Clouds and plant ecophysiology: missing links for understanding climate change impacts
Observations and models indicate that human activity is altering cloud patterns on a global scale. Clouds impact incident visible and infrared radiation during both day and night, driving daily and seasonal variability in plant temperatures—a fundamental driver of all physiological processes. To und...
Published in: | Frontiers in Forests and Global Change |
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2024
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Online Access: | http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/ffgc.2024.1330561 https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/ffgc.2024.1330561/full |
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crfrontiers:10.3389/ffgc.2024.1330561 2024-04-28T08:12:10+00:00 Clouds and plant ecophysiology: missing links for understanding climate change impacts Hughes, Nicole M. Sanchez, Adriana Berry, Z. Carter Smith, William K. 2024 http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/ffgc.2024.1330561 https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/ffgc.2024.1330561/full unknown Frontiers Media SA https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ Frontiers in Forests and Global Change volume 7 ISSN 2624-893X Nature and Landscape Conservation Environmental Science (miscellaneous) Ecology Global and Planetary Change Forestry journal-article 2024 crfrontiers https://doi.org/10.3389/ffgc.2024.1330561 2024-04-02T07:43:00Z Observations and models indicate that human activity is altering cloud patterns on a global scale. Clouds impact incident visible and infrared radiation during both day and night, driving daily and seasonal variability in plant temperatures—a fundamental driver of all physiological processes. To understand the impacts of changing cloud patterns on essential plant-based processes such as carbon sequestration and food production, changes in local cloud regimes must be linked, via ecophysiology, with affected plant systems. This review provides a comprehensive treatment of cloud effects (apart from precipitation) on fundamental ecophysiological processes that serve as the basis of plant growth and reproduction. The radiative effects of major cloud types (cumulus, stratus, cirrus) are differentiated, as well as their relative impacts on plant microclimate and physiology. Cloud regimes of major climate zones (tropical, subtropical, temperate, polar) are superimposed over recent changes in cloud cover and primary productivity. The most robust trends in changing global cloud patterns include: ( i ) the tropical rain belt (comprised mostly of deep convective clouds) is narrowing, shifting latitudinally, and strengthening, corresponding with shorter but more intense rainy seasons, increased clouds and precipitation in some parts of the tropics, and decreases in others; ( ii ) tropical cyclones are increasing in intensity and migrating poleward; ( iii ) subtropical dry zones are expanding, resulting in fewer clouds and drier conditions at these latitudes; ( iv ) summer mid-latitude storm tracks are weakening and migrating poleward, and clouds in temperate regions are decreasing; and ( v ) clouds over the Arctic are increasing. A reduction in coastal fog and low clouds (including those associated with montane cloud forests) have also been observed, although these trends can be partially attributed to local patterns of deforestation, urbanization, and/or reductions in aerosols associated with clean air initiatives. We ... Article in Journal/Newspaper Arctic Climate change Frontiers (Publisher) Frontiers in Forests and Global Change 7 |
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Nature and Landscape Conservation Environmental Science (miscellaneous) Ecology Global and Planetary Change Forestry |
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Nature and Landscape Conservation Environmental Science (miscellaneous) Ecology Global and Planetary Change Forestry Hughes, Nicole M. Sanchez, Adriana Berry, Z. Carter Smith, William K. Clouds and plant ecophysiology: missing links for understanding climate change impacts |
topic_facet |
Nature and Landscape Conservation Environmental Science (miscellaneous) Ecology Global and Planetary Change Forestry |
description |
Observations and models indicate that human activity is altering cloud patterns on a global scale. Clouds impact incident visible and infrared radiation during both day and night, driving daily and seasonal variability in plant temperatures—a fundamental driver of all physiological processes. To understand the impacts of changing cloud patterns on essential plant-based processes such as carbon sequestration and food production, changes in local cloud regimes must be linked, via ecophysiology, with affected plant systems. This review provides a comprehensive treatment of cloud effects (apart from precipitation) on fundamental ecophysiological processes that serve as the basis of plant growth and reproduction. The radiative effects of major cloud types (cumulus, stratus, cirrus) are differentiated, as well as their relative impacts on plant microclimate and physiology. Cloud regimes of major climate zones (tropical, subtropical, temperate, polar) are superimposed over recent changes in cloud cover and primary productivity. The most robust trends in changing global cloud patterns include: ( i ) the tropical rain belt (comprised mostly of deep convective clouds) is narrowing, shifting latitudinally, and strengthening, corresponding with shorter but more intense rainy seasons, increased clouds and precipitation in some parts of the tropics, and decreases in others; ( ii ) tropical cyclones are increasing in intensity and migrating poleward; ( iii ) subtropical dry zones are expanding, resulting in fewer clouds and drier conditions at these latitudes; ( iv ) summer mid-latitude storm tracks are weakening and migrating poleward, and clouds in temperate regions are decreasing; and ( v ) clouds over the Arctic are increasing. A reduction in coastal fog and low clouds (including those associated with montane cloud forests) have also been observed, although these trends can be partially attributed to local patterns of deforestation, urbanization, and/or reductions in aerosols associated with clean air initiatives. We ... |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Hughes, Nicole M. Sanchez, Adriana Berry, Z. Carter Smith, William K. |
author_facet |
Hughes, Nicole M. Sanchez, Adriana Berry, Z. Carter Smith, William K. |
author_sort |
Hughes, Nicole M. |
title |
Clouds and plant ecophysiology: missing links for understanding climate change impacts |
title_short |
Clouds and plant ecophysiology: missing links for understanding climate change impacts |
title_full |
Clouds and plant ecophysiology: missing links for understanding climate change impacts |
title_fullStr |
Clouds and plant ecophysiology: missing links for understanding climate change impacts |
title_full_unstemmed |
Clouds and plant ecophysiology: missing links for understanding climate change impacts |
title_sort |
clouds and plant ecophysiology: missing links for understanding climate change impacts |
publisher |
Frontiers Media SA |
publishDate |
2024 |
url |
http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/ffgc.2024.1330561 https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/ffgc.2024.1330561/full |
genre |
Arctic Climate change |
genre_facet |
Arctic Climate change |
op_source |
Frontiers in Forests and Global Change volume 7 ISSN 2624-893X |
op_rights |
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.3389/ffgc.2024.1330561 |
container_title |
Frontiers in Forests and Global Change |
container_volume |
7 |
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1797579168594001920 |