Publications | Ecosystem Function L

Please see the full list of publication at

(Group members in bold, corresponding author indicated by asterisk *)

The Latest Publication:

Luo, X., Hase, M., Ma, X., Yamamoto, Y. & Ichii, K. (2026). Geostationary Satellite Applications Expand into Land Monitoring. AGU Eos. in press.

Yi, K., Torn, M.S., Senay, G.B., Wang, L., Suvočarev, K., Fisher, J.B., Ahmadi, A., Chu, H., Bohrer, G., Moore, G.W., Good, S.P., Kannenberg, S.A., Missik, J.E.C., Mallick, K., Khand, K., Ryu, Y., Kasak, K., Oishi, A.C., Reed, D.E., Luo, X., Bernacchi, C.J. & Baldocchi, D.D. (2026). Bioclimatic reorganization of carbon–water–energy coupling revealed by eddy covariance and interpretable machine learning. Global Change Biology Communications. in press.

Lin, Z., Guan, K., Wang, S., Zhou, Q., You, L., Chen, X., Luo, X. & Zhao, K. (2026). Phenology-aligned multi-task temporal fusion framework for satellite-based triple-seasonal rice yield estimation in Southeast Asia. International Journal of Applied Earth Observation and Geoinformation. in press.

Wang, X., Fu, Z., Ciais, P., Peñuelas, J., Xiao, J., Li, X., Luo, X., Chen, C., Xia, H., Zhou, T., Stoy, P.C., Green, J.K. & Zhang, F. (2026). Multi-satellite derived data reveals spatiotemporal dynamics of carbon-water coupling and its drivers in tropical ecosystems. Remote Sensing of Environment. DOI: 10.1016/j.rse.2026.115242. [Link] [PDF].

Satriawan, T.W., Luo, X.*, Yu, L., Ramdhania, S.N., Syahid, L.N., van Noordwijk, M., Hairiah, K., Sari, R.R., Sulistyawati, E., Lupascu, M. & Budianti, N. (2026). Characterizing the plant functional traits of coffee agroecosystems in Indonesia. Frontiers in Plant Science. DOI: 10.3389/fpls.2025.1743035. [Link] [PDF].

Bai, Y., Hu, Y., Liu, Y., Yu, K., Luo, X., Yu, L., Tian, L. & Huang, J. (2026). Climate-driven hydraulic traits shift in natural and planted forests: patterns, drivers, and future acclimation. Earth's Future. DOI: 10.1029/2025EF006678. [Link] [PDF].

Xue et al. (21 co-authors including Luo, X.). (2026). Pantropical moist forests are converging towards a middle leaf longevity. Nature Communications. DOI: 10.1038/s41467-026-68989-x. [Link] [PDF].

Zhao, R., Luo, X.*, Walker, A.P., Hoffman, F.M. & Koh, L.P. (2026). Vegetation biogeography is a main source of uncertainty in modelling the land carbon cycle. Nature Communications. DOI: 10.1038/s41467-025-67636-1 (Nature Communications Editors' Highlights). [Link] [PDF].

Highlights:

Zhao, R., Luo, X.*, Walker, A.P., Hoffman, F.M. & Koh, L.P. (2026). Vegetation biogeography is a main source of uncertainty in modelling the land carbon cycle. Nature Communications. 10.1038/s41467-025-67636-1 (Nature Communications Editors' Highlights). [Link] [PDF].

Luo, X., Zhao, R., Chu, H., Collalti, A., Fatichi, S., Keenan, T., Lu, X., Nguyen, N., Prentice, I.C., Sun, Wu., Yu, K. & Yu, L. (2025). Global variation in vegetation carbon use efficiency inferred from eddy covariance observations. Nature Ecology & Evolution. DOI: 10.1038/s41559-025-02753-0. [Link] [PDF].

Research Briefing: Understanding how well plants use carbon worldwide? Nature Ecology & Evolution. DOI: 10.1038/s41559-025-02755-y. [Link] [PDF].

Luo, X., Zhou, H., Satriawan, T.W., Tian, J., Zhao, R., Keenan, T.F., Griffith, D. M., Sitch, S. Smith, N.G. & Still, C.J. (2024). Mapping the global distribution of C4 vegetation using observations and optimality theory. Nature Communications. DOI: 10.1038/s41467-024-45606-3. [Link] [PDF].

