Ecosystem structural changes controlled by altered rainfall climatology in tropical savannas

Wenmin Zhang; Martin Brandt; Josep Penuelas; Françoise Guichard; Xiaoye Tong; Feng Tian; Rasmus Fensholt

doi:10.1038/s41467-019-08602-6

Ecosystem structural changes controlled by altered rainfall climatology in tropical savannas

Wenmin Zhang^*
, Martin Brandt
, Josep Penuelas
, Françoise Guichard
, Xiaoye Tong
, Feng Tian
, Rasmus Fensholt

^*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

72 Scopus citations

Abstract

Tropical savannas comprise mixed woodland grassland ecosystems in which trees and grasses compete for water resources thereby maintaining the spatial structuring of this ecosystem. A global change in rainfall climatology may impact the structure of tropical savanna ecosystems by favouring woody plants, relative to herbaceous vegetation. Here we analysed satellite data and observed a relatively higher increase in woody vegetation (5%) as compared to the increase in annual maximum leaf area index (LAI _max , an indicator of the total green vegetation production) (3%) in arid and semi-arid savannas over recent decades. We further observed a declining sensitivity of LAI _max to annual rainfall over 56% of the tropical savannas, spatially overlapping with areas of increased woody cover and altered rainfall climatology. This suggests a climate-induced shift in the coexistence of woody and herbaceous vegetation in savanna ecosystems, possibly caused by altered hydrological conditions with significance for land cover and associated biophysical effects such as surface albedo and evapotranspiration.

Original language	English
Article number	671
Journal	Nature Communications
Volume	10
Issue number	1
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-019-08602-6
State	Published - 1 Dec 2019
Externally published	Yes

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title = "Ecosystem structural changes controlled by altered rainfall climatology in tropical savannas",

abstract = " Tropical savannas comprise mixed woodland grassland ecosystems in which trees and grasses compete for water resources thereby maintaining the spatial structuring of this ecosystem. A global change in rainfall climatology may impact the structure of tropical savanna ecosystems by favouring woody plants, relative to herbaceous vegetation. Here we analysed satellite data and observed a relatively higher increase in woody vegetation (5\%) as compared to the increase in annual maximum leaf area index (LAI max , an indicator of the total green vegetation production) (3\%) in arid and semi-arid savannas over recent decades. We further observed a declining sensitivity of LAI max to annual rainfall over 56\% of the tropical savannas, spatially overlapping with areas of increased woody cover and altered rainfall climatology. This suggests a climate-induced shift in the coexistence of woody and herbaceous vegetation in savanna ecosystems, possibly caused by altered hydrological conditions with significance for land cover and associated biophysical effects such as surface albedo and evapotranspiration.",

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AU - Zhang, Wenmin

AU - Brandt, Martin

AU - Penuelas, Josep

AU - Guichard, Françoise

AU - Tong, Xiaoye

AU - Tian, Feng

AU - Fensholt, Rasmus

PY - 2019/12/1

Y1 - 2019/12/1

N2 - Tropical savannas comprise mixed woodland grassland ecosystems in which trees and grasses compete for water resources thereby maintaining the spatial structuring of this ecosystem. A global change in rainfall climatology may impact the structure of tropical savanna ecosystems by favouring woody plants, relative to herbaceous vegetation. Here we analysed satellite data and observed a relatively higher increase in woody vegetation (5%) as compared to the increase in annual maximum leaf area index (LAI max , an indicator of the total green vegetation production) (3%) in arid and semi-arid savannas over recent decades. We further observed a declining sensitivity of LAI max to annual rainfall over 56% of the tropical savannas, spatially overlapping with areas of increased woody cover and altered rainfall climatology. This suggests a climate-induced shift in the coexistence of woody and herbaceous vegetation in savanna ecosystems, possibly caused by altered hydrological conditions with significance for land cover and associated biophysical effects such as surface albedo and evapotranspiration.

AB - Tropical savannas comprise mixed woodland grassland ecosystems in which trees and grasses compete for water resources thereby maintaining the spatial structuring of this ecosystem. A global change in rainfall climatology may impact the structure of tropical savanna ecosystems by favouring woody plants, relative to herbaceous vegetation. Here we analysed satellite data and observed a relatively higher increase in woody vegetation (5%) as compared to the increase in annual maximum leaf area index (LAI max , an indicator of the total green vegetation production) (3%) in arid and semi-arid savannas over recent decades. We further observed a declining sensitivity of LAI max to annual rainfall over 56% of the tropical savannas, spatially overlapping with areas of increased woody cover and altered rainfall climatology. This suggests a climate-induced shift in the coexistence of woody and herbaceous vegetation in savanna ecosystems, possibly caused by altered hydrological conditions with significance for land cover and associated biophysical effects such as surface albedo and evapotranspiration.

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Ecosystem structural changes controlled by altered rainfall climatology in tropical savannas

Abstract

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