Do land surface models need to include differential plant species responses to drought? Examining model predictions across a mesic-xeric gradient in Europe
Future climate change has the potential to increase drought in many regions of the globe, making it essential that land surface models (LSMs) used in coupled climate models realistically capture the drought responses of vegetation. Recent data syntheses show that drought sensitivity varies considera...
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doaj-9b561835800c4c5fa026b152af2781492020-11-24T21:31:53ZengCopernicus PublicationsBiogeosciences1726-41701726-41892015-12-0112247503751810.5194/bg-12-7503-2015Do land surface models need to include differential plant species responses to drought? Examining model predictions across a mesic-xeric gradient in EuropeM. G. De Kauwe0S.-X. Zhou1B. E. Medlyn2A. J. Pitman3Y.-P. Wang4R. A. Duursma5I. C. Prentice6Macquarie University, Department of Biological Sciences, New South Wales 2109, AustraliaMacquarie University, Department of Biological Sciences, New South Wales 2109, AustraliaMacquarie University, Department of Biological Sciences, New South Wales 2109, AustraliaAustralian Research Council Centre of Excellence for Climate Systems Science and Climate Change Research Centre, UNSW, Sydney, AustrailaCSIRO Ocean and Atmosphere Flagship, Private Bag #1, Aspendale, Victoria 3195, AustraliaHawkesbury Institute for the Environment, Western Sydney University, Locked Bag 1797, Penrith, NSW, AustraliaMacquarie University, Department of Biological Sciences, New South Wales 2109, AustraliaFuture climate change has the potential to increase drought in many regions of the globe, making it essential that land surface models (LSMs) used in coupled climate models realistically capture the drought responses of vegetation. Recent data syntheses show that drought sensitivity varies considerably among plants from different climate zones, but state-of-the-art LSMs currently assume the same drought sensitivity for all vegetation. We tested whether variable drought sensitivities are needed to explain the observed large-scale patterns of drought impact on the carbon, water and energy fluxes. We implemented data-driven drought sensitivities in the Community Atmosphere Biosphere Land Exchange (CABLE) LSM and evaluated alternative sensitivities across a latitudinal gradient in Europe during the 2003 heatwave. The model predicted an overly abrupt onset of drought unless average soil water potential was calculated with dynamic weighting across soil layers. We found that high drought sensitivity at the most mesic sites, and low drought sensitivity at the most xeric sites, was necessary to accurately model responses during drought. Our results indicate that LSMs will over-estimate drought impacts in drier climates unless different sensitivity of vegetation to drought is taken into account.http://www.biogeosciences.net/12/7503/2015/bg-12-7503-2015.pdf |
collection |
DOAJ |
language |
English |
format |
Article |
sources |
DOAJ |
author |
M. G. De Kauwe S.-X. Zhou B. E. Medlyn A. J. Pitman Y.-P. Wang R. A. Duursma I. C. Prentice |
spellingShingle |
M. G. De Kauwe S.-X. Zhou B. E. Medlyn A. J. Pitman Y.-P. Wang R. A. Duursma I. C. Prentice Do land surface models need to include differential plant species responses to drought? Examining model predictions across a mesic-xeric gradient in Europe Biogeosciences |
author_facet |
M. G. De Kauwe S.-X. Zhou B. E. Medlyn A. J. Pitman Y.-P. Wang R. A. Duursma I. C. Prentice |
author_sort |
M. G. De Kauwe |
title |
Do land surface models need to include differential plant species responses to drought? Examining model predictions across a mesic-xeric gradient in Europe |
title_short |
Do land surface models need to include differential plant species responses to drought? Examining model predictions across a mesic-xeric gradient in Europe |
title_full |
Do land surface models need to include differential plant species responses to drought? Examining model predictions across a mesic-xeric gradient in Europe |
title_fullStr |
Do land surface models need to include differential plant species responses to drought? Examining model predictions across a mesic-xeric gradient in Europe |
title_full_unstemmed |
Do land surface models need to include differential plant species responses to drought? Examining model predictions across a mesic-xeric gradient in Europe |
title_sort |
do land surface models need to include differential plant species responses to drought? examining model predictions across a mesic-xeric gradient in europe |
publisher |
Copernicus Publications |
series |
Biogeosciences |
issn |
1726-4170 1726-4189 |
publishDate |
2015-12-01 |
description |
Future climate change has the potential to increase drought in many regions
of the globe, making it essential that land surface models (LSMs) used in
coupled climate models realistically capture the drought responses of
vegetation. Recent data syntheses show that drought sensitivity varies
considerably among plants from different climate zones, but state-of-the-art
LSMs currently assume the same drought sensitivity for all vegetation. We
tested whether variable drought sensitivities are needed to explain the
observed large-scale patterns of drought impact on the carbon, water and
energy fluxes. We implemented data-driven drought sensitivities in the
Community Atmosphere Biosphere Land Exchange (CABLE) LSM and evaluated
alternative sensitivities across a latitudinal gradient in Europe during the
2003 heatwave. The model predicted an overly abrupt onset of drought unless
average soil water potential was calculated with dynamic weighting across
soil layers. We found that high drought sensitivity at the most mesic sites,
and low drought sensitivity at the most xeric sites, was necessary to
accurately model responses during drought. Our results indicate that LSMs
will over-estimate drought impacts in drier climates unless different
sensitivity of vegetation to drought is taken into account. |
url |
http://www.biogeosciences.net/12/7503/2015/bg-12-7503-2015.pdf |
work_keys_str_mv |
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