The relative role of soil moisture and vapor pressure deficit in affecting the Indian vegetation productivity
Atmospheric aridity (vapor pressure deficit, VPD) and soil moisture (SM) deficit limit plant photosynthesis and, thus, affect vegetation carbon uptake. The strong correlation between SM and VPD makes it challenging to delineate their relative contributions to regional vegetation productivity. Addres...
| Main Authors: | , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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IOP Publishing
2023-01-01
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| Series: | Environmental Research Letters |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/acd2ef |
| _version_ | 1827869800193327104 |
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| author | Nivedita Dubey Subimal Ghosh |
| author_facet | Nivedita Dubey Subimal Ghosh |
| author_sort | Nivedita Dubey |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Atmospheric aridity (vapor pressure deficit, VPD) and soil moisture (SM) deficit limit plant photosynthesis and, thus, affect vegetation carbon uptake. The strong correlation between SM and VPD makes it challenging to delineate their relative contributions to regional vegetation productivity. Addressing this gap is vital to understand the future trajectory of plant productivity in India—the second-highest contributor to global greening. Here, we separate the controls of SM and VPD on the Indian vegetation using statistical and causal analysis. We found that vegetation productivity in India is primarily controlled by SM limitation (87.66% of grids) than VPD limitation (12.34% of grids). Vegetation has a varying association with SM and VPD across different agroecological regions in India. The negative impact of VPD on vegetation carbon uptake is not visible in high-rainfall areas of India. These findings advance our understanding of vegetation dynamics under regional dryness stress and can enhance dynamic vegetation model estimates for India under changing climate scenarios. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-12T15:50:11Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-c0e6349201714427af790ff9f0b7851b |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1748-9326 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-12T15:50:11Z |
| publishDate | 2023-01-01 |
| publisher | IOP Publishing |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Environmental Research Letters |
| spelling | doaj.art-c0e6349201714427af790ff9f0b7851b2023-08-09T15:16:33ZengIOP PublishingEnvironmental Research Letters1748-93262023-01-0118606401210.1088/1748-9326/acd2efThe relative role of soil moisture and vapor pressure deficit in affecting the Indian vegetation productivityNivedita Dubey0https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2289-4178Subimal Ghosh1https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5722-1440Department of Civil Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology Bombay , Mumbai 400076, IndiaDepartment of Civil Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology Bombay , Mumbai 400076, India; Interdisciplinary Programme in Climate Studies, Indian Institute of Technology Bombay , Mumbai 400076, IndiaAtmospheric aridity (vapor pressure deficit, VPD) and soil moisture (SM) deficit limit plant photosynthesis and, thus, affect vegetation carbon uptake. The strong correlation between SM and VPD makes it challenging to delineate their relative contributions to regional vegetation productivity. Addressing this gap is vital to understand the future trajectory of plant productivity in India—the second-highest contributor to global greening. Here, we separate the controls of SM and VPD on the Indian vegetation using statistical and causal analysis. We found that vegetation productivity in India is primarily controlled by SM limitation (87.66% of grids) than VPD limitation (12.34% of grids). Vegetation has a varying association with SM and VPD across different agroecological regions in India. The negative impact of VPD on vegetation carbon uptake is not visible in high-rainfall areas of India. These findings advance our understanding of vegetation dynamics under regional dryness stress and can enhance dynamic vegetation model estimates for India under changing climate scenarios.https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/acd2efsoil moisturevapor pressure deficitsolar-induced fluorescencecausal analysisvegetation |
| spellingShingle | Nivedita Dubey Subimal Ghosh The relative role of soil moisture and vapor pressure deficit in affecting the Indian vegetation productivity Environmental Research Letters soil moisture vapor pressure deficit solar-induced fluorescence causal analysis vegetation |
| title | The relative role of soil moisture and vapor pressure deficit in affecting the Indian vegetation productivity |
| title_full | The relative role of soil moisture and vapor pressure deficit in affecting the Indian vegetation productivity |
| title_fullStr | The relative role of soil moisture and vapor pressure deficit in affecting the Indian vegetation productivity |
| title_full_unstemmed | The relative role of soil moisture and vapor pressure deficit in affecting the Indian vegetation productivity |
| title_short | The relative role of soil moisture and vapor pressure deficit in affecting the Indian vegetation productivity |
| title_sort | relative role of soil moisture and vapor pressure deficit in affecting the indian vegetation productivity |
| topic | soil moisture vapor pressure deficit solar-induced fluorescence causal analysis vegetation |
| url | https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/acd2ef |
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