and NC sites than at the BR site. In 2017, site was still a significant factor explaining leaf area distribution, although at this point, with crown closure and similar sized trees, there was more foliage at the BR site at a given level in the crown compared to the VA and NC sites. In 2013 and 2017, when including site, genetic entry, stand density, and leaf area distribution parameters as independent variables, site significantly affected individual tree growth efficiency, indicating that something other than leaf area distribution was influencing the site effect. Better BR P. taeda growth is likely due to a combination of factors, including leaf area distribution, crown architecture, and other factors that have been identified as influencing the site effect (heat sum), indicating that future work should include a modeling analysis to examine all known contributing factors.

Mid-rotation fertilization presents an opportunity to increase the economic return of plantation forests in the southeastern United States (SEUS). For this reason, the Forest Productivity Cooperative established a series of mid-rotation fertilization trials in Pinus taeda L. plantations across the SEUS between 1984 and 1987. These trials identified site-specific responses to nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P) fertilizers, resulting in increased stand production for 6–10 years after fertilization. There are successful volume response models that allow users to quantify the gain in stand productivity resulting from fertilization. However, all the current models depend on empirical relationships that are not bounded by biological response, meaning that greater fertilizer additions continue to create more volume gains, regardless of physiological limits. To address this shortcoming, we developed a bounded response model that evaluates relative volume response gain to fertilizer addition. Site index and relative spacing are included as model parameters to help provide realistic estimates. The model is useful for evaluating productivity gain in Pinus taeda stands that are fertilized with N and P in mid-rotation.

Stemwood productivity in forest ecosystems depends on the amount of light absorbed by the trees (APAR) and on the Light Use Efficiency (LUE), i.e. the amount of stemwood produced per amount of absorbed light. In fertilized Eucalyptus plantations of Brazil, growth is expected to be strongly limited by light absorption in the first years after planting, when trees can benefit from high soil water stocks, recharged after clearcutting the previous stand. Other limiting factors, such as water or nutrient shortage are thought to increase in importance after canopy closure, and changes in allocation patterns are expected, affecting the LUE. Studying changes in APAR and LUE along a complete rotation is paramount for gaining insight into the mechanisms that drive the inter- and intra-genotype variabilities of productivity and stemwood biomass at the time of harvest. Here, we present a 6-year survey of productivity, APAR and LUE of 16 Eucalyptus genotypes of several species used in commercial plantations and planted in 10 randomized replications in the São Paulo Region, Brazil. APAR was estimated using the MAESTRA tridimensional model parameterized at tree scale for each tree in each plot (a total of 16,000 trees) using local measurements of leaf and canopy properties. Stand growth was estimated based on allometric relationships established through successive destructive biomass measurements at the study site. Allometric relationships predicting biomass of tree components, leaf surface, crown dimension and leaf inclination angle distribution throughout the rotation for the 16 productive genotypes are shown. Results at stand scale showed that (1) LUE increased with stand age for all genotypes, from 0.15 at age 1 yr to 1.70 g MJ−1 at age 6 yrs on average; (2) light absorption was a major limiting factor over the first year of growth (R2 between APAR and stand biomass ranging from 0.5 to 0.95), explaining most of the inter- and intra-genotype growth variability; (3) at rotation

