Optimal Biomass Allocation to Leaves Across Global Terrestrial Ecosystems.
- 1Georgina Mace Centre for the Living Planet, Department of Life Sciences, Imperial College London, Ascot, UK.
- 2Department of Earth System Science, Ministry of Education Key Laboratory for Earth System Modelling, Institute for Global Change Studies, Tsinghua University, Beijing, China.
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 (ηf) 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 ηf data, we show that this theory predicts the emergent responses of ηf 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.
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BibTeX
@article{zhou2026optimal,
title = {{Optimal Biomass Allocation to Leaves Across Global Terrestrial Ecosystems.}},
author = {Boya Zhou and I Colin Prentice},
journal = {Global change biology},
year = {2026},
month = oct,
doi = {10.1111/gcb.71166},
url = {https://europepmc.org/article/MED/42952148},
note = {CC BY},
}
RIS
TY - JOUR
TI - Optimal Biomass Allocation to Leaves Across Global Terrestrial Ecosystems.
AU - Boya Zhou
AU - I Colin Prentice
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/10/28
JO - Global change biology
DO - 10.1111/gcb.71166
UR - https://europepmc.org/article/MED/42952148
AB - 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 (ηf) 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 ηf data, we show that this theory predicts the emergent responses of ηf 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.
SN - 1354-1013
SN - 1365-2486
ER -