Structure, Photosynthesis and Light In Canopy Environments (SPLICE)

The SPLICE project (Structure, Photosynthesis and Light In Canopy Environments) seeks to improve our understanding of global photosynthesis and hence our ability to model climate change, by considering the way in which the three-dimensional structure of plants interacts with light and how this in turn impacts on the uptake of carbon. We will employ state-of-the-art techniques to measure the three dimensional structure and photosynthesis of forests and construct detailed computer simulations to create a virtual laboratory that we can use to improve simulations from climate models.

The process of photosynthesis is fundamental to life on Earth. In this project we are concerned with its role in the terrestrial carbon cycle, which in turn is important for understanding climate change. The land surface absorbs around 25% of anthropogenic CO2 emissions and this proportion has remained remarkably constant despite increasing emissions. Whether or not this will continue is unknown. Earth System Models (ESMs), which are essentially climate models that include climate-relevant biological process, include the uptake of carbon by plants via photosynthesis so that they can model (a) the influence of this process on atmospheric carbon dioxide concentrations and (b) the impact of climate change on global vegetation. There have been significant advances made in the modelling of photosynthesis inside these models in recent decades, for example the interaction with the nitrogen cycle, but they still include some very simple assumptions. We argue that chief amongst these is the way in which the three dimensional structure of vegetation is represented - something that has not been improved for nearly four decades.

The equations in ESMs that govern the interception of light by plants, which in turn drives photosynthesis, make the simplifying assumption that leaves are randomly arranged in space, not clustered into tree crowns or around branches. This allows relevant equations in physics to be solved in such a way that results in computationally efficient computer code, but does not represent reality very closely. Recent research from the University of Reading has shown that the impact of including even a simple representation of these effects into an ESM can have large impacts on the global carbon cycle. In particular we showed an enhancement in the modelled estimates of global photosynthesis of 5 billion tonnes of carbon per year, or more than half of CO2 released from burning fossil fuels. Most of this occurs in the tropics, an area of the Earth likely to be especially vulnerable to the impacts of climate change.

SPLICE will measure the 3D structure of 26 forests around the world using a combination of terrestrial Lidar scanning and airborne Lidar surveys. Lidar uses scattered laser light to infer structure of forests and information from it can be used to reconstruct a branch-by-branch simulation of the forest. We will take these data and build detailed 3D models of the forest light environment and resulting photosynthesis. The photosynthetic flux will be measured using a variety of techniques, including observations of solar induced fluorescence (SIF) from drones. These observations will be used to test our 3D models. SIF occurs as part of photosynthesis and although it has been known about for some time the technology to observe it remotely is relatively new. It provides a close proxy for the amount of carbon being taken up by photosynthesis.

Our final step will be to use the detailed 3D models to develop a modified version of the computer codes used in ESMs to represent the interaction of light with vegetation canopies. These modified codes will be used in the land surface component of UKESM - the UK's new Earth System Model - to assess the impact of these changes globally and the magnitude of their impact on the carbon cycle and hence climate change.