Previous work indicates that Pinus taeda L. grows faster and has a higher carrying capacity when grown outside its native range. We were interested in examining the hypotheses that growth, light use efficiency (volume growth and absorbed photosynthetically active radiation relationship, LUE) and volume growth per unit heat sum is the same for native and exotic plantations. To test these hypotheses, we installed a common garden experiment where the same six genetic entries of P. taeda (four clonal varieties, one open pollinated family and one control mass pollinated family) were planted at three densities (618, 1235, and 1853 stems ha(-1)) with three or four replications at three sites (Virginia (VA), and North Carolina (NC) in the United States and Parana State in Brazil (BR)). The VA and BR sites were outside the native range of P. taeda. After five years of growth, the BR site had larger trees and stand scale basal area and volume were increasing faster than the other sites. Site did not affect LUE but density and genetic entry did. The sites were at different latitudes but the average photosynthetically active radiation at the top of the canopy was similar for the years when all sites were operational, likely because the BR site receives more rain annually and the cloudiness associated with the rain may have reduced available light. We estimated an hourly heat sum where the daytime temperature was between 5 and 38 degrees C, hours where vapor pressure deficit exceeded 1.5 kPa and days following nights where nighttime temperatures were less than 0 degrees C were excluded. Site was significant for the cumulative volume and heat sum relationship, for a given level of cumulative degree hours the sites ranked BR > VA > NC in cumulative volume. The different growth per unit of degree hours for each site indicated that something other than the heat sum was causing the observed difference in growth. Other factors including respiration and extreme climatic conditions may

Previous work indicates that Pinus taeda L. grows faster and has a higher carrying capacity when grown outside its native range. We were interested in examining the hypotheses that growth, light use efficiency (volume growth and absorbed photosynthetically active radiation relationship, LUE) and volume growth per unit heat sum is the same for native and exotic plantations. To test these hypotheses, we installed a common garden experiment where the same six genetic entries of P. taeda (four clonal varieties, one open pollinated family and one control mass pollinated family) were planted at three densities (618, 1235, and 1853 stems ha(-1)) with three or four replications at three sites (Virginia (VA), and North Carolina (NC) in the United States and Parana State in Brazil (BR)). The VA and BR sites were outside the native range of P. taeda. After five years of growth, the BR site had larger trees and stand scale basal area and volume were increasing faster than the other sites. Site did not affect LUE but density and genetic entry did. The sites were at different latitudes but the average photosynthetically active radiation at the top of the canopy was similar for the years when all sites were operational, likely because the BR site receives more rain annually and the cloudiness associated with the rain may have reduced available light. We estimated an hourly heat sum where the daytime temperature was between 5 and 38 degrees C, hours where vapor pressure deficit exceeded 1.5 kPa and days following nights where nighttime temperatures were less than 0 degrees C were excluded. Site was significant for the cumulative volume and heat sum relationship, for a given level of cumulative degree hours the sites ranked BR > VA > NC in cumulative volume. The different growth per unit of degree hours for each site indicated that something other than the heat sum was causing the observed difference in growth. Other factors including respiration and extreme climatic conditions may

Little is known about the role of very deep roots to supply the water requirements of tropical forests. Clonal Eucalyptus plantations managed in short rotation on very deep Ferralsols are simple forest ecosystems (only 1 plant genotype growing on a relatively homogeneous soil) likely to provide an insight into tree water use strategies in tropical forests. Fine roots have been observed down to a depth of 6 m at age 1 year in Brazilian eucalypt plantations. However, the contribution of water stored in very deep soil layers to stand evapotranspiration over tree growth has been poorly quantified. An eco-physiological model, MAESPA, has been used to simulate half-hourly stand water balance over the first three years of growth in a clonal Eucalyptus grandis plantation in southern Brazil (Eucflux project, State of São Paulo). The water balance model in MAESPA is an equilibrium-type model between soil and leaf water potentials for individual trees aboveground, and at the stand scale belowground. The dynamics of the vertical fine root distribution have been taken into account empirically from linear interpolations between successive measurements. The simulations were compared to time series of soil water contents measured every meter down to 10m deep and to daily latent heat fluxes measured by eddy covariance. Simulations of volumetric soil water contents matched satisfactorily with measurements (RMSE = 0.01) over the three-year period. Good agreement was also observed between simulated and measured latent heat fluxes. In the rainy season, more than 75 % of tree transpiration was supplied by water withdrawn in the upper 1 m of soil, but water uptake progressed to deeper soil layers during dry periods, down to a depth of 6 m, 12 m and 15 m the first, second and third year after planting, respectively. During the second growing season, 15% of water was withdrawn below a depth of 6 m, and 5% below 10m. Most of the soil down to 12m deep was dried out the second year after plant