Former lab Masters student, Risa McNellis,
published her thesis work today in Ecopshere!
The paper uses a combination of observational data, field manipulation data, and modeling
to examine the impact of winter cover cropping on biophysical feedbacks to climate.
We find that winter cover cropping increases both albedo and latent heat fluxes in
Texas High Plains agro-ecosystems. This indicates that winter cover cropping provides multiple
direct cooling feedbacks to climate in this region. This indicates an added climate benefit of
cover cropping on top of previous findings of increased carbon sequestration. Thus, cover
cropping is a management practice that can increase the sustainability of agro-ecosystems
in multiple ways.
McNellis R, van Gestel N, Thomas RQ, Smith NG (2024) Winter cover cropping
increases albedo and latent heat flux in a Texas High Plains agroecosystem.
Ecosphere, 15, e4753.
We had new paper published in Nature Communications entitled
"Mapping the global distribution of C4 vegetation using observations and optimality theory".
The paper was led by Remi Luo (Singapore National University).
In the paper, we show that C4 vegetation covers ~17% of the land surface, with
values decreasing slightly over time due to a decrease in natural C4 vegetation
that is buoyed by an increase in agricultural C4 plants. We also find that C4 plants
constitute ~20% of global primary production.
The paper shines a light on the breadth and importance of C4 vegetation, which is still
understudied. Future research should focus on better understanding and predicting
the response of C4 vegetation to improve present-day and future estimates of global
carbon cycling. Eco-evolutionary optimality approaches such as the one used in the paper,
as well as others (e.g.,
Scott and Smith, 2022) could help with this.
Full citation: Luo, X., H. Zhou, T. W. Satriawan, J. Tian, R. Zhao, T. F. Keenan,
D. M. Griffith, et al. 2024. Mapping the global distribution of C4 vegetation using
observations and optimality theory. Nature Communications 15: 1219.
After months of discussion and debate, the lab has settled on a rebranding.
We are now the Physiology for Understanding the Functioning
of Ecosystems at Texas Tech University Lab!
The focus of the lab remains unchanged, but the name and logo (see below) are now
way more fun! We can't wait to continue integrating plant physiology, ecosystem ecology,
and fancy cakes!