Terrestrial vegetation redistribution and carbon balance under climate change

Lucht, Wolfgang; Schaphoff, Sibyll; Erbrecht, Tim; Heyder, Ursula; Cramer, Wolfgang

doi:10.1186/1750-0680-1-6

Terrestrial vegetation redistribution and carbon balance under climate change

Journal Article · Tue Jul 25 00:00:00 EDT 2006 · Carbon Balance and Management

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1186/1750-0680-1-6· OSTI ID:1629818

Lucht, Wolfgang ^[1]; Schaphoff, Sibyll ^[2]; Erbrecht, Tim ^[2]; Heyder, Ursula ^[2]; Cramer, Wolfgang ^[3]

Potsdam Inst. for Climate Impact Research, Potsdam (Germany); Potsdam Univ. (Germany). Inst. of Geoecology; DOE/OSTI
Potsdam Inst. for Climate Impact Research, Potsdam (Germany)
Potsdam Inst. for Climate Impact Research, Potsdam (Germany); Potsdam Univ. (Germany). Inst. of Geoecology

Background: Dynamic Global Vegetation Models (DGVMs) compute the terrestrial carbon balance as well as the transient spatial distribution of vegetation. We study two scenarios of moderate and strong climate change (2.9 K and 5.3 K temperature increase over present) to investigate the spatial redistribution of major vegetation types and their carbon balance in the year 2100. Results: The world's land vegetation will be more deciduous than at present, and contain about 125 billion tons of additional carbon. While a recession of the boreal forest is simulated in some areas, along with a general expansion to the north, we do not observe a reported collapse of the central Amazonian rain forest. Rather, a decrease of biomass and a change of vegetation type occurs in its northeastern part. The ability of the terrestrial biosphere to sequester carbon from the atmosphere declines strongly in the second half of the 21st century. Conclusion: Climate change will cause widespread shifts in the distribution of major vegetation functional types on all continents by the year 2100.

View Accepted Manuscript (DOE)

Research Organization:: Lawrence Livermore National Lab. (LLNL), Livermore, CA (United States); Potsdam Inst. for Climate Impact Research, Potsdam (Germany)

Sponsoring Organization:: Pakt für Forschung of the Leibniz Association; State of Brandenburg; USDOE Office of Science (SC), Biological and Environmental Research (BER)

Grant/Contract Number:: AC52-07NA27344

OSTI ID:: 1629818

Journal Information:: Carbon Balance and Management, Journal Name: Carbon Balance and Management Journal Issue: 1 Vol. 1; ISSN 1750-0680

Publisher:: BioMed CentralCopyright Statement

Country of Publication:: United States

Language:: English

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