Tian, J., Luo, X.*, Xu, H., Green, J.K., Tang, H., Wu, J. & Piao, S. (2024). Slower changes in vegetation phenology than precipitation seasonality in the dry tropics. Global Change Biology. DOI: 10.1111/gcb.17134. [Link] [PDF].

Zhang, Z., Luo, X.*, Friess, D., Wang, S., Li, Y. & Li, Y. (2023). Stronger increases but greater variability in global mangrove productivity compared to that of adjacent terrestrial forests. Nature Ecology & Evolution. DOI: 10.1038/s41559-023-02264-w. [Link] [PDF].

Luo, X., Keenan, T.F. (2022) Tropical extreme droughts drive long-term increase in atmospheric CO2 growth rate variability. Nature Communications. DOI: 10.1038/s41467-022-28824-5. (Covered by The Straits Times). [Link] [PDF].

Luo, X., Keenan, T.F., Chen, J.M., Croft, H., Prentice, I.C., Smith, N.G., Walker, A.P., Wang, H., Wang, R., Xu, C. & Zhang, Y. (2021) Global variation in the fraction of leaf nitrogen allocated to photosynthesis. Nature Communications. DOI: 10.1038/s41467-021-25163-9. (Nature Communications Editors' Highlights). [Link] [PDF].

Luo, X., Keenan, T.F. (2020) Global evidence for the acclimation of ecosystem photosynthesis to light. Nature Ecology & Evolution. DOI:10.1038/s41559-020-1258-7. [Link] [PDF].

Luo, X., Croft, H., Chen, J.M., He, L. & Keenan, T.F. (2019). Improved estimates of global photosynthesis using information on leaf chlorophyll content. Global Change Biology. DOI: 10.1111/gcb.14624. [Link] [PDF].

2025

Qiu, J., Zhang, Y., Cai, M., Keenan, T.F., Zhang, H., Gentine, P., Luo, X., Cattry, M., Zhou, S. & Piao, S. (2025). Large contribution of antecedent climate to ecosystem productivity anomalies. Nature Geoscience. [Link] [PDF].

Kondo, M. et al. (26 co-authors including Luo, X.). (2025). The greenhouse gas budget of Southeast Asia for 2000−2019 and pathways towards carbon neutrality. Global Biogeochemical Cycles. DOI: 10.1029/2024GB008256. [Link] [PDF].

Wang, Y., Luo, X. & Frankenberg, C. (2025). Platespect: A new model for leaf fluorescence spectra. Remote Sensing of Environment. DOI: 10.1016/j.rse.2025.114990. [Link] [PDF].

Research Briefing: Understanding how well plants use carbon worldwide? Nature Ecology & Evolution. DOI: 10.1038/s41559-025-02755-y. [Link] [PDF].

Zhang, Y., Liu, J., Croft, H., Staebler, R., Wang, M., Luo, X., He, L., Gonsamo, A. & Chen, J.M. (2025). Rainfall-induced changes in vertical O3 and SO2 within and above a temperate-boreal forest. Agricultural and Forest Meteorology. DOI: 10.1016/j.agrformet.2025.110748. [Link] [PDF].

Aboelyazeed, D., Xu, C., Gu, L., Luo, X., Liu, J. & Shen, C. (2025). Inferring plant acclimation and improving model generalizability with differentiable physics-informed machine learning of photosynthesis. Journal of Geophysical Research - Biogeosciences. DOI: 10.1029/2024JG008552. [Link] [PDF].

Syahid, L., Luo, X.*, Zhao, R. & Lee, J.S.H. (2025). Climate drives variation in remotely sensed palm oil yield in Indonesia and Malaysia. Environmental Research Letters. DOI: 10.1088/1748-9326/adbfac. [Link] [PDF].

Zhang, Z., Luo, X., Friess, D. & Li, Y. (2025). Global mangrove growth variability driven by climatic oscillation-induced sea-level fluctuations. Nature Geoscience. DOI: 10.1038/s41561-025-01701-8. [Link] [PDF].

