Improvement of transpiration estimation based on a two-leaf conductance-photosynthesis model with seasonal parameters for temperate deciduous forests

INTRODUCTION: Conductance-photosynthesis (G(s)-A) models, accompanying with light use efficiency (LUE) models for calculating carbon assimilation, are widely used for estimating canopy stomatal conductance (G(s)) and transpiration (T(c)) under the two-leaf (TL) scheme. However, the key parameters of photosynthetic rate sensitivity (g(su) and g(sh)) and maximum LUE (ϵ(msu) and ϵ(msh)) are typically set to temporally constant values for sunlit and shaded leaves, respectively. This may result in T(c) estimation errors, as it contradicts field observations. METHODS: In this study, the measured flux data from three temperate deciduous broadleaved forests (DBF) FLUXNET sites were adopted, and the key parameters of LUE and Ball-Berry models for sunlit and shaded leaves were calibrated within the entire growing season and each season, respectively. Then, the estimations of gross primary production (GPP) and T(c) were compared between the two schemes of parameterization: (1) entire growing season-based fixed parameters (EGS) and (2) season-specific dynamic parameters (SEA). RESULTS: Our results show a cyclical variability of ϵ(msu) across the sites, with the highest value during the summer and the lowest during the spring. A similar pattern was found for g(su) and g(sh), which showed a decrease in summer and a slight increase in both spring and autumn. Furthermore, the SEA model (i.e., the dynamic parameterization) better simulated GPP, with a reduction in root mean square error (RMSE) of about 8.0 ± 1.1% and an improvement in correlation coefficient (r) of 3.7 ± 1.5%, relative to the EGS model. Meanwhile, the SEA scheme reduced T(c) simulation errors in terms of RMSE by 3.7 ± 4.4%. DISCUSSION: These findings provide a greater understanding of the seasonality of plant functional traits, and help to improve simulations of seasonal carbon and water fluxes in temperate forests.