Disentangling climate and evolutionary controls over the temperature-dependence of leaf respiration

Leaf respiration plays a vital role in regulating ecosystem functioning and the Earth's climate. Although we know that failure to account for variations in the temperature response of respiration leads to large errors in predicted ecosystem carbon exchange, we are currently unable to predict global patterns in temperature responses of respiration; the importance of thermal adaptation to past climates is also not known. We will combine lab- and field-observations to improve our understanding of evolutionary changes in adaptive thermal tolerance of respiratory metabolism. The results will also be used to develop new equations to improve predictions of respiration in Earth-system, climate and ecosystem-level models.