%0 Journal Article
%T Tropical forest leaves may darken in response to climate change
%J -
%D 2018
%R https://doi.org/10.1038/s41559-018-0716-y
%X Tropical forest leaf albedo (reflectance) greatly impacts how much energy the planet absorbs; however; little is known about how it might be impacted by climate change. Here, we measure leaf traits and leaf albedo at ten 1-ha plots along a 3,200-m elevation gradient in Peru. Leaf mass per area (LMA) decreased with warmer temperatures along the elevation gradient; the distribution of LMA was positively skewed at all sites indicating a shift in LMA towards a warmer climate and future reduced tropical LMA. Reduced LMA was significantly (P£¿<£¿0.0001) correlated with reduced leaf near-infrared (NIR) albedo; community-weighted mean NIR albedo significantly (P£¿<£¿0.01) decreased as temperature increased. A potential future 2£¿¡ãC increase in tropical temperatures could reduce lowland tropical leaf LMA by 6¨C7£¿g£¿m£¿2 (5¨C6%) and reduce leaf NIR albedo by 0.0015¨C0.002£¿units. Reduced NIR albedo means that leaves are darker and absorb more of the Sun¡¯s energy. Climate simulations indicate this increased absorbed energy will warm tropical forests more at high CO2 conditions with proportionately more energy going towards heating and less towards evapotranspiration and cloud formation
%U https://www.nature.com/articles/s41559-018-0716-y