Articles | Volume 19, issue 5
https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-19-1377-2022
© Author(s) 2022. 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-19-1377-2022
© Author(s) 2022. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
Research article
| 
07 Mar 2022
Research article |
| 07 Mar 2022
| 07 Mar 2022
MODIS Vegetation Continuous Fields tree cover needs calibrating in tropical savannas
Rahayu Adzhar
CORRESPONDING AUTHOR
UK Centre for Ecology & Hydrology, Wallingford, Oxfordshire,
UK
Department of Ecology, Evolution, and Environmental Biology, Miami
University, Oxford, Ohio, USA
Department of Life Sciences, Imperial College London, Berkshire,
UK
UK Centre for Ecology & Hydrology, Wallingford, Oxfordshire,
UK
Ning Dong
Department of Life Sciences, Imperial College London, Berkshire,
UK
Department of Biological Sciences, Macquarie University, North
Ryde, Australia
Charles George
UK Centre for Ecology & Hydrology, Wallingford, Oxfordshire,
UK
Mireia Torello Raventos
School of Earth and Environmental Science, James Cook University,
Cairns, Australia
Elmar Veenendaal
Plant Ecology and Nature Conservation, Wageningen University & Research,
Wageningen, the Netherlands
Ted R. Feldpausch
College of Life and Environmental Sciences, University of Exeter,
Exeter, UK
Oliver L. Phillips
School of Geography, University of Leeds, Leeds, UK
Simon L. Lewis
School of Geography, University of Leeds, Leeds, UK
Department of Geography, University College London, London, UK
Bonaventure Sonké
Plant Systematics and Ecology Laboratory, Department of Biology,
Higher Teachers' Training College, University of Yaoundé, Yaoundé,
Cameroon
Herman Taedoumg
Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR), Bioversity International, Yaoundé, Cameroon
Beatriz Schwantes Marimon
Departamento de Ciências Biológicas, Mato Grosso State University, Mato Grosso, Brazil
Tomas Domingues
Departamento de Biologia, Faculdade de Filosofia, Ciências e Letras de Ribeirão Preto, University of
São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil
Luzmila Arroyo
Departamento de Biología, Universidad Autónoma Gabriel René Moreno, Santa Cruz,
Bolivia
Gloria Djagbletey
Forest and Climate Change, Forestry Research Institute of
Ghana, Kumasi, Ghana
Gustavo Saiz
Facultad de Ciencias, Universidad Católica de la
Santísima Concepción, Concepción, Chile
France Gerard
UK Centre for Ecology & Hydrology, Wallingford, Oxfordshire,
UK
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Simone Matias Reis, Yadvinder Malhi, Ben Hur Marimon Junior, Beatriz Schwantes Marimon, Huanyuan Zhang-Zheng, Igor Araújo, Renata Freitag, Edmar Almeida de Oliveira, Karine da Silva Peixoto, Luciana Januário de Souza, Ediméia Laura Souza da Silva, Eduarda Bernardes Santos, Kamila Parreira da Silva, Maélly Dállet Alves Gonçalves, Cécile Girardin, Cecilia Dahlsjö, Oliver L. Phillips, and Imma Oliveras Menor
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Camilla Mathison, Eleanor Burke, Andrew J. Hartley, Douglas I. Kelley, Chantelle Burton, Eddy Robertson, Nicola Gedney, Karina Williams, Andy Wiltshire, Richard J. Ellis, Alistair A. Sellar, and Chris D. Jones
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Geosci. Model Dev., 16, 1569–1600, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-16-1569-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-16-1569-2023, 2023
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Recent global climate models simulate historical global mean surface temperatures which are too cold, possibly to due to excessive aerosol cooling. This raises questions about the models' ability to simulate important climate processes and reduces confidence in future climate predictions. We present a new version of the UK Earth System Model, which has an improved aerosols simulation and a historical temperature record. Interestingly, the long-term response to CO2 remains largely unchanged.
