1. Philippe CHOLER Plant Ecologist University of Grenoble. FRANCE Marie-Curie Fellows (from 15/01/2008 - to 15/01/2010) including two years as a Visiting Scientist CSIRO Marine and Atmospheric Research Black Mountain Laboratories Canberra, ACT CASOAR Project: Plant Functional Diversity and Land-Surface Biogeochemical Modelling

2. CASOAR Plant Functional Ecology (for dummies) Species A Small plant Species B Tall plant Plants are getting smaller under drier climates (size as a response trait) Tall and Small Plants do not affect the Atmosphere in the same way (size as an effect trait)

3. CASOAR Fundamental trade-offs among leaf traits N mass N mass (%) [ log scale] SLA SLA ( mm -2 g -1 ) [ log scale] Leaf longevity Leaf longevity (months) [log scale] NOT everything is possible (at least for leaves) "glopnet" leaf economics dataset Wright I.J. et al. (2004) Nature

4. CASOAR Basic questions What are (if existing) the fundamental trade-offs among Community Aggregated Traits ? How are Community Aggregated Traits spatially distributed ? insights from mechanistic (plant physiology...) and empirical approaches p i Relative Abundance (Cover) of species i in the community t i Mean Trait Value of species i Scaling-up from leaves to canopy Community Aggregated Trait = Functional Property of Canopy

5. CASOAR A case study Rainfall gradient Phosphorus gradient Which are the best predictors of SLA CA values ? (Envir. variables or Seasonal Canopy Reflectances)

6. CASOAR Use of Remotely Sensed Data Sampling sites Evergreen Broad Leaf Forests Open Shrublands Closed Shrublands Savanna MODIS data : MOD13A1 - level 3(VI products) - Collection 5 250m Composite 16 days. (2000-2005) Global Land Cover Class Averaged (3km around measured site) Principal Component Analysis on time series correlation matrix (Data reduction process) Retrieval of n independent Principal Components

7. CASOAR Measured vs. Predicted SLA CA MODEL 1. Rainfall Phosphorus Elevation MODEL 2. MODIS time series Principal Components MODEL 3. All explanatory variables Explanatory Variables Model Performance (n=43) r 2 = 0.55 P (Elevation = 0) = 0.002 P (Slope = 1) = 0.0062 RMSE = 0.12 r 2 = 0.64 P (Elevation = 0) = 0.012 P (Slope = 1) = 0.022 RMSE = 0.107 r 2 = 0.77 P (Elevation = 0) = 0.07 P (Slope = 1) = 0.09 RMSE = 0.085 (around 1 unit SLA)

8. CASOARConclusion Community 1 (     ) Plant Physiology (understqnding trade-offs) Plant Functional Traits Community 2 (     ) Density Trait space Remote Sensing Spatial Distribution Models of CA Traits Ground Measurements Aim: Land-Surface Biogeochemical Models more firmly grounded in ecological knowledge Thank you

9. CASOARBackground Global/Regional Scale Seasonal (Multi)Spectral Signature/Indice Empirical Models Land-Surface Processes (evaporation - ANPP...) "Ecosystem Functional Types" Paruelo et al. (2001) Ecosystems Plant Scale Plant Functional Trait (mostly Leaf Traits) (Semi-) Mechanistic Models Plant Processes (Nutrient turnover - Growth...) "Plant Functional Types" Canopy Features Spectral Structural Biochemical Functional Diversity Plant Community Scale Downscaling Upscaling Community Dynamics Species Assemblage Response to change Mechanistic Models of Ecosystem Processes