Articles | Volume 18, issue 13
https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-18-4091-2021
https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-18-4091-2021
Research article
 | 
12 Jul 2021
Research article |  | 12 Jul 2021

Variable tree rooting strategies are key for modelling the distribution, productivity and evapotranspiration of tropical evergreen forests

Boris Sakschewski, Werner von Bloh, Markus Drüke, Anna Amelia Sörensson, Romina Ruscica, Fanny Langerwisch, Maik Billing, Sarah Bereswill, Marina Hirota, Rafael Silva Oliveira, Jens Heinke, and Kirsten Thonicke

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Cited articles

Adler, R. F., Huffman, G. J., Chang, A., Ferrar, R., Xi, P., Janowiak, J., Rudolf, B., Schneider, U., Curtis, S., Bolvin, D., Gruber, A., Susskind, J., Arkin, P., and Nelkin, E.: The version 2 Global Precipitation Climatology Project (GPCP) monthly precipitation analysis (1979–present), J. Hydrometeor, 4, 1147–1167, https://doi.org/10.1175/1525-7541(2003)004<1147:TVGPCP>2.0.CO;2, 2003. 
Allen, C. D., Breshears, D. D., and McDowell, N. G.: On underestimation of global vulnerability to tree mortality and forest die-off from hotter drought in the Anthropocene, Ecosphere, 6, 1–55, https://doi.org/10.1890/ES15-00203.1, 2015. 
Aragão, L. E. O. C., Malhi, Y., Roman-Cuesta, R. M., Saatchi, S., Anderson, L. O., and Shimabukuro, Y. E.: Spatial patterns and fire response of recent Amazonian droughts, Geophys. Res. Lett., 34, L07701, https://doi.org/10.1029/2006GL028946, 2007. 
Arnold, J. G., Williams, J. R., Nicks, A. D., and Sammons, N. B.: SWRRB: A Basin Scale Simulation Model for Soil and Water Resources Management, J. Environ. Qual., 20, 309, https://doi.org/10.2134/jeq1991.00472425002000010050x, 1990. 
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This study shows how local adaptations of tree roots across tropical and sub-tropical South America explain patterns of biome distribution, productivity and evapotranspiration on this continent. By allowing for high diversity of tree rooting strategies in a dynamic global vegetation model (DGVM), we are able to mechanistically explain patterns of mean rooting depth and the effects on ecosystem functions. The approach can advance DGVMs and Earth system models.
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