Yu, L., Luo, X.*, Zhao, R., Satriawan, T.W. & Tian, J. (2025). The spatiotemporal variations in ecosystem photosynthetic quantum yield and their drivers. Agricultural and Forest Meteorology. DOI: 10.1016/j.agrformet.2025.110466. [Link] [PDF].

Yan, Y., Li, B., Dechant., B., Xu, M., Luo, X., Qu, S., Miao, G., Leng,. J., Shang, R., Shu, L., Jiang, C., Wang, H., Jeong, S., Ryu, Y. & Chen, J. (2025). Plant traits shape global spatiotemporal variations in photosynthetic efficiency. Nature Plants. DOI: 10.1038/s41477-025-01958-2. [Link] [PDF].

Tian, J., Luo, X.*, Wang, W., Yu, L., Ng, D.T.T., Ichii, K., Zhang, Y. & Zhang, X. (2025). Seasonality of vegetation greenness in Southeast Asia unveiled by geostationary satellite observations. Remote Sensing of Environment. DOI: 10.1016/j.rse.2025.114648. [Link] [PDF].

Cao, J., Zhang, Z., Luo, X., Luo, Y., Xu, J., Xie, J., Han, J. & Tao, F. (2025). Mapping global yields of four major crops at 5-minute resolution from 1982 to 2015 using multi-source data and machine learning. Scientific Data. DOI: 10.1038/s41597-025-04650-4. [Link] [PDF].

Zhang, M., Liu, S., Luo, X., Keenan, T.F., Fu, L., Xiao, C., Zhang, Y. & Gong, P. (2025). Incorporating site suitability and carbon sequestration of tree species into China’s climate-adaptive forestation. Science Bulletin. DOI: 10.1016/j.scib.2025.03.035. [Link] [PDF].

2024

Chen, C., Li, Y., Wang, X., Luo, X., Li, Y., Cheng, Y. & Zhu, Z. (2024). Biophysical effects of croplands on land surface temperature. Nature Communications. DOI: 10.1038/s41467-024-55319-2. [Link] [PDF].

Zhao, R., Luo, X.*, Yang, Y., Syahid, L., Chen, C. & Lee, J.S.H. (2024). Cropland expansion drives vegetation greenness decline in Southeast Asia. Biogeosciences. DOI: 10.5194/bg-21-5393-2024. [Link] [PDF].

Abramowitz, G. et al. (39 co-authors including Luo. X.). (2024). On the predictability of turbulent fluxes from land: PLUMBER2 MIP experimental description and preliminary results. Biogeosciences. DOI: 10.5194/bg-21-5517-2024. [Link] [PDF].

Liu, J., Ryu, Y., Luo. X., Dechant, B., Stocker, B.D., Keenan, T.F., Gentine, P., Li, X., Li, B., Harrison, S.P. & Prentice I.C. (2024). Evidence for widespread thermal acclimation of canopy photosynthesis. Nature Plants. DOI: 10.1038/s41477-024-01846-1. [Link] [PDF].

Prentice, I.C., Balzarolo, M., Bloomfield, K., Chen, J.M., Dechant, B., Ghent, D., Janssens, I., Luo, X., Morfopoulos, C., Ryu, Y., Vicca, S. & van Hoolst, R. (2024). Principles for satellite monitoring of vegetation carbon uptake. Nature Reviews Earth & Environment. DOI: 10.1038/s43017-024-00601-6. [Link] [PDF].

Tian, Y., Kleidon, A., Lesk, C., Zhou, S., Luo, X., Ghausi, S.A., Wang, G., Zhong, D. & Zscheischler,J. (2024). Characterizing heatwaves based on land surface energy budget. Communications Earth & Environment. DOI: 10.1038/s43247-024-01784-y. [Link] [PDF].

Yi, K. et al. (25 co-authors including Luo, X.). (2024). Challenges and Future Directions in Quantifying Terrestrial Evapotranspiration. Water Resources Research. DOI: 10.1029/2024WR037622. [Link] [PDF].

