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Modelling the drought impact on monoterpene fluxes from an evergreen Mediterranean forest canopy

  • Physiological Ecology - Original Paper
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Abstract

In many ecosystems drought cycles are common during the growing season but their impact on volatile monoterpene emissions is unclear. Therefore, we aimed to develop and evaluate a process-based modelling approach to explore the explanatory power of likely mechanisms. The biochemically based isoprene and monoterpene emission model SIM-BIM2 has been modified and linked to a canopy model and a soil water balance model. Simulations are carried out for Quercus ilex forest sites and results are compared to measured soil water, photosynthesis, terpene-synthase activity, and monoterpene emission rates. Finally, the coupled model system is used to estimate the annual drought impact on photosynthesis and emission. The combined and adjusted vegetation model was able to simulate photosynthesis and monoterpene emission under dry and irrigated conditions with an R 2 of 0.74 and 0.52, respectively. We estimated an annual reduction of monoterpene emission of 67% for the extended and severe drought period in 2006 in the investigated Mediterranean ecosystem. It is concluded that process-based ecosystem models can provide a useful tool to investigate the involved mechanisms and to quantify the importance of specific environmental constraints.

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Acknowledgements

We would like to thank the anonymous reviewers for constructive comments and remarks that were valuable in improving a previous version this manuscript. This work was enabled by support received from the European Science Foundation for the project Volatile Organic Compounds in the Biosphere-Atmosphere System. Further support was provided by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) in the framework of the national joint research project AFO2000 (Atmosphären-Forschungsprogramm 2000). All experiments comply with the current laws of the country in which they were performed.

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  1. Institut für Meteorologie und Klimaforschung Bereich Atmosphärische Umweltforschung (IMK-IFU) Forschungszentrum Karlsruhe GmbH, Kreuzeckbahnstr 19, 82467, Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany

    Rüdiger Grote, Ina Zimmer & Jörg-Peter Schnitzler

  2. Centre d’Ecologie Fonctionelle et Evolutive—CNRS, 1919 Route de Mende, 34293, Montpellier, Cedex 5, France

    Anne-Violette Lavoir, Serge Rambal & Michael Staudt

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  1. Rüdiger Grote
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  2. Anne-Violette Lavoir
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  3. Serge Rambal
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  4. Michael Staudt
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  5. Ina Zimmer
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  6. Jörg-Peter Schnitzler
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Correspondence to Rüdiger Grote.

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Communicated by F. Valladares.

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Grote, R., Lavoir, AV., Rambal, S. et al. Modelling the drought impact on monoterpene fluxes from an evergreen Mediterranean forest canopy. Oecologia 160, 213–223 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00442-009-1298-9

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