Journal article
Drought in the Southern United States over the 20th century: variability and its impacts on terrestrial ecosystem productivity and carbon storage
Climatic change, Vol.114(2), pp.379-397
09/2012
Handle:
https://hdl.handle.net/2376/108628
Abstract
Drought is one of the most devastating natural hazards faced by the Southern United States (SUS). Drought events and their adverse impacts on the economy, society and environment have been extensively reported during 1895–2007. Our aim is thus to characterize drought conditions in the SUS and explore the impacts on terrestrial ecosystem function (i.e., net primary productivity (NPP) and net carbon exchange (NCE)). Standard precipitation index (SPI) was used to characterize drought intensity and duration, and a process-based ecosystem model was used to explore the relationship between drought and ecosystem function. Combining overall information on growing-season SPI, drought area and duration, we concluded there was no significant change in drought conditions for the SUS during 1895–2007. However, increased drought intensity was found for many areas in the east, resulting in significant decreases in NPP for these areas, with the largest decrease up to 40% during extreme droughts. Changes in precipitation patterns increased C emissions of 0.16 Pg (1 Pg = 1015 g) in the SUS during 1895–2007. The west (dry region) acted as a C sink due to increased precipitation, while the east (water-rich region) acted as a C source due to increased drought intensity. Both NPP and NCE significantly increased along a gradient of declining drought intensity. Changes in precipitation resulted in C sources in forest, wetland, and cropland ecosystems, while C sinks in shrubland and grassland ecosystems. Changes in air temperature could either enhance or reduce drought impacts on NPP and NCE across different vegetation types.
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Details
- Title
- Drought in the Southern United States over the 20th century: variability and its impacts on terrestrial ecosystem productivity and carbon storage
- Creators
- Guangsheng Chen - School of Forestry and Wildlife Sciences Auburn University 602 Duncan Drive Auburn AL 36849 USAHanqin Tian - School of Forestry and Wildlife Sciences Auburn University 602 Duncan Drive Auburn AL 36849 USAChi Zhang - Global Institute of Sustainability Arizona State University PO Box 875402 Tempe AZ 85287 USAMingliang Liu - School of Forestry and Wildlife Sciences Auburn University 602 Duncan Drive Auburn AL 36849 USAWei Ren - School of Forestry and Wildlife Sciences Auburn University 602 Duncan Drive Auburn AL 36849 USAWenquan Zhu - State Key Laboratory of Earth Surface Processes and Resource Ecology, College of Resources Science and Technology Beijing Normal University Beijing 100875 ChinaArthur Chappelka - School of Forestry and Wildlife Sciences Auburn University 602 Duncan Drive Auburn AL 36849 USAStephen Prior - USDA-ARS National Soil Dynamics Laboratory 411 South Donahue Dr Auburn AL 36832 USAGraeme Lockaby - School of Forestry and Wildlife Sciences Auburn University 602 Duncan Drive Auburn AL 36849 USA
- Publication Details
- Climatic change, Vol.114(2), pp.379-397
- Academic Unit
- Civil and Environmental Engineering, Department of
- Publisher
- Springer Netherlands; Dordrecht
- Identifiers
- 99900547006101842
- Language
- English
- Resource Type
- Journal article