Implementation of trait-based ozone plant sensitivity in the YaleInteractive terrestrial Biosphere model v1.0 to assess global vegetationdamage

A major limitation in modeling global ozone (O-3) vegetation damage has long been the reliance on empirical O-3 sensitivity parameters derived from a limited number of species and applied at the level of plant functional types (PFTs), which ignore the large interspecific variations within the same PFT. Here, we present a major advance in large-scale assessments of O-3 plant injury by linking the trait leaf mass per area (LMA) and plant O-3 sensitivity in a broad and global perspective. Application of the new approach and a global LMA map in a dynamic global vegetation model reasonably represents the observed interspecific responses to O-3 with a unified sensitivity parameter for all plant species. Simulations suggest a contemporary global mean reduction of 4.8% in gross primary productivity by O-3, with a range of 1.1 %-12.6% for varied PFTs. Hotspots with damage > 10% are found in agricultural areas in the eastern US, western Europe, eastern China, and India, accompanied by moderate to high levels of surface O-3. Furthermore, we simulate the distribution of plant sensitivity to O-3, which is highly linked with the inherent leaf trait trade-off strategies of plants, revealing high risks for fast-growing species with low LMA, such as crops, grasses, and deciduous trees.