Vegetation-Climate Feedbacks Enhance Spatial Heterogeneity of Pan-Amazonian Ecosystem States Under Climate Change
(2021) In Geophysical Research Letters 48(8).- Abstract
Amazonian ecosystems range from rainforest to open dryland vegetation, with a following decrease in biomass along the moisture gradient. Biomass can vary greatly at the ecological transition zone between grass dominated savannahs and the forest. It is not well understood if the transition zone could expand under climate change, and thereby reduce ecosystem stability and carbon storage in biomass. Here, we quantify such changes by using a high-resolution regional Earth system model under RCP 8.5 climate scenario. We disentangle the effects of climate, CO2, and land use by considering vegetation-climate feedbacks. Our results suggest that future climate change combined with elevated atmospheric CO2 concentration... (More)
Amazonian ecosystems range from rainforest to open dryland vegetation, with a following decrease in biomass along the moisture gradient. Biomass can vary greatly at the ecological transition zone between grass dominated savannahs and the forest. It is not well understood if the transition zone could expand under climate change, and thereby reduce ecosystem stability and carbon storage in biomass. Here, we quantify such changes by using a high-resolution regional Earth system model under RCP 8.5 climate scenario. We disentangle the effects of climate, CO2, and land use by considering vegetation-climate feedbacks. Our results suggest that future climate change combined with elevated atmospheric CO2 concentration tends to induce a larger spatial gradient of ecosystem states, increasing the transition area by ∼110% at the end of the century. Vegetation feedbacks generally amplify the climate effect by intensifying the climate-induced warming and drought, further enhancing spatial heterogeneity.
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- author
- Wu, Minchao LU ; Smith, Benjamin LU ; Schurgers, Guy LU ; Ahlström, Anders LU and Rummukainen, Markku LU
- organization
-
- Dept of Physical Geography and Ecosystem Science
- BECC: Biodiversity and Ecosystem services in a Changing Climate
- eSSENCE: The e-Science Collaboration
- MERGE: ModElling the Regional and Global Earth system
- Centre for Advanced Middle Eastern Studies (CMES)
- Centre for Environmental and Climate Science (CEC)
- publishing date
- 2021
- type
- Contribution to journal
- publication status
- published
- subject
- keywords
- above-ground biomass, Amazonian ecosystems, spatial heterogeneity, vegetation feedback
- in
- Geophysical Research Letters
- volume
- 48
- issue
- 8
- article number
- e2020GL092001
- publisher
- American Geophysical Union (AGU)
- external identifiers
-
- scopus:85105007138
- ISSN
- 0094-8276
- DOI
- 10.1029/2020GL092001
- language
- English
- LU publication?
- yes
- id
- 87b025ba-b26a-46fc-a9c3-bb84625501ce
- date added to LUP
- 2021-05-12 09:16:26
- date last changed
- 2023-10-10 19:45:31
@article{87b025ba-b26a-46fc-a9c3-bb84625501ce, abstract = {{<p>Amazonian ecosystems range from rainforest to open dryland vegetation, with a following decrease in biomass along the moisture gradient. Biomass can vary greatly at the ecological transition zone between grass dominated savannahs and the forest. It is not well understood if the transition zone could expand under climate change, and thereby reduce ecosystem stability and carbon storage in biomass. Here, we quantify such changes by using a high-resolution regional Earth system model under RCP 8.5 climate scenario. We disentangle the effects of climate, CO<sub>2</sub>, and land use by considering vegetation-climate feedbacks. Our results suggest that future climate change combined with elevated atmospheric CO<sub>2</sub> concentration tends to induce a larger spatial gradient of ecosystem states, increasing the transition area by ∼110% at the end of the century. Vegetation feedbacks generally amplify the climate effect by intensifying the climate-induced warming and drought, further enhancing spatial heterogeneity.</p>}}, author = {{Wu, Minchao and Smith, Benjamin and Schurgers, Guy and Ahlström, Anders and Rummukainen, Markku}}, issn = {{0094-8276}}, keywords = {{above-ground biomass; Amazonian ecosystems; spatial heterogeneity; vegetation feedback}}, language = {{eng}}, number = {{8}}, publisher = {{American Geophysical Union (AGU)}}, series = {{Geophysical Research Letters}}, title = {{Vegetation-Climate Feedbacks Enhance Spatial Heterogeneity of Pan-Amazonian Ecosystem States Under Climate Change}}, url = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1029/2020GL092001}}, doi = {{10.1029/2020GL092001}}, volume = {{48}}, year = {{2021}}, }