Longdoz Bernard

• PhD sciences
• Professor at University of Liège

Introduction The identification of the physiological processes limiting carbon assimilation under water stress is crucial for improving model predictions and selecting drought-tolerant varieties. However, the influence of soil water availability on photosynthesis-limiting processes is still not fully understood. This study aimed to investigate the...

Bamboo ( Phyllostachys sp.) is considered a sustainable resource that can replace fossil fuel‐based products. Its additional ability to sequester organic carbon in the soil (SOC) makes it a promising nature‐based solution for combating climate change. However, bamboo's soil C storage potential may vary considerably between species or growing condit...

Although Mollisols are renowned for their fertility and high-productivity, high carbon (C) losses pose a substantial challenge to the sustainable provision of ecosystem services, including food security and climate regulation. Protecting these soils with a specific focus on revitalizing their C sequestration potential emerges as a crucial measure t...

Understanding dynamics of soil organic carbon (SOC) stock in agroecosystems under climate change is imperative for maintaining soil productivity and offsetting greenhouse gas emissions. Simulations with the SPACSYS model were conducted to assess the effects of future climate scenarios (RCP2.6, RCP4.5 and RCP8.5) and fer-tilisation practices on crop...

It is generally known that soil organic carbon (SOC) stocks tend to increase with an increase in C input, whereas the C sequestration efficiency (CSE), i.e., the conversion ratio of C input to SOC, differs depending on the amount and type of C input. However, there is still a need to better understand the impact of various fertilization practices o...

Ecosystems integrity and services are threatened by anthropogenic global changes. Mitigating and adapting to these changes requires knowledge of ecosystem functioning in the expected novel environments, informed in large part through experimentation and modelling. This paper describes 13 advanced controlled environment facilities for experimental e...

The mechanistic model GO+ describes the functioning and growth of managed forests based upon biophysical and biogeochemical processes. The biophysical and biogeochemical processes included are modelled using standard formulations of radiative transfer, convective heat exchange, evapotranspiration, photosynthesis, respiration, plant phenology, growt...

Drought and heat events, such as the 2018 European drought, interact with the exchange of energy between the land surface and the atmosphere, potentially affecting albedo, sensible and latent heat fluxes, as well as CO 2 exchange. Each of these quantities may aggravate or mitigate the drought, heat, their side effects on productivity, water scarcit...

Severe drought events are known to cause important reductions of gross primary productivity ( GPP ) in forest ecosystems. However, it is still unclear whether this reduction originates from stomatal closure (Stomatal Origin Limitation) and/or non-stomatal limitations (Non-SOL). In this study, we investigated the impact of edaphic drought in 2018 on...

Abstract. The mechanistic model GO+ describes the functioning and growth of managed forests based upon biophysical and biogeochemical processes. The biophysical and biogeochemical processes included are modelled using standard formulations of radiative transfer, convective heat exchange, evapotranspiration, photosynthesis, respiration, plant phenol...

The effects of atmospheric nitrogen deposition (Ndep) on carbon (C) sequestration in forests have often been assessed by relating differences in productivity to spatial variations of Ndep across a large geographic domain. These correlations generally suffer from covariation of other confounding variables related to climate and other growth-limiting...

The impact of atmospheric reactive nitrogen (Nr) deposition on carbon (C) sequestration in soils and biomass of unfertilized, natural, semi-natural and forest ecosystems has been much debated. Many previous results of this dC/dN response were based on changes in carbon stocks from periodical soil and ecosystem inventories, associated with estimates...

Severe drought events are known to cause important reductions of gross primary productivity (GPP) in forest ecosystems. However, it is still unclear whether this reduction originates from stomatal closure (Stomatal Origin Limitation) and/or non-stomatal limitations (Non-SOL). In this study, we investigated the impact of edaphic drought in 2018 on G...

We assembled homogenized long-term time series, up to 19 years, of measurements of net ecosystem exchange of CO2 (NEE) and its partitioning between gross primary production (GPP) and respiration (Reco) for five different ecosystems representing the main plant functional types (PFTs) in France. Part of these data was analyzed to determine the influe...

