Wet canopy photosynthesis in a temperate Japanese cypress forest

Abstract

Abstract This study aimed to reveal the mechanism and significance of wet canopy photosynthesis during and after rainfall in temperate coniferous ecosystems by evaluating the influence of abaxial leaf interception on wet canopy photosynthesis. We used the eddy covariance method in conjunction with an enclosed-path gas analyser to conduct continuous ecosystem CO2 flux observations in a Japanese cypress forest within the temperate Asian monsoon area over 3 years. The observation shows that wet-canopy CO2 uptake predominantly occurred during the post-rainfall canopy-wet period rather than the during-rainfall period. Then, the measured canopy-wet net ecosystem exchange was compared with the soil–vegetation–atmosphere transfer multilayer model simulations under different parameter settings of the abaxial (lower) leaf surface wet area ratio. The multilayer model predicted net ecosystem exchange most accurately when it assumed the wet area ratio of the abaxial surface was 50% both during and after rainfall. For the wet canopy both during and after rainfall, the model overestimated CO2 uptake when it assumed no abaxial interception in the simulation, but underestimated CO2 uptake when it assumed that the entire abaxial leaf surface was wet. These results suggest that the abaxial surface of the Japanese cypress leaf is only partly wet to maintain stomatal openness and a low level of photosynthesis. These results allow for an evaluation of the effect of rainfall on forest carbon circulation under a changing climate, facilitating an improvement of ecosystem carbon exchange models.