Are strong fire-vegetation feedbacks needed to explain the spatial distribution of tropical tree cover?

2015 ◽  
Vol 25 (1) ◽  
pp. 16-25 ◽  
Author(s):  
Peter Good ◽  
Anna Harper ◽  
Antoon Meesters ◽  
Eddy Robertson ◽  
Richard Betts
Keyword(s):  
Spatial Distribution ◽  
Tropical Tree ◽  
Tree Cover ◽  
Vegetation Feedbacks

scholarly journals Global Vegetation and Climate Change due to Future Increases in CO2 as Projected by a Fully Coupled Model with Dynamic Vegetation*

2007 ◽  
Vol 20 (1) ◽  
pp. 70-90 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael Notaro ◽  
Steve Vavrus ◽  
Zhengyu Liu
Keyword(s):  
Boreal Forest ◽  
Radiative Forcing ◽  
Forest Cover ◽  
Coupled Model ◽  
Physiological Effect ◽  
Tree Cover ◽  
Radiative Effect ◽  
Tropical Rain Forests ◽  
Vegetation Feedbacks ◽  
Fully Coupled

Abstract Transient simulations are presented of future climate and vegetation associated with continued rising levels of CO2. The model is a fully coupled atmosphere–ocean–land–ice model with dynamic vegetation. The impacts of the radiative and physiological forcing of CO2 are diagnosed, along with the role of vegetation feedbacks. While the radiative effect of rising CO2 produces most of the warming, the physiological effect contributes additional warming by weakening the hydrologic cycle through reduced evapotranspiration. Both effects cause drying over tropical rain forests, while the radiative effect enhances Arctic and Indonesian precipitation. A global greening trend is simulated primarily due to the physiological effect, with an increase in photosynthesis and total tree cover associated with enhanced water-use efficiency. In particular, tree cover is enhanced by the physiological effect over moisture-limited regions. Over Amazonia, South Africa, and Australia, the radiative forcing produces soil drying and reduced forest cover. A poleward shift of the boreal forest is simulated as both the radiative and physiological effects enhance vegetation growth in the northern tundra and the radiative effect induces drying and summertime heat stress on the central and southern boreal forest. Vegetation feedbacks substantially impact local temperature trends through changes in albedo and evapotranspiration. The physiological effect increases net biomass across most land areas, while the radiative effect results in an increase over the tundra and decrease over tropical forests and portions of the boreal forest.

Effects of interannual climate variability on tropical tree cover

2013 ◽  
Vol 3 (8) ◽  
pp. 755-758 ◽  
Author(s):  
Milena Holmgren ◽  
Marina Hirota ◽  
Egbert H. van Nes ◽  
Marten Scheffer
Keyword(s):  
Climate Variability ◽  
Tropical Tree ◽  
Tree Cover ◽  
Interannual Climate Variability

scholarly journals The expansion of tree plantations across tropical biomes

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Matthew Fagan ◽  
Do-Hyung Kim ◽  
Wesley Settle ◽  
Lexie Ferry ◽  
Justin Drew ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Humid Tropics ◽  
Rapid Expansion ◽  
Tree Planting ◽  
Tropical Tree ◽  
Tree Cover ◽  
Tree Plantations ◽  
Natural Ecosystems ◽  
Tree Plantation ◽  
Radar Satellite ◽  
The Tropics

Abstract Across the tropics, recent agricultural shifts have led to a rapid expansion of tree plantations, often into intact forest and grassland habitats. However, this expansion is poorly characterized. Here we report tropical tree plantation expansion between 2000 and 2012, based on classifying nearly 7 million unique patches of observed tree cover gain using optical and radar satellite imagery. Most observed gain patches (69.2%) consisted of small patches of natural regrowth (5.9 ± 0.2 Mha). However, expansion of tree plantations dominated observed increases in tree cover across the tropics (11.8 ± 0.2 Mha) with 92% of plantation expansion occurring in biodiversity hotspots and 14% in arid biomes. We estimate that tree plantations expanded into 9.2% of accessible protected areas across the humid tropics, most frequently in southeast Asia, west Africa, and Brazil. Given international tree planting commitments, it is critical to understand how future tree plantation expansion will affect remaining natural ecosystems. One Sentence Summary: Tree plantations dominated recent expansions of tropical tree cover, including into 9% of accessible parks in the humid tropics.

Tipping points in tropical tree cover: linking theory to data

2014 ◽  
Vol 20 (3) ◽  
pp. 1016-1021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Egbert H. van Nes ◽  
Marina Hirota ◽  
Milena Holmgren ◽  
Marten Scheffer
Keyword(s):  
Tropical Tree ◽  
Tree Cover ◽  
Tipping Points

scholarly journals Committed changes in tropical tree cover under the projected 21st century climate change

2013 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Zhenzhong Zeng ◽  
Shilong Piao ◽  
Anping Chen ◽  
Xin Lin ◽  
Huijuan Nan ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
21St Century ◽  
Tropical Tree ◽  
Tree Cover

scholarly journals Global Tree Cover Loss Continues but Is Down from Peak Highs

Eos ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 100 ◽  
Author(s):  
Randy Showstack
Keyword(s):  
Forest Cover ◽  
Tropical Tree ◽  
Tree Cover

New data show that an area of tropical tree forest cover the size of Nicaragua was lost in 2018.

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