Synthesizing Bryophyte Functional Response to Environmental Variation to Improve Terrestrial Carbon Cycle Forecasting

Our understanding of current and future drivers of carbon cycling at ecosystem

ecosystem

A natural community of plants, animals, and other living organisms and the physical environment in which they live and interact.

Source: A student's guide to Global Climate Change Source

and global scales relies on the ability of Earth system models

earth system model (ESM)

A model that simulates how chemistry, biology, and physical forces work together. These models are similar to, but much more comprehensive than, global climate models.

Source: U.S. Department of Energy Source

to accurately represent plant-environment interactions and feedbacks. While there is strong fundamental knowledge about how plant processes influence carbon cycling for many plant functional types, land surface models that inform Earth system models currently are unable to accurately characterize plant responses to environmental variability, especially dynamic and intra-annual responses to moisture availability. One group of plants that has a nearly ubiquitous terrestrial

terrestrial

The geographical and biological features that are associated with the Earth's solid, rocky surface, residing on or resembling the land or terrain found on our planet.

Source: NASA Source

presence (found on all Earth’s continents) but has remained unrepresented in Earth system models is bryophytes (mosses and their relatives). Bryophytes regulate carbon cycling, storage, and biogeochemical responses to global change across many ecosystem types, and respond to precipitation in ways that are incredibly dynamic and functionally distinct from vascular plants. For these reasons, inclusion of a bryophyte plant functional type could dramatically improve carbon cycle

carbon cycle

The movement and exchange of carbon through living organisms, the ocean, the atmosphere, rocks and minerals, and other parts of the Earth.

Source: a student's guide to Global Climate Change Source

forecasting. Due to increased recognition of the functional roles of bryophytes, much empirical data on bryophyte-carbon cycling processes now exist, but have yet to be synthesized to allow for parameterization and evaluation of a bryophyte plant functional type.

To improve the predictive understanding

predictive understanding

Predictive understanding refers to the ability of a system, typically an artificial intelligence or machine learning model, to anticipate future events or outcomes based on historical data and patterns.

Source: Source

of how carbon cycling is influenced by hydrology

hydrology

The science that deals with water, its properties, circulation, or distribution on Earth's surface, and in the atmosphere through evapotranspiration.

Source: NASA earth observatory Source

and is responding to climate change,

climate change

A change in the average conditions — such as temperature and rainfall — in a region over a long period of time.

Source: NASA Climate Kids Source

as well as to simultaneously advance our capacity to forecast carbon cycling contributions of bryophytes, we will conduct a global synthesis

synthesis

The process of combining a number of things into a coherent whole to form a theory or system.

Source: National Library of Medicine Source

of bryophyte-carbon cycling processes, their drivers, and their responses to change. We will (1) leverage existing datasets to generate a database of bryophyte processes that relate to carbon cycling; and (2) elucidate, analyze, and test key relationships between bryophyte functional processes and environmental variables suitable for inclusion into Earth system models and development of a novel bryophyte plant functional type. To accomplish these aims, we will select focal plant process functions in the land surface model of the Energy Exascale Earth system model (E3SM),

Energy Exascale Earth System Model (E3SM)

The Energy Exascale Earth System Model (E3SM) project includes Earth System Models, simulations, and predictions to investigate energy-relevant science using code optimized for DOE's advanced supercomputers.

Source: NVCL Web Page Source

collect data from published literature and long-term experiments to build a bryophyte database, and conduct a meta analysis to determine statistical relationships between bryophyte parameters and function outputs. Based on these analyses, we will develop empirical relationships for bryophyte-carbon cycling by modifying parameters in existing E3SM functions and by developing novel functions for processes important for carbon cycling but unique to bryophytes and not yet represented in models. We will test and evaluate empirical relationships that can be used to predict or constrain bryophyte plant functional type traits, ultimately resulting in a complete set of functional relationships representing bryophyte-carbon cycling processes.

This project brings together researchers from plant ecology,

ecology

The interrelationships between living organisms and their environments.

Source: NASA earth observatory Source

biogeochemistry,

biogeochemistry

Studies the cycle of key elements like carbon, nitrogen, and phosphorus within Earth's systems. It explores how these elements interact and the factors influencing their cycles.

Source: Oak Ridge Biogeochemical Dynamics Source

and modeling disciplines in an iterative bi-directional modeler-empiricist collaboration to generate, evaluate, and calibrate model-relevant plant-environment relationships for a currently unrepresented category of terrestrial plants: bryophytes. The outcomes of this project will be (1) advanced capacity to forecast carbon cycling contributions of bryophytes, a globally important plant functional type; and (2) expanded predictive understanding of how carbon cycling is influenced by hydrology and responding to climate change.