from Part VII - Terrestrial Forcings and Feedbacks
Chapter summary
This chapter examines the biogeophysical coupling between terrestrial vegetation and climate. “Daisyworld” is first introduced as a simple model of coupled climate–vegetation dynamics. The Daisyworld model illustrates the potential for regulation of climate by vegetation. More realistic examples of climate–vegetation interactions occur regionally in response to gradients in soil water or temperature. The gradient from tropical rainforest to tropical deciduous forest to savanna to desert represents increasing aridity. This gradient is not only a response to soil moisture but also feeds back to affect climate, especially precipitation. An example of this is in northern and western Africa, where climate model simulations demonstrate that the expansion of vegetation into desert in response to increased rainfall feeds back to increase rainfall. Another example is the boreal forest–tundra ecotone. The transition from forest to tundra is related to cold temperature. Numerous studies show that the northward migration of trees in response to climate warming feeds back to accentuate the warming; loss of tree cover with a cold climate reinforces cold temperatures. These studies indicate widespread changes in vegetation structure and biogeography in response to climate change are likely to themselves change climate. Biogeochemical feedbacks are considered in Chapter 29.
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