Decoupled carbon assimilation and growth responses to aridity in temperate deciduous oaks

The magnitude of the terrestrial carbon sink remains a key uncertainty in future climate projections, in part due to poorly understood links between carbon uptake and its allocation to woody biomass in vegetation. Here, in this study, we show that photosynthesis and aboveground growth occur asynchronously across diel to seasonal scales in eight North American oak species. Across 137 tree ring sites, current-year annual growth was insensitive to climate variability after midsummer despite 26 to 36% of annual gross primary productivity (GPP) occurring during this period. Hourly GPP flux and growth measurements at four sites spanning seven site years further demonstrate that wood formation ceases earlier than photosynthesis and is restricted to periods of low atmospheric aridity and temperature. This photosynthesis-growth decoupling intensifies with interannual variability in vapor pressure deficit ( r = 0.86, P < 0.05), suggesting that by assuming tight coupling between photosynthesis and woody biomass, current earth system models may overestimate long-term carbon sequestration in forests.

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Publication Details

Journal
Science Advances
Published
2026-06-12
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.ady7139
Primary Topic
Plant Water Relations and Carbon Dynamics
Type
article
Field-Weighted Citation Impact
0.00

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article

Decoupled carbon assimilation and growth responses to aridity in temperate deciduous oaks

Mukund Palat Rao, Laia Andreu‐Hayles, Bar Oryan, Daniel Griffin et al.
Science Advances
Plant Water Relations and Carbon Dynamics
article

Decoupled carbon assimilation and growth responses to aridity in temperate deciduous oaks

Mukund Palat Rao, Laia Andreu‐Hayles, Bar Oryan, Daniel Griffin, Todd M. Scanlon, Johanna Jensen, Josep Peñuelas, Joseph Verfaillie, Arturo Pacheco-Solana, Alexander Jay Turner, Zoe Pierrat, Steven A. Kannenberg, Steven L. Voelker, Jeremy Hise, Troy S. Magney, Milagros Rodríguez‐Catón, Justin T. Maxwell, Rose Oelkers, Kevin L. Griffin, Sophie Ruehr, Xi Yang, Neil Pederson, Jan U.H. Eitel, Michael McCormack, Laura E. Boeschoten, Dennis Baldocchi, Lily Klinek, Rong Li, D. W. Stahle
article en

Abstract

The magnitude of the terrestrial carbon sink remains a key uncertainty in future climate projections, in part due to poorly understood links between carbon uptake and its allocation to woody biomass in vegetation. Here, in this study, we show that photosynthesis and aboveground growth occur asynchronously across diel to seasonal scales in eight North American oak species. Across 137 tree ring sites, current-year annual growth was insensitive to climate variability after midsummer despite 26 to 36% of annual gross primary productivity (GPP) occurring during this period. Hourly GPP flux and growth measurements at four sites spanning seven site years further demonstrate that wood formation ceases earlier than photosynthesis and is restricted to periods of low atmospheric aridity and temperature. This photosynthesis-growth decoupling intensifies with interannual variability in vapor pressure deficit ( r = 0.86, P < 0.05), suggesting that by assuming tight coupling between photosynthesis and woody biomass, current earth system models may overestimate long-term carbon sequestration in forests.

Science AdvancesVol. 12(24)
Institució Catalana de Recerca i Estudis Avançats (ES), Michigan Technological University (US), West Virginia University (US), University of Minnesota (US), Jet Propulsion Laboratory (US), Berkeley College (US), Harvard University (US), University of Padua (IT), Scripps Institution of Oceanography (US), Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory (US), University of California, Santa Barbara (US), University of Idaho (US), University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (US), Carnegie Institution for Science (US), University of Washington (US), Cornell University (US), University Corporation for Atmospheric Research (US), Morton Arboretum (US), Saint Anthony College of Nursing (US), Ghent University (BE), University of California San Diego (US), University of Illinois Chicago (US), University of Chicago (US), Zeus Scientific (United States) (US), Instituto de Química del Noroeste Argentino (AR), Indiana University Bloomington (US), Centre for Research on Ecology and Forestry Applications (ES), Dana-Farber/Harvard Cancer Center (US), Global Ecology Unit CREAF-CSIC-UAB, University of Virginia (US), University of Montana (US), Columbia University (US), University of Arkansas at Fayetteville (US), University of California, Davis (US), University of California, Berkeley (US)
U.S. Department of Energy, National Aeronautics and Space Administration, California Institute of Technology, Fundación Williams, Universitat de Barcelona, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory, Columbia University, Office of Science, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Council for Research in the Social Sciences, Columbia University, University of California, Davis
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Plant Water Relations and Carbon Dynamics
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