Regional dry-season climate changes due to three decades of Amazonian deforestation

Khanna, J.; Medvigy, D.; Fueglistaler, S.; Walko, R. L.

doi:10.1038/nclimate3226

Cited by 196 publications

(216 citation statements)

References 38 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

183

Contrasting

Unclassified

Order By: Relevance

“…In the Amazon, the possible outcome of widespread forest loss remains a matter of great uncertainty and concern (Lawrence and Vandecar, 2015;Boers et al, 2017;Hirota et al, 2011;Davidson et al, 2012;Khanna et al, 2017;Zemp et al, 2017). Our results indicate that forest loss can induce a transition in the river basin from the regulated to the unregulated state.…”

mentioning

confidence: 53%

“…Landscape and climate alterations foreshadow shifts of precipitation and river flow regimes (Botter et al, 2013;Boers et al, 2017;Hirota et al, 2011;Davidson et al, 2012;Khanna et al, 2017;Lawrence and Vandecar, 2015;Zemp et al, 2017;Sampaio et al, 2007). The conversion of precipitation into river flow through the accumulation of runoff depends on a suite of complex and heterogeneous biophysical processes and attributes of river basins, at different scales (Blöschl et al, This suggests that the spatial scaling properties of river flows have a common, mechanistic origin, that has been related to conservation principles and the fractal nature of river networks (Gupta et al, 2007;Sivapalan, 2005).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Identifying those factors that are both highly sensitive to global change and strongly influential on runoff production is crucial for predicting the potential effects of global change on river flow regimes. Vegetation cover and vegetation-related processes meet these two conditions in many river basins of the world (Sterling et al, 2013;Coe et al, 2009;Piao et al, 2007), and particularly in the Amazon where the role of forests is so relevant that forest loss could force the 25 system beyond a tipping point (Boers et al, 2017;Hirota et al, 2011;Davidson et al, 2012;Khanna et al, 2017;Lawrence and Vandecar, 2015;Zemp et al, 2017;Sampaio et al, 2007).…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Progressing towards this understanding is crucial for the detection of early-warning signals for critical transitions in river basins affected by global change. These are urgent needs worldwide (Kéfi et al, 2007;Scheffer et al, 2009;Lenton, 2011;Boers et al, 2017;Hirota et al, 2011;Davidson et al, 2012;Khanna et al, 2017;Lawrence and Vandecar, 2015;Zemp et al, 2017;Sampaio et al, 2007).…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…These mechanisms include large evapotranspiration fluxes (Da Rocha et al, 2009;10 von Randow et al, 2012;Caldararu et al, 2012) linked to large precipitation recycling ratios (Eltahir and Bras, 1994;Van der Ent et al, 2010), accumulation and redistribution of soil moisture by root systems (Nadezhdina et al, 2010;Nepstad et al, 1994;Lee et al, 2005), strong capacity for stomatal regulation due to the large cumulative surface area of leaves (Berry et al, 2010;Costa and Foley, 1997), production of biogenic cloud condensation nuclei (Pöschl et al, 2010), below-canopy shading and temperature inversions that restrict direct soil evaporation (Henao et al, Submitted), and the surface drag that is caused by 15 the large height of trees and affects the flow of air over the forests (Khanna et al, 2017). Collectively, these mechanisms imply that Amazonian forests have a strong potential to enhance the capacity of river basins for both storing water and controlling its release.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

See 4 more Smart Citations

Scaling properties reveal regulation of river flows in the Amazon through a forest reservoir

Salazar¹,

Villegas²,

Rendón³

et al. 2017

Preprint

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Abstract. Many natural and social phenomena depend on river flow regimes that are being altered by global change. Understanding the mechanisms behind such alterations is crucial for predicting river flow regimes in a changing environment. Here we introduce a novel physical interpretation of the scaling properties of river flows, and show that it leads to a parsimonious characterization of the flow regime of any river basin. This allows to classify river basins as regulated or unregulated, and to identify a critical threshold between these states. We applied this framework to the Amazon river basin and found both states 5 among its main tributaries. Then we introduce the "forest reservoir" concept to explain how forest loss can force the Amazonian river basins from regulated to unregulated states. Our results provide theoretical and applied foundations for predicting hydrological impacts of global change, including the detection of early-warning signals for critical transitions in river basins.

show abstract

mentioning

confidence: 53%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

mentioning

confidence: 99%

mentioning

confidence: 99%

mentioning

confidence: 99%

See 3 more Smart Citations

Scaling properties reveal regulation of river flows in the Amazon through a forest reservoir

Salazar¹,

Villegas²,

Rendón³

et al. 2017

Preprint

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

Deforestation effects on Amazon forest resilience

Zemp

Schleußner

Barbosa

et al. 2017

Geophysical Research Letters

132

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Through vegetation‐atmosphere feedbacks, rainfall reductions as a result of Amazon deforestation could reduce the resilience on the remaining forest to perturbations and potentially lead to large‐scale Amazon forest loss. We track observation‐based water fluxes from sources (evapotranspiration) to sinks (rainfall) to assess the effect of deforestation on continental rainfall. By studying 21st century deforestation scenarios, we show that deforestation can reduce dry season rainfall by up to 20% far from the deforested area, namely, over the western Amazon basin and the La Plata basin. As a consequence, forest resilience is systematically eroded in the southwestern region covering a quarter of the current Amazon forest. Our findings suggest that the climatological effects of deforestation can lead to permanent forest loss in this region. We identify hot spot regions where forest loss should be avoided to maintain the ecological integrity of the Amazon forest.

show abstract

Tree ring reconstructed rainfall over the southern Amazon Basin

López

Stahle

Villalba

et al. 2017

Geophysical Research Letters

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Moisture sensitive tree ring chronologies of Centrolobium microchaete have been developed from seasonally dry forests in the southern Amazon Basin and used to reconstruct wet season rainfall totals from 1799 to 2012, adding over 150 years of rainfall estimates to the short instrumental record for the region. The reconstruction is correlated with the same atmospheric variables that influence the instrumental measurements of wet season rainfall. Anticyclonic circulation over midlatitude South America promotes equatorward surges of cold and relatively dry extratropical air that converge with warm moist air to form deep convection and heavy rainfall over this sector of the southern Amazon Basin. Interesting droughts and pluvials are reconstructed during the preinstrumental nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, but the tree ring reconstruction suggests that the strong multidecadal variability in instrumental and reconstructed wet season rainfall after 1950 may have been unmatched since 1799.

show abstract

Regional dry-season climate changes due to three decades of Amazonian deforestation

Cited by 196 publications

References 38 publications

Scaling properties reveal regulation of river flows in the Amazon through a forest reservoir

Scaling properties reveal regulation of river flows in the Amazon through a forest reservoir

Deforestation effects on Amazon forest resilience

Tree ring reconstructed rainfall over the southern Amazon Basin

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About