Despite great advances, experiments concerning the response of ecosystems to climate change still face considerable challenges, including the high complexity of climate change in terms of environmental variables, constraints in the number and amplitude of climate treatment levels, and the limited scope of responses and interactions covered. Drawing...

The effects of atmospheric nitrogen deposition (Ndep) on carbon (C) sequestration in forests have often been assessed by relating differences in productivity to spatial variations of Ndep across a large geographic domain. These correlations generally suffer from covariation of other confounding variables related to climate and other growth-limiting...

The impact of atmospheric reactive nitrogen (Nr) deposition on carbon (C) sequestration in soils and biomass of unfertilised, natural, semi-natural and forest ecosystems has been much debated. Many previous results of this dC / dN response were based on changes in carbon stocks from periodical soil and ecosystem inventories, associated with estimat...

Molecular diffusion is commonly assumed as main physical process of gas transport in soils. However, non-diffusive gas transport processes like the so-called pressure-pumping effect can affect soil gas transport significantly. The pressure-pumping effect has only been detected indirectly and the underlying mechanisms remain unclear. Using a novel i...

Chamber measurements of trace gas fluxes between the land surface and the atmosphere have been conducted for almost a century. Different chamber techniques, including static and dynamic, have been used with varying degrees of success in estimating greenhouse gases (CO 2 , CH 4 , N 2 O) fluxes. However, all of these have certain disadvantages which...

Research infrastructures play a key role in launching a new generation of integrated long-term, geographically distributed observation programmes designed to monitor climate change, better understand its impacts on global ecosystems, and evaluate possible mitigation and adaptation strategies. The pan-European Integrated Carbon Observation System co...

The eddy covariance is a powerful technique to estimate the surface-atmosphere exchange of different scalars at the ecosystem scale. The EC method is central to the ecosystem component of the Integrated Carbon Observation System, a monitoring network for greenhouse gases across the European Continent. The data processing sequence applied to the col...

Key message In order to record the seasonal changes in aboveground biomass production (trunk and branches) in a forest, changes in wood density must be taken into account. A 60-year-old beech forest displayed a large intra-annual variability in its aboveground woody biomass production efficiency. This variation followed a seasonal trend with a maxi...

Concentrations of atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO 2) have continued to increase whereas atmospheric deposition of sulphur and nitrogen has declined in Europe and the USA during recent decades. Using time series of flux observations from 23 forests distributed throughout Europe and the USA, and generalised mixed models, we found that forest-level net...

The exchange of greenhouse gases between the soil and the atmosphere is highly relevant for the climate of the Earth. Recent research suggests that wind-induced air pressure fluctuations can alter the soil gas transport and therefore soil gas efflux significantly. Using a newly developed method, we measured soil gas transport in situ in a well aera...

Biomass as a resource, and as a vulnerable carbon pool, is a key variable to diagnose the impacts of global changes on the terrestrial biosphere, and therefore its proper description in models is crucial. Model-Data Fusion (MDF) or data assimilation methods are useful tools in improving ecosystem models that describe interactions between vegetation...

The aim of this study was to systematically analyze the potential and limitations of using plant functional trait observations from global databases versus in situ data to improve our understanding of vegetation impacts on ecosystem functional properties (EFPs). Using ecosystem photosynthetic capacity as an example, we first provide an objective ap...

Severe droughts strongly impact photosynthesis (GPP), and satellite imagery has yet to demonstrate its ability to detect drought effects. Especially changes in vegetation functioning when vegetation state remains unaltered (no browning or defoliation) pose a challenge to satellite-derived indicators. We evaluated the performance of different satell...

Key messageA daily 1-km Pan-European weather dataset can drive the BIOME-BGC model for the estimation of current and future beech gross primary production (GPP). Annual beech GPP is affected primarily by spring temperature and more irregularly by summer water stress. ContextThe spread of beech forests in Europe enhances the importance of modelling...

Soil CO2 efflux results from the transport of CO2 from several respiration sources within the soil profile. A flux – gradient approach (FGA) was used to assess the vertical profile of CO2 production (P_CO2) and its isotopic composition (δ13P_CO2) from the measurement of the vertical profile of CO2 concentration and CO2 isotopic composition combined...