Yu, L., Luo, X.*, Croft, H., Rogers, C. & Chen, J.M. (2024). Seasonal variation in the relationship between leaf chlorophyll content and photosynthetic capacity. Plant, Cell & Environment. DOI: 10.1111/pce.14997. (Top downloaded paper in 2024). [Link] [PDF].

Tian, J. & Luo, X.* (2024). Conflicting changes of vegetation greenness interannual variability on half of the global vegetated surface. Earth's Future. DOI: 10.1029/2023EF004119. [Link] [PDF].

Satriawan, T.W., Luo, X.*, Tian, J., Ichii, J., Juneng, L. & Kondo, M. (2024). Strong Green-up of Tropical Asia during the 2015/16 El Nino. Geophysical Research Letters. DOI: 10.1029/2023GL106955. [Link] [PDF].

Leng, J., Chen, J.M., Li, W., Luo, X., R., Rogers, C., Croft, H., Xie, X. & Staebler R.M. (2024). Optimizing seasonally variable photosynthetic parameters based on joint carbon and water flux constraints. Agricultural and Forest Meteorology. DOI: 10.1016/j.agrformet.2024.109999. [Link] [PDF].

Leng, J., Chen, J.M., Li, W., Luo, X., Xu, M., Liu, J., Wang, R., Rogers, C., Li, B. & Yan Y. (2024). Global datasets of hourly carbon and water fluxes simulated using a satellite-based process model with dynamic parameterizations. Earth System Science Data. DOI: 10.5194/essd-16-1283-2024. [Link] [PDF].

Green, J.K., Zhang, Y., Luo, X. & Keenan, T.F. (2024). Systematic underestimation of canopy conductance sensitivity to drought by earth system models. AGU Advances. DOI: 10.1029/2023AV001026. [Link] [PDF].

Li, F., Hao, D., Zhu, Q., Yuan, K., Braghiere, R.K., He, L., Luo, X., Wei, S., Riley, W.J., Zeng, Y. & Chen, M. (2024). Global impacts of vegetation clumping on regulating land surface heat fluxes. Agricultural and Forest Meteorology. DOI: 10.1016/j.agrformet.2023.109820. [Link] [PDF].

2023

Keenan, T.F., Luo, X., Stocker, B., De Kauwe, M., Medlyn, B., Prentice, I.C., Smith, N., Terrer, C., Wang, H., Zhang, Y. & Zhou, S. (2023). A constraint on historic growth in global photosynthesis due to rising CO2. Nature Climate Change. DOI: 10.1038/s41558-023-01867-2. [Link] [PDF].

Ma, Q., Su, Y., Niu, C., Ma, Q., Hu, T., Luo, X., Tai, X., Qiu, T., Zhang, Y., Bales, R.C., Liu, L., Kelly, M. & Guo, Q. (2023). Tree mortality during long-term droughts is lower in structurally complex forest stands. Nature Communications. DOI: 10.1038/s41467-023-43083-8. [Link] [PDF].

Yang, Y., Roderick, M.L., Guo, H., Miralles, D. G., Zhang, L., Fatichi, S., Luo, X., Zhang, Y., McVicar, T.R., Tu, Z., Keenan, T.F., Fisher, J.B., Gan, R., Zhang, X., Piao, S., Zhang B. & Yang. D. (2023). Evapotranspiration on a greening Earth. Nature Reviews Earth & Environment. DOI: 10.1038/s43017-023-00464-3. [Link] [PDF].

Sun, W., Luo, X., Fang, Y., Shiga, Y., Zhang, Y., Fisher, J., Keenan, T. & Michalak, A. (2023). Biome-scale temperature sensitivity of ecosystem respiration revealed by atmospheric CO2 observations. Nature Ecology & Evolution. DOI: 10.1038/s41559-023-02093-x. [Link] [PDF]

Cao, J., Zhang, Z., Tao, F., Chen, Y., Luo, X. & Xie, J. (2023). Forecasting global crop yields based on El Nino Southern Oscillation early signals. Agricultural Systems. DOI: 10.1016/j.agsy.2022.103564. [Link] [PDF].

2022

Li, F., Hao, D., Zhu, Q., Yuan, K., Braghiere, R.K., He, L., Luo, X., Wei, S., Riley, W. J., Zeng, Y. & Chen, M. (2022). Vegetation clumping modulates global photosynthesis through adjusting canopy light environment. Global Change Biology. DOI: 10.1111/gcb.16503. [Link] [PDF].

