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Why models underestimate West African tropical forest primary productivity

Authors :
Huanyuan Zhang-Zheng
Xiongjie Deng
Jesús Aguirre-Gutiérrez
Benjamin D. Stocker
Eleanor Thomson
Ruijie Ding
Stephen Adu-Bredu
Akwasi Duah-Gyamfi
Agne Gvozdevaite
Sam Moore
Imma Oliveras Menor
I. Colin Prentice
Yadvinder Malhi
Source :
Nature Communications, Vol 15, Iss 1, Pp 1-12 (2024)
Publication Year :
2024
Publisher :
Nature Portfolio, 2024.

Abstract

Abstract Tropical forests dominate terrestrial photosynthesis, yet there are major contradictions in our understanding due to a lack of field studies, especially outside the tropical Americas. A recent field study indicated that West African forests have among the highest forests gross primary productivity (GPP) yet observed, contradicting models that rank them lower than Amazonian forests. Here, we show possible reasons for this data-model mismatch. We found that biometric GPP measurements are on average 56.3% higher than multiple global GPP products at the study sites. The underestimation of GPP largely disappears when a standard photosynthesis model is informed by local field-measured values of (a) fractional absorbed photosynthetic radiation (fAPAR), and (b) photosynthetic traits. Remote sensing products systematically underestimate fAPAR (33.9% on average at study sites) due to cloud contamination issues. The study highlights the potential widespread underestimation of tropical forests GPP and carbon cycling and hints at the ways forward for model and input data improvement.

Subjects

Subjects :
Science

Details

Language :
English
ISSN :
20411723
Volume :
15
Issue :
1
Database :
Directory of Open Access Journals
Journal :
Nature Communications
Publication Type :
Academic Journal
Accession number :
edsdoj.25cf63a3a50340abbcf007d31d4a447a
Document Type :
article
Full Text :
https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-024-53949-0