Plant phenological development is orchestrated through subtle changes in photoperiod, temperature, soil moisture and nutrient availability. Presently, the exact timing of plant development stages and their response to climate and management practices are crudely represented in land surface models. As visual observations of phenology are laborious,...

Plant phenological development is orchestrated through subtle changes in photoperiod, temperature, soil moisture and nutrient availability. Presently, the exact timing of plant development stages and their response to climate and management practices are crudely represented in land surface models. As visual observations of phenology are laborious,...

Vertical profile of CO2 production (Ps) and transport, as well as their isotopic discrimination (13CO2/12CO2) should be considered to improve the soil CO2 efflux (Fs) mechanistic understanding and especially its short-term temporal variations. In this context, we propose a new methodology able to measure continuously and simultaneously Fs, the vert...

Clumping index is the measure of foliage grouping relative to a random distribution of leaves in space. It is a key structural parameter of plant canopies that influences canopy radiation regimes and controls canopy photosynthesis and other land–atmosphere interactions. The Normalized Difference between Hotspot and Darkspot (NDHD) index has been pr...

Aimed The main aim of this study is to improve the mechanistic understanding of soil CO2 efflux (Fs), especially its temporal variation at short-time scales, by investigating, through modeling, which underlying process among CO2 production and its transport up to the atmosphere is responsible for observed intra-day variation of Fs and soil CO2 conc...

Terrestrial ecosystem models can provide major insights into the responses of Earth's ecosystems to environmental changes and rising levels of atmospheric CO2. To achieve this goal, biosphere models need mechanistic formulations of the processes that drive the ecosystem functioning from diurnal to decadal timescales. However, the subsequent complex...

The ICOS research infrastructure include atmospheric, ecosystem and marine station networks. The Ecosystem station network of ICOS (ESN) is based on a number of observation sites for monitoring and understanding the functioning of ecosystems and the exchange of energy and greenhouse gases between the ecosystems and the atmosphere in relation to cli...

The Flux-Gradient Approach (FGA) allows the vertical distribution of gas turnover and production in the soil to be calculated. This approach has been used successfully for greenhouse gases, such as CO2, CH4 and N2O but not yet for the stable isotope composition of soil CO2 (δ13CO2), although this subject has become increasingly important. In this s...

Although forest management is one of the instruments proposed to mitigate climate change, the relationship between forest management and canopy albedo has been ignored so far by climate models. Here we develop an approach that could be implemented in Earth system models. A stand-level forest gap model is combined with a canopy radiation transfer mo...

Terrestrial ecosystem models can provide major insights into the responses of Earth's ecosystems to environmental changes and rising levels of atmospheric CO2. To achieve this goal, biosphere models need mechanistic formulations of the processes that drive the ecosystem functioning from diurnal to decadal timescales. However, the subsequent complex...

Despite an emerging body of literature linking canopy albedo to forest management, understanding of the process is still fragmented. We combined a stand-level forest gap model with a canopy radiation transfer model and satellite-derived model parameters to quantify the effects of forest thinning, that is removing trees at a certain time during the...

CO2 exchange between terrestrial ecosystems and the atmosphere is key to understanding the feedbacks between climate change and the land surface. In regions with carbonaceous parent material, CO2 exchange patterns occur that cannot be explained by biological processes, such as disproportionate outgassing during the daytime or nighttime CO2 uptake d...

Soil carbon dioxide (CO2) efflux is an important component of the carbon (C) cycle but the biological and physical processes involved in soil CO2 production and transport are not fully understood. To improve our knowledge, we present a new approach to measure simultaneously soil CO2 concentrations and efflux, and their respective isotopic signature...

Forest management is considered to be one of the more easy to implement instruments available to mitigate climate change as it can lead to increased sequestration of atmospheric carbon dioxide. However, the changes in canopy albedo, and hence surface energy balance, may neutralise or offset the climate benefits of carbon sequestration. Although the...

