Vegetation‐Climate Feedbacks Enhance Spatial Heterogeneity of Pan‐Amazonian Ecosystem States Under Climate Change

Wu, M. W.; Smith, Benjamin; Schurgers, Guy; Ahlström, Anders; Rummukainen, Markku

doi:10.1029/2020gl092001

Cited by 11 publications

(7 citation statements)

References 76 publications

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“…On a larger scale, it can even affect the carbon balance [31] and regional climate conditions [30]. Studies on the process and environmental benefits of deforestation and reforestation in Southeast Asian countries [32,33], South American mountain ranges [34], Zambia [35], and the Amazon [36] show that irrational land use and reckless deforestation forming soil erosion [37] are the most fundamental causes of rocky desertification. The unreasonable land use transition in this special area not only leads to the deterioration of rocky desertification, but also leads to the reduction of available land types.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Land Use Transition and Eco-Environmental Effects in Karst Mountain Area Based on Production-Living-Ecological Space: A Case Study of Longlin Multinational Autonomous County, Southwest China

Wang

Qin

Jia

et al. 2022

IJERPH

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The linkage mechanisms and optimization strategies between land use transition and eco-environmental effects that occur in the production-living-ecological space of karst mountain areas remain under-explored in the current literature. Based on county data collected in Longlin Multinational Autonomous County of Guangxi, which is located in the rocky desertification area of Yunnan, Guangxi, and Guizhou, this study contributes a county-level analysis on land use transition and eco-environmental effects by addressing two research questions: (1) Which factors of land use transition are related to the eco-environmental effects of production-living-ecological space? (2) What are the key land allocation mechanisms behind the interventions of local rocky desertification regulation policies? We conducted two sets of analyses to answer these two questions: quantitative analyses of the spatial and temporal evolution between land use transition, rocky desertification, and its eco-environmental effects, and qualitative analyses of policy interventions on production-living-ecological land development and rocky desertification management. The findings show that the occurrence of rocky desertification accompanied by unreasonable land use structure transition and its important factor is caused by ecological land being restricted by production-living land. Specifically, urbanization strategies coordinating ecological and socio-economic effects is significant to karst mountain areas. Moreover, the orderly increase of woodland slows down rocky desertification. Policies of “returning farmland to forest” and “afforestation of wasteland” have significantly reduced rocky desertification that can be applied to other geographical situations.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Land Use Transition and Eco-Environmental Effects in Karst Mountain Area Based on Production-Living-Ecological Space: A Case Study of Longlin Multinational Autonomous County, Southwest China

Wang

Qin

Jia

et al. 2022

IJERPH

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“…Most models project a widespread increase in forest biomass and suggest that the positive effect of CO 2 fertilization will prevail over vegetation losses under warmer and drier conditions, including EC-Earth3-Veg, one of the ESMs featuring patch dynamics and size-structured vegetation dynamics. The other model incorporating complex vegetation processes, GFDL-ESM4, simulates a more heterogeneous response ( 41 ) in which forest biomass may decline in drier areas. ESMs lacking patch dynamics implement a partial decrease in biomass following fires that leave an unaltered forest tree size structure, obviating feedback mechanisms that might hinder forest recovery ( 4 ).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Abrupt loss and uncertain recovery from fires of Amazon forests under low climate mitigation scenarios

Cano

Shevliakova

Malyshev

et al. 2022

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

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Tropical forests contribute a major sink for anthropogenic carbon emissions essential to slowing down the buildup of atmospheric CO 2 and buffering climate change impacts. However, the response of tropical forests to more frequent weather extremes and long-recovery disturbances like fires remains uncertain. Analyses of field data and ecological theory raise concerns about the possibility of the Amazon crossing a tipping point leading to catastrophic tropical forest loss. In contrast, climate models consistently project an enhanced tropical sink. Here, we show a heterogeneous response of Amazonian carbon stocks in GFDL-ESM4.1, an Earth System Model (ESM) featuring dynamic disturbances and height-structured tree–grass competition. Enhanced productivity due to CO 2 fertilization promotes increases in forest biomass that, under low emission scenarios, last until the end of the century. Under high emissions, positive trends reverse after 2060, when simulated fires prompt forest loss that results in a 40% decline in tropical forest biomass by 2100. Projected fires occur under dry conditions associated with El Niño Southern Oscillation and the Atlantic Multidecadal Oscillation, a response observed under current climate conditions, but exacerbated by an overall decline in precipitation. Following the initial disturbance, grassland dominance promotes recurrent fires and tree competitive exclusion, which prevents forest recovery. EC-Earth3-Veg, an ESM with a dynamic vegetation model of similar complexity, projected comparable wildfire forest loss under high emissions but faster postfire recovery rates. Our results reveal the importance of complex nonlinear responses to assessing climate change impacts and the urgent need to research postfire recovery and its representation in ESMs.

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“…Feedback processes have been documented in a variety of ecosystems. For example, tropical rainforests can be self‐reinforcing in that evapotranspiration from vegetation forms clouds that lead to heavy rain, thus reinforcing the climate necessary for rainforests to persist (Wu et al, 2013; Zhu et al, 2023). Severe plant water stress of sufficient frequency and duration has the potential to disrupt this feedback and transform tropical rainforests to savanna‐like ecosystems (Saatchi et al, 2021).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Feedback loops between 3D vegetation structure and ecological functions of animals

et al. 2023

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Ecosystems function in a series of feedback loops that can change or maintain vegetation structure. Vegetation structure influences the ecological niche space available to animals, shaping many aspects of behaviour and reproduction. In turn, animals perform ecological functions that shape vegetation structure. However, most studies concerning three‐dimensional vegetation structure and animal ecology consider only a single direction of this relationship. Here, we review these separate lines of research and integrate them into a unified concept that describes a feedback mechanism. We also show how remote sensing and animal tracking technologies are now available at the global scale to describe feedback loops and their consequences for ecosystem functioning. An improved understanding of how animals interact with vegetation structure in feedback loops is needed to conserve ecosystems that face major disruptions in response to climate and land‐use change.

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Vegetation‐Climate Feedbacks Enhance Spatial Heterogeneity of Pan‐Amazonian Ecosystem States Under Climate Change

Cited by 11 publications

References 76 publications

Land Use Transition and Eco-Environmental Effects in Karst Mountain Area Based on Production-Living-Ecological Space: A Case Study of Longlin Multinational Autonomous County, Southwest China

Land Use Transition and Eco-Environmental Effects in Karst Mountain Area Based on Production-Living-Ecological Space: A Case Study of Longlin Multinational Autonomous County, Southwest China

Abrupt loss and uncertain recovery from fires of Amazon forests under low climate mitigation scenarios

Feedback loops between 3D vegetation structure and ecological functions of animals

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