Disentangling the Regional Climate Impacts of Competing Vegetation Responses to Elevated Atmospheric CO₂.

ABSTRACT: Biophysical vegetation responses to elevated atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO₂) affect regional hydroclimate through two competing mechanisms. Higher CO₂ increases leaf area (LAI), thereby increasing transpiration and water losses. Simultaneously, elevated CO₂ reduces stomatal conductance and transpiration, thereby increasing rootzone soil moisture. Which mechanism dominates in the future is highly uncertain, partly because these two processes are difficult to explicitly separate within dynamic vegetation models. We address this challenge by using the GISS ModelE global climate model to conduct a novel set of idealized 2×CO₂ sensitivity experiments to: evaluate the total vegetation biophysical contribution to regional climate change under high CO

SUBMITTER: McDermid SS 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8409678 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature