Articles | Volume 18, issue 1
https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-18-77-2021
© Author(s) 2021. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-18-77-2021
© Author(s) 2021. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
Contrasting responses of woody and herbaceous vegetation to altered rainfall characteristics in the Sahel
CAVElab, Department of Environment, Ghent University, Ghent, 9000,
Belgium
Department of Geosciences and Natural Resource Management, University
of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, 1350, Denmark
Guy Schurgers
Department of Geosciences and Natural Resource Management, University
of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, 1350, Denmark
Stéphanie Horion
Department of Geosciences and Natural Resource Management, University
of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, 1350, Denmark
Jonas Ardö
Department of Physical Geography and Ecosystem Science, Lund
University, Lund, 22100, Sweden
Paulo N. Bernardino
Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, KU Leuven, Leuven,
3000, Belgium
Laboratory of Geo-information Science and Remote Sensing, Wageningen
University, Wageningen, 6708, the Netherlands
Bernard Cappelaere
HydroSciences Montpellier, IRD/CNRS, Université de Montpellier,
Montpellier, 34090, France
Jérôme Demarty
HydroSciences Montpellier, IRD/CNRS, Université de Montpellier,
Montpellier, 34090, France
Rasmus Fensholt
Department of Geosciences and Natural Resource Management, University
of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, 1350, Denmark
Laurent Kergoat
Géosciences Environnement Toulouse, CNRS/UPS/IRD, Toulouse, 31400,
France
Thomas Sibret
CAVElab, Department of Environment, Ghent University, Ghent, 9000,
Belgium
Torbern Tagesson
Department of Geosciences and Natural Resource Management, University
of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, 1350, Denmark
Department of Physical Geography and Ecosystem Science, Lund
University, Lund, 22100, Sweden
Hans Verbeeck
CAVElab, Department of Environment, Ghent University, Ghent, 9000,
Belgium
Data sets
LPJ-GUESS Ecosystem Model J. Nord http://web.nateko.lu.se/lpj-guess/
Short summary
A large part of Earth's land surface is covered by dryland ecosystems, which are subject to climate extremes that are projected to increase under future climate scenarios. By using a mathematical vegetation model, we studied the impact of single years of extreme rainfall on the vegetation in the Sahel. We found a contrasting response of grasses and trees to these extremes, strongly dependent on the way precipitation is spread over the rainy season, as well as a long-term impact on CO2 uptake.
A large part of Earth's land surface is covered by dryland ecosystems, which are subject to...
Altmetrics
Final-revised paper
Preprint