This study sought to investigate the hourly and daily timescale responses of soil CO2 fluxes to temperature in a limed agricultural soil. Observations from different incubation experiments were compared with the results of a model combining biotic (heterotrophic respiration) and abiotic (carbonate weathering) components. Several samples were pre-in...

CO2 exchange between terrestrial ecosystems and the atmosphere is key to understanding the feedbacks between climate change and the land surface. In regions with carbonaceous parent material, CO2 exchange patterns occur that cannot be explained by biological processes, such as disproportionate outgassing during daytime or nighttime CO2 uptake durin...

In the 1970s, scientists met with difficulties in estimating fluxes over tall vegetation, like forests, using flux-gradient relationship (Raupach 1979). The roughness of the exchanging surface drive to efficient turbulent mixing reducing the concentration gradient and invalidating Monin-Obukhov similarity theory (Lenschow 1995). In the 1990s, the e...

Atmospheric turbulence can affect soil gas transport, and thus violates the assumption that molecular diffusion is the only relevant transport mechanism in the soil. Due to the oscillating character of turbulence-induced pressure pumping the net vertical air fl ow into/out of the soil is zero. Yet, the dispersion processes induced by the oscillatin...

We analyze how biases of meteorological drivers impact the calculation of ecosystem CO 2 , water and energy fluxes by models. To do so, we drive the same ecosystem model by meteorology from gridded products and by meteo-rology from local observation at eddy-covariance flux sites. The study is focused on six flux tower sites in France span-ning acro...

We analyze how biases of meteorological drivers impact the calculation of ecosystem CO₂, water and energy fluxes by models. To do so, we drive the same ecosystem model by meteorology from gridded products and by meteorology from local observation at eddy-covariance flux sites. The study is focused on six flux tower sites in France spanni...

a b s t r a c t The aim of this study was to determine the amplitude and the driving factors of the spatial variability in soil CO 2 efflux in a young European beech forest. Soil CO 2 efflux was measured in 2003 and 2004 in seven beech plots differing in terms of soil type and leaf area index. After eliminating temporal fluctuations due to soil tem...

• Context The carbon isotope composition of the CO2 efflux (δ13CE) from ecosystem components is widely used to investigate carbon cycles and budgets at different ecosystem scales. δ13CE, was considered constant but is now known to vary along seasons. The seasonal variations have rarely been compared among different ecosystem components. • Aims We a...

Belowground carbon allocation is an important component of forest carbon budget, affecting tree growth (competition between aboveground and belowground carbon sinks), acquisition of belowground resources (nutrients and water) that are often limiting forest ecosystems and soil carbon sequestration. Total belowground carbon flow can be estimated usin...

There is a growing amount of evidence that belowground processes in forest ecosystems are tightly coupled to aboveground activities. Soil CO2 efflux, the largest flux of CO2 to the atmosphere, is dominated by root respiration and by respiration of microorganisms that find the carbohydrates required to fulfil their energetic costs in the rhizosphere...

Relevance of multilayer approach and isotopic signal in the understanding of soil respiration in forest ecosystem. Soil CO2 efflux is one of the most important flux in carbon cycle. Its amplitude is estimated to 68 ± 4 Pg C per year. In temperate forest, it represents approximately 60-80% of total CO2 emissions from the ecosystem (ecosystem respira...

This paper reviews the currently available optical sensors, their limitations and opportunities for deployment at Eddy Covariance (EC) sites in Europe. This review is based on the results obtained from an online survey designed and disseminated by the Co-cooperation in Science and Technology (COST) Action ESO903-"Spectral Sampling Tools for Vegetat...

This paper reviews the currently available optical sensors, their limitations and opportunities for deployment at Eddy Covariance (EC) sites in Europe. This review is based on the results obtained from an online survey designed and disseminated by the Co-cooperation in Science and Technology (COST) Action ESO903—“Spectral Sampling Tools for Vegetat...

Thermal adaptation of gross primary production and ecosystem respiration has been well documented over broad thermal gradients. However, no study has examined their interaction as a function of temperature, i.e. the thermal responses of net ecosystem exchange of carbon (NEE). In this study, we constructed temperature response curves of NEE against...

