As the global climate warms, we need to understand how increased leaf temperatures will affect tree physiology. While trees can acclimate to warming, there is concern that tropical rainforest species may be less able to acclimate because they have adapted to a relatively stable thermal environment.

Here we tested whether the physiological adjustments to warming differed among Australian tropical, subtropical and warm-temperate rainforest tree seedlings. We measured temperature responses of photosynthesis and respiration on six Australian rainforest Seedlings across four growth temperatures in a glasshouse.

Data includes temperature responses of photosynthesis and respiration as well as CO2 response curves at five different temperatures.