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Coupling of ecosystem-scale plant water storage and leaf phenology observed by satellite

Abstract

Plant water storage is fundamental to the functioning of terrestrial ecosystems by participating in plant metabolism, nutrient and sugar transport, and maintenance of the integrity of the hydraulic system of the plant. However, a global view of the size and dynamics of the water pools stored in plant tissues is still lacking. Here, we report global patterns of seasonal variations in ecosystem-scale plant water storage and their relationship with leaf phenology, based on space-borne measurements of L-band vegetation optical depth. We find that seasonal variations in plant water storage are highly synchronous with leaf phenology for the boreal and temperate forests, but asynchronous for the tropical woodlands, where the seasonal development of plant water storage lags behind leaf area by up to 180 days. Contrasting patterns of the time lag between plant water storage and terrestrial groundwater storage are also evident in these ecosystems. A comparison of the water cycle components in seasonally dry tropical woodlands highlights the buffering effect of plant water storage on the seasonal dynamics of water supply and demand. Our results offer insights into ecosystem-scale plant water relations globally and provide a basis for an improved parameterization of eco-hydrological and Earth system models.

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Fig. 1: Seasonal amplitude of L-VOD.
Fig. 2: Relationship between seasonal amplitude of L-VOD and LAI.
Fig. 3: Temporal coupling between L-VOD and LAI seasonality.
Fig. 4: Temporal coupling between L-VOD and TWS seasonality.
Fig. 5: Seasonal water balance in two contrasting ecosystems.

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Acknowledgements

We thank E. Fluet-Chouinard, F. Aires and C. Prigent for providing the global inundation map. This work was funded by the CNES through the Science Terre Environment et Climat programme, European Space Agency, Support to Science Element programme and SMOS Expert Support Laboratory. F.T. and R.F. acknowledge funding from the Danish Council for Independent Research (grant ID: DFF–6111-00258). F.T. is also the recipient of the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under the Marie Skłodowska-Curie grant agreement (project number 746347). P.C. and J.P. acknowledge funding from the European Research Council Synergy grant ERC-2013-SyG-610028 IMBALANCE-P. T.T. was funded by the Swedish National Space Board (Dnr: 95/16). P.C. acknowledges additional support from the ANR ICONV CLAND grant. J.C. has benefited from ‘Investissement d’Avenir’ grants managed by the French Agence Nationale de la Recherche (CEBA (ref. ANR-10-LABX-25-01) and TULIP (ref. ANR-10-LABX-0041)), as well as TOSCA funds from the CNES.

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F.T., J.-P.W., M.B. and R.F. designed the study with inputs from P.C., J.C., J.P. and A.R. J.-P.W., Y.K., A.M., N.R.-F. and A.A.-Y. prepared the SMOS-IC data and performed the sensitivity analyses. C.C. and R.B.M. prepared the MODIS LAI data. F.T. performed the data analyses. The results were interpreted by J.-P.W., A.R., J.C., F.T., P.C., J.P., J.O., J.-C.D., X.T., N.R.-F., A.M., T.T., A.A.-Y. and R.F. F.T. drafted the manuscript with editing by P.C., J.P., J.O. and J.C., and contributions from all co-authors.

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Correspondence to Feng Tian or Jean-Pierre Wigneron.

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Tian, F., Wigneron, JP., Ciais, P. et al. Coupling of ecosystem-scale plant water storage and leaf phenology observed by satellite. Nat Ecol Evol 2, 1428–1435 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41559-018-0630-3

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