Evidence for widespread thermal acclimation of canopy photosynthesis

Plants acclimate to temperature by adjusting their photosynthetic capacity over weeks to months. However, most evidence for photosynthetic acclimation derives from leaf-scale experiments. Here we address the scarcity of evidence for canopy-scale photosynthetic acclimation by examining the correlation between maximum photosynthetic rates (Amax,2,000) and growth temperature ( $$\overline{{T}_{\rm{air}}}$$ ) across a range of concurrent temperatures and canopy foliage quantity, using data from >200 eddy covariance sites. We detect widespread thermal acclimation of canopy-scale photosynthesis, demonstrated by enhanced Amax,2,000 under higher $$\overline{{T}_{\rm{air}}}$$ , across flux sites with adequate water availability. A 14-day period is identified as the most relevant timescale for acclimation across all sites, with a range of 12–25 days for different plant functional types. The mean apparent thermal acclimation rate across all ecosystems is 0.41 (−0.38–1.04 for 5th–95th percentile range) µmol m−2 s−1 °C−1, with croplands showing the largest acclimation rates and grasslands the lowest. Incorporating an optimality-based prediction of leaf photosynthetic capacities into a biochemical photosynthesis model is shown to improve the representation of thermal acclimation. Our results underscore the critical need for enhanced understanding and modelling of canopy-scale photosynthetic capacity to accurately predict plant responses to warmer growing seasons. Analysis of the FLUXNET2015 dataset provides observational evidence for widespread thermal acclimation of canopy-scale photosynthesis and its timescales across diverse biomes, improving its representation in land surface models.