Jing M. Chen, Rong Wang, Yihong Liu, Liming He, Holly Croft, Xiangzhong Luo, Han Wang, Nicholas G. Smith, Trevor F. Keenan, I. Colin Prentice, Yongguang Zhang, Weimin Ju, and Ning Dong
Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 14, 4077–4093, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-14-4077-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-14-4077-2022, 2022
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Green leaves contain chlorophyll pigments that harvest light for photosynthesis and also emit chlorophyll fluorescence as a byproduct. Both chlorophyll pigments and fluorescence can be measured by Earth-orbiting satellite sensors. Here we demonstrate that leaf photosynthetic capacity can be reliably derived globally using these measurements. This new satellite-based information overcomes a bottleneck in global ecological research where such spatially explicit information is currently lacking.
Marina Corrêa Scalon, Imma Oliveras Menor, Renata Freitag, Karine S. Peixoto, Sami W. Rifai, Beatriz Schwantes Marimon, Ben Hur Marimon Junior, and Yadvinder Malhi
Biogeosciences, 19, 3649–3661, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-19-3649-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-19-3649-2022, 2022
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We investigated dynamic nutrient flow and demand in a typical savanna and a transition forest to understand how similar soils and the same climate dominated by savanna vegetation can also support forest-like formations. Savanna relied on nutrient resorption from wood, and nutrient demand was equally partitioned between leaves, wood and fine roots. Transition forest relied on resorption from the canopy biomass and nutrient demand was predominantly driven by leaves.
Selena Georgiou, Edward T. A. Mitchard, Bart Crezee, Paul I. Palmer, Greta C. Dargie, Sofie Sjögersten, Corneille E. N. Ewango, Ovide B. Emba, Joseph T. Kanyama, Pierre Bola, Jean-Bosco N. Ndjango, Nicholas T. Girkin, Yannick E. Bocko, Suspense A. Ifo, and Simon L. Lewis
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2022-580, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2022-580, 2022
Preprint archived
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Two major vegetation types, hardwood trees and palms, overlay the Central Congo Basin peatland complex, each dominant in different locations. We investigated the influence of terrain and climatological variables on their distribution, using a regression model, and found elevation and seasonal rainfall and temperature contribute significantly. There are indications of an optimal range of net water input for palm swamp to dominate, above and below which hardwood swamp dominates.
Gilvan Sampaio, Marília H. Shimizu, Carlos A. Guimarães-Júnior, Felipe Alexandre, Marcelo Guatura, Manoel Cardoso, Tomas F. Domingues, Anja Rammig, Celso von Randow, Luiz F. C. Rezende, and David M. Lapola
Biogeosciences, 18, 2511–2525, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-18-2511-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-18-2511-2021, 2021
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The impact of large-scale deforestation and the physiological effects of elevated atmospheric CO2 on Amazon rainfall are systematically compared in this study. Our results are remarkable in showing that the two disturbances cause equivalent rainfall decrease, though through different causal mechanisms. These results highlight the importance of not only curbing regional deforestation but also reducing global CO2 emissions to avoid climatic changes in the Amazon.
Douglas I. Kelley, Chantelle Burton, Chris Huntingford, Megan A. J. Brown, Rhys Whitley, and Ning Dong
Biogeosciences, 18, 787–804, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-18-787-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-18-787-2021, 2021
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Initial evidence suggests human ignitions or landscape changes caused most Amazon fires during August 2019. However, confirmation is needed that meteorological conditions did not have a substantial role. Assessing the influence of historical weather on burning in an uncertainty framework, we find that 2019 meteorological conditions alone should have resulted in much less fire than observed. We conclude socio-economic factors likely had a strong role in the high recorded 2019 fire activity.
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Short summary
The MODIS Vegetation Continuous Fields (VCF) product underestimates tree cover compared to field data and could be underestimating tree cover significantly across the tropics. VCF is used to represent land cover or validate model performance in many land surface and global vegetation models and to train finer-scaled Earth observation products. Because underestimation in VCF may render it unsuitable for training data and bias model predictions, it should be calibrated before use in the tropics.
The MODIS Vegetation Continuous Fields (VCF) product underestimates tree cover compared to field...
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