Terrestrial carbon cycle affected by non-uniform climate warming

• Published in: Nature Geoscience
• Main Authors: Xia, Jianyang, Chen, Jiquan, Piao, Shilong, Ciais, Philippe, Luo, Yiqi, Wan, Shiqiang
• Other Authors: Wan, SQ (reprint author), Henan Univ, Coll Life Sci, State Key Lab Cotton Biol, Key Lab Plant Stress Biol, JinMing Ave, Kaifeng 475004, Henan, Peoples R China., Univ Oklahoma, Dept Microbiol & Plant Biol, Norman, OK 73019 USA., Nanjing Univ Sci & Technol, Sch Appl Meteorol, Int Ctr Ecol Environm & Meteorol, Nanjing 210044, Jiangsu, Peoples R China., Univ Toledo, Dept Environm Sci, Toledo, OH 43606 USA., Peking Univ, Coll Urban & Environm Sci, Dept Ecol, Beijing 100871, Peoples R China., Chinese Acad Sci, Inst Tibetan Plateau Res, Lab Alpine Ecol & Biodivers, Beijing 100101, Peoples R China., CEA CNRS UVSQ, Lab Sci Climat & Environm, F-91191 Gif Sur Yvette, France., Henan Univ, Coll Life Sci, State Key Lab Cotton Biol, Key Lab Plant Stress Biol, Kaifeng 475004, Henan, Peoples R China., Henan Univ, Coll Life Sci, State Key Lab Cotton Biol, Key Lab Plant Stress Biol, JinMing Ave, Kaifeng 475004, Henan, Peoples R China.
• Format: Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: nature geoscience 2014
• Subjects: SOIL RESPIRATION; PHOTOSYNTHETIC CAPACITY; COMMUNITY COMPOSITION; NORTHERN-HEMISPHERE; NITROGEN DYNAMICS; PLANT RESPIRATION; TEMPERATE STEPPE; ARCTIC TUNDRA; VEGETATION; RESPONSES; Arctic; Climate change; Tundra
• Online Access: https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11897/389824; https://doi.org/10.1038/NGEO2093

Feedbacks between the terrestrial carbon cycle and climate change could affect many ecosystem functions and services, such as food production, carbon sequestration and climate regulation. The rate of climate warming varies on diurnal and seasonal timescales. A synthesis of global air temperature data reveals a greater rate of warming in winter than in summer in northern mid and high latitudes, and the inverse pattern in some tropical regions. The data also reveal a decline in the diurnal temperature range over 51% of the global land area and an increase over only 13%, because night-time temperatures in most locations have risen faster than daytime temperatures. Analyses of satellite data, model simulations and in situ observations suggest that the impact of seasonal warming varies between regions. For example, spring warming has largely stimulated ecosystem productivity at latitudes between 30 degrees and 90 degrees N, but suppressed productivity in other regions. Contrasting impacts of day- and night-time warming on plant carbon gain and loss are apparent in many regions. We argue that ascertaining the effects of non-uniform climate warming on terrestrial ecosystems is a key challenge in carbon cycle research. Geosciences, Multidisciplinary SCI(E) 12 REVIEW [e-mail] 3 173-180 7