Out of the darkness: predicting rates of respiration of illuminated leaves along nutrient gradients

Leaf respiration plays a vital role in regulating the Earth s climate and ecosystem functioning. Although we know that leaf respiration is inhibited by light (by up to 80%), we are currently unable to predict variations in light inhibition. We will combine laboratory and field observations to establish whether there are systematic differences in light inhibition among species, and how phosphorus limitations (which are common across Australia) and diurnal variations in temperature impact on leaf respiration. These aims are fundamental to the development of new modelling frameworks that would facilitate incorporation of climate- and nutrient-dependent variations in day- and night-time leaf respiration into global- and ecosystem-level models.