Reply to Adams et al. : empirical versus process-based approaches to modeling temperature responses of leaf respiration

Using an empirical approach, we report that the slope of the short-term log-transformed leaf respiration (R)- temperature (T) curves declines with increasing leaf T in a manner that is uniform across biomes (1); the results have utility for modeling carbon fluxes in terrestrial biosphere models (TBMs). The use of an empirical approach reflects the fact that, despite advances in understanding of factors regulating R (2-4) and its T-response (5), basic information on key determinants of R remains lacking, hindering development of a process-based model with utility for TBMs.