Albedo feedbacks to future climate via climate change impacts on dryland biocrusts

Rutherford, William A.; Painter, Thomas H.; Ferrenberg, Scott; Belnap, Jayne; Okin, Gregory S.; Flagg, Cody; Reed, Sasha C.

doi:10.1038/srep44188

Title: Albedo feedbacks to future climate via climate change impacts on dryland biocrusts

Journal Article · Fri Mar 10 00:00:00 EST 2017 · Scientific Reports

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1038/srep44188· OSTI ID:1535106

Rutherford, William A. ^[1]; Painter, Thomas H. ^[2]; Ferrenberg, Scott ^[3]; Belnap, Jayne ^[3]; Okin, Gregory S. ^[4]; Flagg, Cody ^[5]; Reed, Sasha C. ^[3]

Univ. of Arizona, Tuscon, AZ (United States). School of Natural Resources and the Environment; U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), Moab, UT (United States). Southwest Biological Science Center
Univ. of California, Los Angeles, CA (United States). Joint Inst. for Regional Earth System Science and Engineering
U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), Moab, UT (United States). Southwest Biological Science Center
Univ. of California, Los Angeles, CA (United States). Dept. of Geography
National Ecological Observatory Network (NEON), Boulder, CO (United States)

Drylands represent the planet’s largest terrestrial biome and evidence suggests these landscapes have large potential for creating feedbacks to future climate. Recent studies also indicate that dryland ecosystems are responding markedly to climate change. Biological soil crusts (biocrusts) - soil surface communities of lichens, mosses, and/or cyanobacteria - comprise up to 70% of dryland cover and help govern fundamental ecosystem functions, including soil stabilization and carbon uptake. Drylands are expected to experience significant changes in temperature and precipitation regimes, and such alterations may impact biocrust communities by promoting rapid mortality of foundational species. In turn, biocrust community shifts affect land surface cover and roughness—changes that can dramatically alter albedo. We tested this hypothesis in a full-factorial warming (+4 °C above ambient) and altered precipitation (increased frequency of 1.2 mm monsoon-type watering events) experiment on the Colorado Plateau, USA. We quantified changes in shortwave albedo via multi-angle, solar-reflectance measurements. Warming and watering treatments each led to large increases in albedo (>30%). This increase was driven by biophysical factors related to treatment effects on cyanobacteria cover and soil surface roughness following treatment-induced moss and lichen mortality. A rise in dryland surface albedo may represent a previously unidentified feedback to future climate.

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Research Organization:: U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), Menlo Park, CA (United States). Western Region

Sponsoring Organization:: USDOE Office of Science (SC)

Grant/Contract Number:: SC0008168

OSTI ID:: 1535106

Journal Information:: Scientific Reports, Vol. 7, Issue 1; ISSN 2045-2322

Publisher:: Nature Publishing GroupCopyright Statement

Country of Publication:: United States

Language:: English

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Cited by: 70 works

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