Synergistic Ecoclimate Teleconnections from Forest Loss in Different Regions Structure Global Ecological Responses

Abstract

Forest loss in hotspots around the world impacts not only local climate where loss occurs, but also influences climate and vegetation in remote parts of the globe through ecoclimate teleconnections. The magnitude and mechanism of remote impacts likely depends on the location and distribution of forest loss hotspots, but the nature of these dependencies has not been investigated. We use global climate model simulations to estimate the distribution of ecologically-relevant climate changes resulting from forest loss in two hotspot regions: western North America (wNA), which is experiencing accelerated dieoff, and the Amazon basin, which is subject to high rates of deforestation. The remote climatic and ecological net effects of simultaneous forest loss in both regions differed from the combined effects of loss from the two regions simulated separately, as evident in three impacted areas. Eastern South American Gross Primary Productivity (GPP) increased due to changes in seasonal rainfall associated with Amazon forest loss and changes in temperature related to wNA forest loss. Eurasia’s GPP declined with wNA forest loss due to cooling temperatures increasing soil ice volume. Southeastern North American productivity increased with simultaneous forest loss, but declined with only wNA forest loss due to changes in VPD. Our results illustrate the need for a new generation of local-to-global scale analyses to identify potential ecoclimate teleconnections, their underlying mechanisms, and most importantly, their synergistic interactions, to predict the responses to increasing forest loss under future land use change and climate change.

Forests, atmospheric water and an uncertain future: the new biology of the global water cycle

“…Most studies of how land use change influences climate and hydrology rely on models (e.g., Piao et al 2007;Unger 2014;Garcia et al 2016;Mahowald et al 2017). These models are imperfect (Hagemann et al 2013;Maraun 2016).…”

Seasonal and drought‐related changes in leaf area profiles depend on height and light environment in an Amazon forest

“…As the largest intact tropical rainforest in the world, the Amazon plays a critical role in global climate processes and biodiversity maintenance (Dirzo & Raven, ; Malhi et al ., ). Changes to Amazonian forests could affect local, regional, and global atmospheric circulation, resulting in altered precipitation patterns (Gedney & Valdes, ; Werth & Avissar, ; Spracklen et al ., ; Garcia et al ., ) and atmospheric carbon content (Pan et al ., ). As such, it is critical to understand the controls on Amazon forest productivity, which is highly to moderately seasonal, ranging from zero to five dry season months (Restrepo‐Coupe et al ., ).…”

Plants and Drought in a Changing Climate

“…Loss of forest cover due to mortality increases the surface albedo and simultaneously decreases evapotranspiration rates and increases sensible heating [83]. These alterations of the local surface energy budget can also lead to spatially broad impacts dubbed "ecoclimate teleconnections" by changing both local atmospheric feedbacks such as clouds [84], and large-scale atmospheric circulation patterns through atmospheric wave propagation and alterations in energy gradients [85], with implications for ecosystems far from where the mortality occurred [86][87][88]. The relatively longer timescale of recovery from mortality could also lead to less plant cover, and thus less regulation by stomata of surface to atmosphere water flux.…”