Covariation of vegetation and climate constrains present and future T/ET variability
The reliable partitioning of the terrestrial latent heat flux into evaporation (E) and transpiration (T) is important for linking carbon and water cycles and for better understanding ecosystem functioning at local, regional and global scales. Previous research revealed that the transpiration-to-evap...
| Main Authors: | , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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IOP Publishing
2018-01-01
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| Series: | Environmental Research Letters |
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| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/aae267 |
| _version_ | 1797748178599018496 |
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| author | Athanasios Paschalis Simone Fatichi Christoforos Pappas Dani Or |
| author_facet | Athanasios Paschalis Simone Fatichi Christoforos Pappas Dani Or |
| author_sort | Athanasios Paschalis |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | The reliable partitioning of the terrestrial latent heat flux into evaporation (E) and transpiration (T) is important for linking carbon and water cycles and for better understanding ecosystem functioning at local, regional and global scales. Previous research revealed that the transpiration-to-evapotranspiration ratio (T/ET) is well constrained across ecosystems and is nearly independent of vegetation characteristics and climate. Here we investigated the reasons for such a global constancy in present-day T/ET by jointly analysing observations and process-based model simulations. Using this framework, we also quantified how the ratio T/ET could be influenced by changing climate. For present conditions, we found that the various components of land surface evaporation (bare soil evaporation, below canopy soil evaporation, evaporation from interception), and their respective ratios to plant transpiration, depend largely on local climate and equilibrium vegetation properties. The systematic covariation between local vegetation characteristics and climate, resulted in a globally constrained value of T/ET = ∼70 ± 9% for undisturbed ecosystems, nearly independent of specific climate and vegetation attributes. Moreover, changes in precipitation amounts and patterns, increasing air temperatures, atmospheric CO _2 concentration, and specific leaf area (the ratio of leaf area per leaf mass) was found to affect T/ET in various manners. However, even extreme changes in the aforementioned factors did not significantly modify T/ET. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-12T16:01:10Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-fa7d514ec0ee4410906cbe2909bde4fa |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1748-9326 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-12T16:01:10Z |
| publishDate | 2018-01-01 |
| publisher | IOP Publishing |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Environmental Research Letters |
| spelling | doaj.art-fa7d514ec0ee4410906cbe2909bde4fa2023-08-09T14:37:58ZengIOP PublishingEnvironmental Research Letters1748-93262018-01-01131010401210.1088/1748-9326/aae267Covariation of vegetation and climate constrains present and future T/ET variabilityAthanasios Paschalis0https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4833-9962Simone Fatichi1Christoforos Pappas2Dani Or3Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Imperial College London, United KingdomInstitute of Environmental Engineering , ETH Zurich, SwitzerlandDépartement de Géographie and Centre d’Études Nordiques, Université de Montréal , Montréal, QC, Canada; Faculty of Environmental Sciences, Czech University of Life Sciences Prague , CzechiaDepartment of Environmental Systems Science, ETH Zurich, SwitzerlandThe reliable partitioning of the terrestrial latent heat flux into evaporation (E) and transpiration (T) is important for linking carbon and water cycles and for better understanding ecosystem functioning at local, regional and global scales. Previous research revealed that the transpiration-to-evapotranspiration ratio (T/ET) is well constrained across ecosystems and is nearly independent of vegetation characteristics and climate. Here we investigated the reasons for such a global constancy in present-day T/ET by jointly analysing observations and process-based model simulations. Using this framework, we also quantified how the ratio T/ET could be influenced by changing climate. For present conditions, we found that the various components of land surface evaporation (bare soil evaporation, below canopy soil evaporation, evaporation from interception), and their respective ratios to plant transpiration, depend largely on local climate and equilibrium vegetation properties. The systematic covariation between local vegetation characteristics and climate, resulted in a globally constrained value of T/ET = ∼70 ± 9% for undisturbed ecosystems, nearly independent of specific climate and vegetation attributes. Moreover, changes in precipitation amounts and patterns, increasing air temperatures, atmospheric CO _2 concentration, and specific leaf area (the ratio of leaf area per leaf mass) was found to affect T/ET in various manners. However, even extreme changes in the aforementioned factors did not significantly modify T/ET.https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/aae267T/ETevapotranspiration partitioningecohydrologymodellingclimate change |
| spellingShingle | Athanasios Paschalis Simone Fatichi Christoforos Pappas Dani Or Covariation of vegetation and climate constrains present and future T/ET variability Environmental Research Letters T/ET evapotranspiration partitioning ecohydrology modelling climate change |
| title | Covariation of vegetation and climate constrains present and future T/ET variability |
| title_full | Covariation of vegetation and climate constrains present and future T/ET variability |
| title_fullStr | Covariation of vegetation and climate constrains present and future T/ET variability |
| title_full_unstemmed | Covariation of vegetation and climate constrains present and future T/ET variability |
| title_short | Covariation of vegetation and climate constrains present and future T/ET variability |
| title_sort | covariation of vegetation and climate constrains present and future t et variability |
| topic | T/ET evapotranspiration partitioning ecohydrology modelling climate change |
| url | https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/aae267 |
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