Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://oa.tib.eu/renate/handle/123456789/5159
Files in This Item:
File SizeFormat 
Zemp et al 2017, Self-amplified Amazon forest loss.pdf1,34 MBAdobe PDFView/Open
Title: Self-amplified Amazon forest loss due to vegetation-atmosphere feedbacks
Authors: Zemp, D.C.Schleussner, C.-F.Barbosa, H.M.J.Hirota, M.Montade, V.Sampaio, G.Staal, A.Wang-Erlandsson, L.Rammig, A.
Publishers version: https://doi.org/10.1038/ncomms14681
URI: https://oa.tib.eu/renate/handle/123456789/5159
https://doi.org/10.34657/3788
Issue Date: 2017
Published in: Nature Communications 8 (2017)
Journal: Nature Communications
Volume: 8
Page Start: 14681
Page End: 2127
Publisher: London : Nature Publishing Group
Abstract: Reduced rainfall increases the risk of forest dieback, while in return forest loss might intensify regional droughts. The consequences of this vegetation-atmosphere feedback for the stability of the Amazon forest are still unclear. Here we show that the risk of self-amplified Amazon forest loss increases nonlinearly with dry-season intensification. We apply a novel complex-network approach, in which Amazon forest patches are linked by observation-based atmospheric water fluxes. Our results suggest that the risk of self-amplified forest loss is reduced with increasing heterogeneity in the response of forest patches to reduced rainfall. Under dry-season Amazonian rainfall reductions, comparable to Last Glacial Maximum conditions, additional forest loss due to self-amplified effects occurs in 10-13% of the Amazon basin. Although our findings do not indicate that the projected rainfall changes for the end of the twenty-first century will lead to complete Amazon dieback, they suggest that frequent extreme drought events have the potential to destabilize large parts of the Amazon forest.
Keywords: rain; air-soil interaction; drought; dry season; forest dynamics; forest ecosystem; heterogeneity; hydrological cycle; Last Glacial Maximum; rainfall; twenty first century; Amazonas (Brazil); Article; atmosphere; deforestation; evapotranspiration; last glacial maximum; risk factor; summer; vegetation; Amazon Basin; Amazonia
Type: article; Text
Publishing status: publishedVersion
DDC: 550
License: CC BY 4.0 Unported
Link to license: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
Appears in Collections:Umweltwissenschaften

Show full item record
Zemp, D.C., C.-F. Schleussner, H.M.J. Barbosa, M. Hirota, V. Montade, G. Sampaio, A. Staal, L. Wang-Erlandsson and A. Rammig, 2017. Self-amplified Amazon forest loss due to vegetation-atmosphere feedbacks. 2017. London : Nature Publishing Group
Zemp, D. C., Schleussner, C.-F., Barbosa, H. M. J., Hirota, M., Montade, V., Sampaio, G., Staal, A., Wang-Erlandsson, L. and Rammig, A. (2017) “Self-amplified Amazon forest loss due to vegetation-atmosphere feedbacks.” London : Nature Publishing Group. doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/ncomms14681.
Zemp D C, Schleussner C-F, Barbosa H M J, Hirota M, Montade V, Sampaio G, Staal A, Wang-Erlandsson L, Rammig A. Self-amplified Amazon forest loss due to vegetation-atmosphere feedbacks. Vol. 8. London : Nature Publishing Group; 2017.
Zemp, D. C., Schleussner, C.-F., Barbosa, H. M. J., Hirota, M., Montade, V., Sampaio, G., Staal, A., Wang-Erlandsson, L., & Rammig, A. (2017). Self-amplified Amazon forest loss due to vegetation-atmosphere feedbacks (Version publishedVersion, Vol. 8). Version publishedVersion, Vol. 8. London : Nature Publishing Group. https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1038/ncomms14681
Zemp D C, Schleussner C-F, Barbosa H M J, Hirota M, Montade V, Sampaio G, Staal A, Wang-Erlandsson L, Rammig A. Self-amplified Amazon forest loss due to vegetation-atmosphere feedbacks. 2017;8. doi:https://doi.org/10.1038/ncomms14681


This item is licensed under a Creative Commons License Creative Commons