Thermal adaptation of gross primary production and ecosystem respiration has been well documented over broad thermal gradients. However, no study has examined their interaction as a function of temperature, i.e. the thermal responses of net ecosystem exchange of carbon (NEE). In this study, we constructed temperature response curves of NEE against...

In the context of the climatic change and global carbon cycle, knowledge about soil forest CO2 efflux (Fs) has to be improved as it is the largest respiratory flux (60% to 80% of the total forest ecosystem respiration) and the second largest carbon flux after the gross primary productivity under temperate latitudes. A better knowledge of the origin...

The overall aim of this study is to contribute to a better understanding of mechanisms behind soil CO2 efflux using carbon stable isotopes. Given (i) the interest of conducting in situ studies with soil multilayer analysis and (ii) the benefits of isotopic tool to improve mechanistic understanding, these two approaches are combined. Quantifying the...

Soil CO2 efflux is one of the most important flux in carbon cycle. Its amplitude is estimated to 68 ± 4 Pg C per year. In temperate forest, it represents approximately 60-80% of total CO2 emissions from the ecosystem (ecosystem respiration). Given its magnitude and the consequences of any amplitude change on the atmosphere carbon dioxide content, i...

The interannual variability of CO2 exchange by forest ecosystems in Europe was analyzed at site and regional scales by identifying critical periods that contributed to interannual flux anomalies. Critical periods were defined as periods in which monthly and annual flux anomalies were correlated. The analysis was first conducted at seven European fo...

We use eddy covariance measurements of net ecosystem productivity (NEP) from 21 FLUXNET sites (153 site-years of data) to investigate relationships between phenology and productivity (in terms of both NEP and gross ecosystem photosynthesis, GEP) in temperate and boreal forests. Results are used to evaluate the plausibility of four different concept...

Genetic diversity in intrinsic water use efficiency (Wi) has been studied within a pedunculate oak (Quercus robur L.) family. Wi is defined at the leaf level as the ratio between net CO2 assimilation rate and stomatal conductance to water vapour. For large scale phenotyping, this trait can be estimated by measuring carbon isotope composition (δ13C)...

INTRODUCTION Soil respiration is a major component in the carbon balance of terrestrial ecosystems and has been measured in the field for more than eight decades. In this chapter, we will describe the measurement of soil CO2 efflux at the soil surface that can be considered as equivalent to soil CO2 production when integrated over long time periods...

Temperate and boreal forests undergo drastic functional changes in the springtime, shifting within a few weeks from net carbon (C) sources to net C sinks. Most of these changes are mediated by temperature. The autumn 2006–winter 2007 record warm period was followed by an exceptionally warm spring in Europe, making spring 2007 a good candidate for a...

Water-use efficiency (WUE) has been recognized as an important characteristic of vegetation productivity in various natural scientific disciplines for decades, but only recently at the ecosystem level, where different ways exist to characterize water-use efficiency. Hence, the objective of this research was (a) to systematically compare different w...

A closed-dynamic-chamber system (CDCS) was used to measure the spatial and seasonal variability of the soil CO2 efflux (Fs) in beech and in Douglas fir patches of the Vielsalm forest (Belgium). First the difference between natural and measured soil CO2 efflux induced by the presence of the CDCS was studied. The impact on the measurements of the pre...

• Water and carbon fluxes, as measured by eddy covariance, climate, soil water content, leaf area index, tree biomass, biomass increment (BI), litter fall and mortality were monitored for 10 successive years in a young beech stand in Hesse forest (north-eastern France) under contrasting climatic and management conditions. • Large year-to-year varia...

The lack of information on the ways seasonal drought modifies the CO2 exchange between Neotropical rainforest ecosystems and the atmosphere and the resulting carbon balance hinders our ability to precisely predict how these ecosystems will respond as global environmental changes force them to face increasingly contrasting conditions in the future....

Disentangling the autotrophic and heterotrophic components of soil CO2 efflux is critical to understanding the role of soil system in terrestrial carbon (C) cycling. In this study, we combined a stable C-isotope natural abundance approach with the trenched plot method to determine if root exclusion significantly affected the isotopic composition (δ...