Teo, H.C., Raghavan, S.V., He, X., Zeng, Z., Cheng, Y., Luo, X., Lechner, A.M., Ashfold, M.L., Lamba, A., Sreekar, R., Zheng, Q., Chen, A. & Koh, L.P. (2022). Large-scale reforestation can increase water yield and reduce drought risk for water-insecure regions in the Asia-Pacific. Global Change Biology. DOI: 10.1111/gcb.16404. [Link] [PDF].

Chen, J.M., Wang, R., Liu, Y., He, L., Croft, H., Luo, X., Wang, H., Smith, N.G., Keenan, T.K., Prentice, I.C., Zhang, Y., Ju, W. & Dong, N. (2022) Global datasets of leaf photosynthetic capacity for ecological and Earth System research. Earth System Science Data. DOI: 10.5194/essd-14-4077-2022. [Link] [PDF].

Zhang, Y., Gentine, P., Luo, X., Lian, X., Liu, Y., Zhou, S., Michalak, A.M., Sun, W., Fisher, J.B., Piao, S., Keenan, T.F. (2022) Increasing sensitivity of dryland vegetation greenness to precipitation due to rising atmospheric CO2. Nature Communications. DOI: 10.1038/s41467-022-32631-3. [Link] [PDF].

Luo, X., Keenan, T.F. (2022) Tropical extreme droughts drive long-term increase in atmospheric CO2 growth rate variability. Nature Communications. DOI: 10.1038/s41467-022-28824-5. [Link] [PDF].

Dong, N., Wright, I., Chen, J., Luo, X., Wang, H., Keenan, T.F., Smith, N. & Prentice, I.C. (2022) Rising CO2 and warming reduce global canopy demand for nitrogen. New Phytologist. DOI: 10.1111/nph.18076. [Link] [PDF].

Fu, Z., Ciais, P., Prentice, I.C., Gentine, P., Makowski, D., Bastos, A., Luo, X., Green, J., Stoy, P., Yang, H. & Hajima, T. (2022) Atmospheric dryness reduces photosynthesis along a large range of soil water deficits. Nature Communications. DOI: 10.1038/s41467-022-28652-7 [Link] [PDF].

2021

Keenan, T.F., Luo, X., De Kauwe, M., Medlyn, B., Prentice, I.C., Stocker, B., Smith, N., Terrer, C., Wang, H., Zhang, Y. & Zhou, S. (2021) A constraint on historic growth in global photosynthesis due to increasing CO2. Nature. DOI: 10.1038/s41586-021-04096-9. [Link] [PDF].

Zhang, M., Keenan, T.F., Luo, X. et al. 9 additional co-authors. Elevated CO2 moderates the impact of climate change on future bamboo distribution in Madagascar. Science of The Total Environment. DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2021.152235. [Link] [PDF].

Li, Y., Ma, Q., Chen, J.M., Croft, H., Luo, X., Zheng, T., Rogers, C. & Liu, J. (2021). Fine-scale leaf chlorophyll distribution across a deciduous forest through two-step model inversion from Sentinel-2 data. Remote Sensing of Environment. DOI: 10.1016/j.rse.2021.112618. [Link] [PDF].

Sun, W., Fang, Y., Luo, X., Shiga, Y.P., Zhang, Y., Andrews, A.E., Thoning, A.W., Fisher, J.B., Keenan, T.F. & Michalak, A.M. (2021). Midwest U.S. croplands determine model divergence in North American carbon fluxes. AGU Advances. DOI: 10.1029/2020AV000310. [Link] [PDF].

Rogers C.A., Chen, J.M., Croft, H., Gonsamo, A., Luo, X., Bartlett, P. & Staebler, R.M. (2021) Daily leaf area index from photosynthetically active radiation for long term records of canopy structure and leaf phenology. Agricultural and Forest Meteorology. DOI: 10.1016/j.agrformet.2021.108407. [Link] [PDF].

