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This paper introduces a modification to the Penman–Monteith equation—for net evapotranspiration—to account for vegetation under elevated atmospheric CO2. In so doing it reconciles contradictions between drought indices and modelled runoff projections.
Nearly two decades of data from a boreal forest soil warming experiment (+5 °C) show no significant increase in aboveground biomass accumulation beyond an initial transitory response.
Global net ecosystem production (NEP) from a number of atmospheric inversions and dynamic global vegetation models is analysed to attribute trends to potential drivers. CO2 is found to have a positive effect on NEP that is constrained by climate warming.
Consumer adoption of more plant-based diets has high technical potential to reduce global GHG emissions. This study shows that consumers underestimate the GHG emissions associated with foods, but carbon labels that provide this information promote the purchase of lower-emitting options.
Agricultural CH4 and N2O emissions represent around 11% of total anthropogenic GHGs. Here agriculture mitigation potentials are quantified, in the context of the 1.5 °C target, and decomposed by emission source, region and mitigation mechanism.
The increasing frequency of marine heatwaves suggests that the impacts of successive events may be influenced by previous events. The extent of the 2016 and 2017 bleaching events on the Great Barrier Reef shows that ecological memory played a role in the impacts of the second heatwave.
Ice loss from Antarctica contributes to global sea-level rise. Analysis of ice core records and reanalysis datasets reveals that increased snowfall over the Antarctic Ice Sheet has offset contemporary sea-level rise by ~10 mm since 1901.
Sea-ice expansion around Antarctica, and related surface cooling, is shown to be linked to natural long-term variability of Southern Ocean convection. Model simulations reproduce the observed trends, if they start from an active phase of convection.
Reactive mineral retention of carbon accounts for 3–72% of organic carbon found in mineral soil. In many biomes, the size of this fraction is determined by modest shifts in effective moisture, suggesting high sensitivity to climate change.
Rising pre-season daytime and night-time temperatures have contrasting effects on the timing of autumn-leaf senescence date in the Northern Hemisphere. Diurnal differences in drought stress may be the underlying mechanism.
A global experiment using model caterpillars shows that climate explains patterns of predation better than latitude or elevation alone. Predation pressure is found to be greater under higher temperatures and more stable climatic conditions.
Corporations are an important source of GHG emissions and an important climate-mitigation actor. An assessment of corporate climate action and systematic benchmarking against international targets is conducted for 138 companies in high-emitting sectors.
Model simulations with CO2 forcing prescribed in discrete geographical regions reveal that polar amplification arises primarily due to local lapse-rate feedback, with ice-albedo and Planck feedbacks playing subsidiary roles.
Ocean acidification will result in biological winners and losers. A mesocosm experiment shows that a toxic algal species is a winner under ocean acidification, with implications for the marine food web and, more generally, ecosystem services.
Managed coastal wetlands have been included for the first time in the US Greenhouse Gas Inventory. Intact vegetated coastal wetlands are shown to represent a net greenhouse gas sink, but these are being lost to development, despite robust regulation, causing emissions.
Urban expansion and climate change interact to produce less night-time warming than their sum. Combined implementation of adaptation strategies can offset projected daytime urban warming when applied with GHG emissions reductions, but cannot offset projected nocturnal warming.
During periods of photosynthetic inactivity, roots compete for nutrients with microbes and abiotic processes. Most ESMs neglect this competition, leading to large positive biases in annual N leaching and N2O emissions estimates.
Projected sea-level rise and increased flooding threaten coastal agriculture. Gradual increases in soil salinity, but not inundation alone, are shown to correspond to increasing diversification into aquaculture and higher levels of internal migration.
The sinking of dense waters drives the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation. As the climate warms, changes in ocean circulation, stratification and mixed-layer depth alter the regions in which this sinking occurs, with implications for global climate.
The impact of coral bleaching and mortality is found to reduce aggression in resident butterflyfish. This is linked to the lower dietary percentage of preferred food, nutritionally rich Acropora coral, with a less nutritious diet influencing aggressive behaviour.