Recent increases in terrestrial carbon uptake at little cost to the water cycle.

ABSTRACT: Quantifying the responses of the coupled carbon and water cycles to current global warming and rising atmospheric CO₂ concentration is crucial for predicting and adapting to climate changes. Here we show that terrestrial carbon uptake (i.e. gross primary production) increased significantly from 1982 to 2011 using a combination of ground-based and remotely sensed land and atmospheric observations. Importantly, we find that the terrestrial carbon uptake increase is not accompanied by a proportional increase in water use (i.e. evapotranspiration) but is largely (about 90%) driven by increased carbon uptake per unit of water use, i.e. water use efficiency. The increased water use efficiency is positively related to rising CO₂ concentration and increased canopy leaf area i

SUBMITTER: Cheng L 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5524649 | biostudies-literature | 2017 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature