Critical impact of vegetation physiology on the continental hydrologic cycle in response to increasing CO
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Lemordant, L. A.; Gentine, Pierre; Swann, Abigail L. S.; Cook, Benjamin I.; Scheff, Jacob

doi:10.1073/pnas.1720712115

Cited by 224 publications

(181 citation statements)

References 42 publications

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“…The impacts of physiology on runoff averaged over long periods of time (e.g., annual timescales) are consistent with evidence from earlier modeling studies (Betts et al, 2007;Cao et al, 2010;Lemordant et al, 2018;Swann et al, 2016) and observations (Gedney et al, 2006). However, impacts on shorter timescales (i.e., daily) that are relevant to flooding events have received less attention.…”

Section: Resultssupporting

confidence: 83%

Plant Physiological Responses to Rising CO₂ Modify Simulated Daily Runoff Intensity With Implications for Global‐Scale Flood Risk Assessment

Kooperman

Fowler

Hoffman

et al. 2018

Geophysical Research Letters

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Climate change is expected to increase the frequency of flooding events and, thus, the risks of flood‐related mortality and infrastructure damage. Global‐scale assessments of future flooding from Earth system models based only on precipitation changes neglect important processes that occur within the land surface, particularly plant physiological responses to rising CO2. Higher CO2 can reduce stomatal conductance and transpiration, which may lead to increased soil moisture and runoff in some regions, promoting flooding even without changes in precipitation. Here we assess the relative impacts of plant physiological and radiative greenhouse effects on changes in daily runoff intensity over tropical continents using the Community Earth System Model. We find that extreme percentile rates increase significantly more than mean runoff in response to higher CO2. Plant physiological effects have a small impact on precipitation intensity but are a dominant driver of runoff intensification, contributing to one half of the 99th and one third of the 99.9th percentile runoff intensity changes.

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Section: Resultssupporting

confidence: 83%

Plant Physiological Responses to Rising CO₂ Modify Simulated Daily Runoff Intensity With Implications for Global‐Scale Flood Risk Assessment

Kooperman

Fowler

Hoffman

et al. 2018

Geophysical Research Letters

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“…Vegetation response to CO 2 can in turn alter soil moisture (Lemordant et al, 2018;Morgan et al, 2004) and evaporative fraction (EF; Lemordant et al, 2018), impacting extreme temperatures (Alexander et al, 2006;Perkins et al, 2012;Skinner et al, 2018). During the 2003 centennial European drought, Leuzinger et al (Leuzinger & Körner, 2007) recorded higher transpiration rates for some species and locally reduced temperature in the experimental higher [CO 2 ] area.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Vegetation Response to Rising CO₂ Impacts Extreme Temperatures

Lemordant

Gentine

2019

Geophysical Research Letters

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Extreme temperatures are responsible for damages to society and ecosystems. There is evidence that severe episodes of extreme heat have been occurring more frequently and more severely in recent periods. Driven primarily by oceanic and atmospheric effects as well as land‐climate feedbacks, those extreme events are expected to increase with climate change. Vegetation, which regulates the energy, water, and carbon cycles, is a key player of land‐atmosphere interactions that has been proven to be determinant in recent extreme events. Using an ensemble of Earth System Models simulations, we show that physiological effects globally increase the annual daily maximum temperature (Txx) with rising [CO2], accounting globally for around 13% of the full Txx trend. Due to physiological effects, Txx can reinforce (e.g., central Europe) or reduce (e.g., central North America) the mean temperature increase.

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“…E is a faster process affected by surface and shallow subsurface water, while T is a slower process controlled by root uptake of deep subsurface water and hence has a longer memory of antecedent precipitation (Koster & Suarez, ; Scott et al, ). Therefore, the partitioning of ET into E and T is important for climate prediction, affecting simulations of precipitation intensity distribution and land‐atmosphere coupling strength (Lawrence et al, ), and the integrated hydrological response to rising atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO 2 , Lemordant et al, ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…T is the total amount of water loss through plant stomata while plants absorb CO 2 for photosynthesis; thus, the ratio of T to ET can be regarded as a surrogate for plant water use efficiency (WUE), affecting ecosystem productivity and the global carbon and water balances (Hu et al, ; Lemordant et al, ; Schlesinger & Jasechko, ). The response of the T / ET ratio to changing hydroclimatic conditions can also be used as a measure of ecosystem resilience (Ponce‐Campos et al, ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Why Do Large‐Scale Land Surface Models Produce a Low Ratio of Transpiration to Evapotranspiration?

et al. 2018

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Most land surface models (LSMs) used in Earth System Models produce a lower ratio of transpiration (T) to evapotranspiration (ET) than field observations, degrading the credibility of Earth System Model‐projected ecosystem responses and feedbacks to climate change. To interpret this model deficiency, we conducted a pair of model experiments using a three‐dimensional, process‐based ecohydrological model in a subhumid, mountainous catchment. One experiment (CTRL) describes lateral water flow, topographic shading, leaf dynamics, and water vapor diffusion in the soil, while the other (LSM like) does not explicitly describe these processes to mimic a conventional LSM using artificially flattened terrain. Averaged over the catchment, CTRL produced a higher T/ET ratio (72%) than LSM like (55%) and agreed better with an independent estimate (79.79 ± 27%) based on rainfall and stream water isotopes. To discern the exact causes, we conducted additional model experiments, each reverting only one process described in CTRL to that of LSM like. These experiments revealed that the enhanced T/ET ratio was mostly caused by lateral water flow and water vapor diffusion within the soil. In particular, terrain‐driven lateral water flows spread out soil moisture to a wider range along hillslopes with an optimum subrange from the middle to upper slopes, where evaporation (E) was more suppressed by the drier surface than T due to plant uptake of deep soil water, thereby enhancing T/ET. A more elaborate representation of water vapor diffusion from a dynamically changing evaporating surface to the height of the surface roughness length reduced E and increased the T/ET ratio.

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Critical impact of vegetation physiology on the continental hydrologic cycle in response to increasing CO ₂

Cited by 224 publications

References 42 publications

Plant Physiological Responses to Rising CO₂ Modify Simulated Daily Runoff Intensity With Implications for Global‐Scale Flood Risk Assessment

Plant Physiological Responses to Rising CO₂ Modify Simulated Daily Runoff Intensity With Implications for Global‐Scale Flood Risk Assessment

Vegetation Response to Rising CO₂ Impacts Extreme Temperatures

Why Do Large‐Scale Land Surface Models Produce a Low Ratio of Transpiration to Evapotranspiration?

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Critical impact of vegetation physiology on the continental hydrologic cycle in response to increasing CO 2

Cited by 224 publications

References 42 publications

Plant Physiological Responses to Rising CO2 Modify Simulated Daily Runoff Intensity With Implications for Global‐Scale Flood Risk Assessment

Plant Physiological Responses to Rising CO2 Modify Simulated Daily Runoff Intensity With Implications for Global‐Scale Flood Risk Assessment

Vegetation Response to Rising CO2 Impacts Extreme Temperatures

Why Do Large‐Scale Land Surface Models Produce a Low Ratio of Transpiration to Evapotranspiration?

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About

Critical impact of vegetation physiology on the continental hydrologic cycle in response to increasing CO ₂

Plant Physiological Responses to Rising CO₂ Modify Simulated Daily Runoff Intensity With Implications for Global‐Scale Flood Risk Assessment

Plant Physiological Responses to Rising CO₂ Modify Simulated Daily Runoff Intensity With Implications for Global‐Scale Flood Risk Assessment

Vegetation Response to Rising CO₂ Impacts Extreme Temperatures