Picture: Leaves under the sky. Credit: Min An (Pexels).

Leaf level measurements provide us with an understanding of the physical processes that illuminate how plants trade carbon and water on daily timescales. Data from these measurements provide arguably the key constraint on simulated carbon uptake and transpiration from land surface models. These datasets allow us to scale-up leaf-level understanding via models and make predictions about plant responses to global environmental change.

However, collecting these data are technically challenging, time-consuming, and individual studies generally focus on a small range of species, restricted time periods, or limited geographic regions. A lack of rigour in reporting methodology and the absence of metadata has hampered previous efforts to share data or build global databases.

In this study, the researchers propose a reporting format for leaf-level gas exchange data and metadata to provide guidance to data contributors on how to store data in repositories to maximise their discoverability, facilitate their efficient reuse, and add value to individual datasets. For data users, the reporting format will better allow data repositories to optimise data search and extraction, and more readily integrate similar data into harmonised synthesis products.

  • Paper: Ely K., Rogers A., Agarwal D. A., Ainsworth E. A., Albert L., Ali A., Anderson J., Aspinwall M. J., Bellasio C., Bernacchi C., Bonnage S., Buckley T. N., Bunce J., Burnett A. C., Busch F. A, Cavanagh A., Cernusak L. A., Crystal-Ornelas R., Damerow J., Davidson K. J., De Kauwe M. G., Dietze M. C., Domingues T. C., Dusenge M. E., Ellsworth D. S., Evans J. R., Gauthier P. P. G., Gimenez B. O., Gordon E. P., Gough C. M., Halbritter A. H., Hanson D. T., Heskel M., Hogan J. A., Hupp J. R., Jardine K., Kattge J., Keenan T., Kromdijk J., Kumarathunge D. P., Lamour J., Leakey A. D. B., LeBauer D. S., Li Q., Lundgren M. R., McDowell N., Meacham-Hensold K., Medlyn B. E., Moore D. J. P., Negrón-Juárez R., Niinemets U., Osborne C. P., Pivovaroff A. L., Poorter H., Reed S. C., Ryu Y., Sanz-Saez A., Schmiege S. C., Serbin S. P., Sharkey T. D., Slot M., Smith N. G., Sonawane B. V., South P. F., Souza D. C., Stinziano J. R., Stuart- Haëntjens E., Taylor S. H., Tejera M. D., Uddling J., Vandvik V., Varadharajan C., Walker A. P., Walker B. J., Warren J. M., Way D. A., Wolfe B. T., Wu J., Wullschleger S. D., Xu C., Yan Z. and Yang D. (2020) A reporting format for leaf-level gas exchange data and metadata. Ecological Informatics, DOI:10.1016/j.ecoinf.2021.101232