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The Cooling Trend of Canopy Temperature During the Maturation, Succession, and Recovery of Ecosystems

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Abstract

The maximum exergy dissipation theory provides a theoretical basis for using surface temperature to measure the status and development of ecosystems, which could provide an early warning of rapid evaluation of ecosystem degradation. In the present study, we used the radiation balance of ecosystems to demonstrate this hypothesis theoretically. Further, we used empirical data to verify whether ecosystems gain more radiation, while lowering their surface temperatures, as they develop naturally. We analyzed 12 chronosequences from the FLUXNET database using meteorological data and heat fluxes. We included age, disturbance, and successional chronosequences across six climate zones. Net radiation (R n) and the ratio of net radiation to global radiation (R n/R g) were used to measure the energy gain of the ecosystems. The maximum daily air temperature above the canopy (T max) and thermal response number (TRN) were used to analyze the surface temperature trends with ecosystem natural development. The general trends of T max, TRN, R n, and R n /R g demonstrated that ecosystems become cooler and more stable, yet gain more energy, throughout their natural development. Among the four indicators, TRN showed the most consistent trends and highest sensitivity to ecosystem growth, succession, and recovery. Moreover, TRN was not significantly influenced by precipitation or wind. We propose that TRN can be used to rapidly evaluate or warn of ecosystem disturbance, senescence, and degradation without prior knowledge of species composition, nutrient status, and complex ecosystem processes.

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

This study was funded by the Applied Fundamental Research Program of Yunnan Province (2013FB078), National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC, 31200307), the CAS 135 program (XTBG-F01), US NSF EF #1241881, and the MT Institute on Ecosystems. The flux and meteorological data in the present research were acquired from the AmeriFlux (supported by US Department of Energy), Fluxnet-Canada Research Network (supported by CFCAS, NSERC, BIOCAP, Environment Canada, and NRCan), and NASA’s Terrestrial Ecology program (LBA-ECO) (supported by NASA Earth Science office) as part of global FLUXNET. We thank Professor Richard Corlett and Dr. Yajun Chen for their comments on the manuscript.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Key Laboratory of Tropical Forest Ecology, Xishuangbanna Tropical Botanical Garden, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Mengla, Yunnan, 666303, China

    Hua Lin, Zexin Fan & Leilei Shi

  2. School of Geography and Earth Sciences, and McMaster Centre for Climate Change, McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario, L8S 4K1, Canada

    Altaf Arain

  3. Department of Geography, Queen’s University, Kingston, Ontario, K7L 3N6, Canada

    Harry McCaughey

  4. Department of Biological Systems Engineering, University of Nebraska, Lincoln, Nebraska, 68583-0726, USA

    Dave Billesbach

  5. Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Brasilia, Brasilia, DF, 70756-050, Brazil

    Mario Siqueira

  6. School of Forest Resources and Conservation, University of Florida, P.O. Box 110410, Gainesville, Florida, 32611, USA

    Rosvel Bracho

  7. Global Change Research Group, Department of Biology, San Diego State University, San Diego, California, 92182, USA

    Walter Oechel

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  1. Hua Lin
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Correspondence to Hua Lin.

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Author contributions

HL designed the study, performed data analysis and wrote the first draft. ZF and LS draw some of the figures and performed data analysis. AA, HM, DB, MS, RB, and WO provided the data. All authors contributed substantially to revisions.

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Lin, H., Fan, Z., Shi, L. et al. The Cooling Trend of Canopy Temperature During the Maturation, Succession, and Recovery of Ecosystems. Ecosystems 20, 406–415 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10021-016-0033-8

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