Chu, H., Luo, X., Yang, Z & 72 co-auhtors. (2021) Representativeness of Eddy-Covariance Flux Footprints for Areas Surrounding AmeriFlux Sites. Agricultural and Forest Meteorology. DOI: 10.1016/j.agrformet.2021.108350. [Link] [PDF].

2020

Luo, X., Keenan, T.F. (2020) Global evidence for the acclimation of ecosystem photosynthesis to light. Nature Ecology & Evolution. DOI:10.1038/s41559-020-1258-7. [Link] [PDF].

Keenan T.F., Luo X., Zhang Y. & Zhou S. (2020) Ecosystem aridity and atmospheric CO2. Science, 368, 251.2-252. DOI: 10.1126/science.abb5449. [Link] [PDF].

Croft, H., Chen, J.M., Mo, G., Luo, S., Luo, X., Arabian, J., Zhang, Y., Simic, A., Noland, T.L., He, Y., Homolová, L., Malenovský, Z., Yi, Q., Beringer, J., Amiri, R., Hutley, L., Arellano, P., Stahl, C. & Bonal, D. (2020). Global distribution of leaf chlorophyll content. Remote Sensing of Environment. DOI: 10.1016/j.rse.2019.111479. [Link] [PDF].

2019

Wang, R., Chen, J.M., Luo, X., Black, T. A. & Arain, A. (2019). Seasonality of leaf area index and photosynthetic capacity for better estimation of carbon and water fluxes in evergreen conifer forests. Agricultural and Forest Meteorology. DOI: 10.1016/j.agrformet.2019.107708. [Link] [PDF].

2018

Luo, X., Keenan, T.F., Fisher, J.B., Jiménez, J., Chen, J.M., Jiang, C., Ju, W., Perakalapudi, N., Ryu, Y. & Tadić, J.M. (2018). The impact of the 2015-2016 El Niño on global photosynthesis using satellite remote sensing. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B, 373, 20170409. [Link] [PDF].

Luo, X., Croft, H., Chen, J.M., Bartlett, P., Staebler, R. & Froelich, N. (2018). Incorporating leaf chlorophyll content as a proxy for photosynthetic parameters for estimating carbon and water fluxes at a forest site. Agricultural and Forest Meteorology, 248, 156-168.[Link] [PDF].

He, L., Chen, J.M., Gonsamo, A., Luo, X., Wang, R., Liu, Y. & Liu, R. (2018) Changes in the shadow: the shifting role of shaded leaves in global carbon and water cycles under climate change. Geophysical Research Letters. DOI: 10.1029/2018GL077560. [Link] [PDF].

Luo, X., Chen, J.M., Liu, J., Black, T.A., Croft, H., Staebler, R., He, L., Arain, M.A., Chen, B., Mo, G., Gonsamo, A. & McCaughey, H. (2018). Comparison of big-leaf, two-big-leaf and two-leaf upscaling schemes for evapotranspiration estimation using coupled carbon-water modelling. Journal of Geophysical Research - Biogeoscience. DOI: 10.1002/2017JG003978. [Link] [PDF].

2017 and before

Croft, H., Chen, J.M., Luo, X., Bartlett, P., Chen, B. & Staebler, R. (2017). Leaf chlorophyll content as a proxy for leaf photosynthetic capacity. Global Change Biology. DOI: 10.1111/gcb.13599. [Link] [PDF].

He, L., Chen, J.M., Liu, J., Bélair, S. & Luo, X. (2017). Assessment of SMAP soil moisture for global simulation of gross primary production. Journal of Geophysical Research - Biogeoscience. DOI: 10.1002/2016JG003603. [Link] [PDF].

Luo, X., Chen, X., Wang, L., Xu, L. & Tian, Y. (2014). Modeling and predicting spring land surface phenology of the Deciduous Broadleaf Forest in northern China, Agricultural and Forest Meteorology, 198-199, 33-41. [Link] [PDF].

Luo, X., Chen, X., Xu, L., Myneni, R. B. & Zhu, Z. (2013). Assessing performance of NDVI and NDVI3g in monitoring leaf unfolding dates of the deciduous broadleaf forest in northern China, Remote Sensing, 5, 845-861. [Link] [PDF].

Ecosystem Function Lab