Optimal Biomass Allocation to Leaves Across Global Terrestrial Ecosystems.

Authors

Boya Zhou, I Colin Prentice

Published in

Global change biology. Volume 32. Issue 11.

Abstract

Leaves influence global climate and water resources by regulating the flows of CO₂, energy and water between the atmosphere and land. Here we developed a theoretical framework that predicts the optimal annual fraction of biomass production allocated to the production of new leaves (η_f) as the product of the optimal leaf area index (LAI) and the optimal ratio of leaf mass-per-area to the leaf life cycle (LMA/LC), divided by annual total biomass production (BP). All quantities depend on local environmental variables, with different solutions (embedding a climatic aridity effect on optimal LMA/LC) for evergreen and deciduous plants. Using a global compilation of η_f data, we show that this theory predicts the emergent responses of η_f to growing-season temperature and aridity. These responses arise from the trade-offs among the environmental sensitivities of LMA/LC, LAI and BP. It is predicted that the rising CO₂ is steadily reducing the fraction of biomass production allocated to leaves.

PMID:
42952148
Bibliographic data and abstract were imported from PubMed on 29 Oct 2026.

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