Biogeosciences www.biogeosciences.net 1726-4170 1726-4189 8 5 2011 10.5194/bg-8-1121-2011 http://www.biogeosciences.net/8/1121/2011/ http://www.biogeosciences.net/8/1121/2011/bg-8-1121-2011.html http://www.biogeosciences.net/8/1121/2011/bg-8-1121-2011.pdf 1121 1130 2011-05-13 Drought-associated changes in climate and their relevance for ecosystem experiments and models H. J. De Boeck H. Verbeeck Research Group of Plant and Vegetation Ecology, Department of Biology, Universiteit Antwerpen (Campus Drie Eiken), Universiteitsplein 1, 2610 Wilrijk, Belgium Laboratory of Plant Ecology, Department of Applied Ecology and Environmental Biology, Faculty of Bioscience Engineering, Ghent University, Coupure Links 653, 9000 Ghent, Belgium Drought periods can have important impacts on plant productivity and ecosystem functioning, but climatic conditions other than the lack of precipitation during droughts have never been quantified and have therefore not been considered explicitly in both experimental and modeling studies. Here, we identify which climatic characteristics deviate from normal during droughts and how these deviations could affect plant responses. Analysis of 609 years of daily data from nine Western European meteorological stations reveals that droughts in the studied region are consistently associated with more sunshine (+45 %), increased mean (+1.6 °C) and maximum (+2.8 °C) air temperatures and vapour pressure deficits that were 51 % higher than under normal conditions. These deviations from normal increase significantly as droughts progress. Using the process-model ORCHIDEE, we simulated droughts consistent with the results of the dataset analysis and compared water and carbon exchange of three different vegetation types during such natural droughts and droughts in which only the precipitation was affected. The comparison revealed contrasting responses: carbon loss was higher under natural drought in grasslands, while increased carbon uptake was found especially in decidious forests. This difference was attributed to better access to water reserves in forest ecosystems which prevented drought stress. This demonstrates that the warmer and sunnier conditions naturally associated with droughts can either improve growth or aggravate drought-related stress, depending on water reserves. As the impacts of including or excluding climatic parameters that correlate with drought are substantial, we propose that both experimental and modeling efforts should take into account other environmental factors than merely precipitation. Apipattanavis, S., Bert, F., Podesta, G., and Rajagopalan, B.: Linking weather generators and crop models for assessment of climate forecast outcomes, Agr. Forest. Meteorol., 150, 166–174, 2010. Baldocchi, D., Falge, E., Gu, L., Olson, R., Hollinger, D., Running, S., Anthoni, P., Bernhofer, Ch., Davis, K., Evans, R., Fuentes, J., Goldstein, A., Katul, G., Law, B., Lee, X., Mahli, Y., Meyers, T., Munger, W., Oechel, W., Paw U, K. T., Pilegaard, K., Schmid, H. P., Valentini, R., Verma, S., Vesala, T., Wilson, K., and Wofsy, S.: FLUXNET: a new tool to study the temporal and spatial variability of ecosystem-scal carbon dioxide, water vapour, and energy flux densities, B. Am. Meteorol. Soc., 82, 2415–2434, 2001. Ball, J. T., Woodrow, I. E., and Berry J. A.: A model predicting stomatal conductance and its contribution to the control of photosynthesis under different environmental conditions, edited by: Biggens, J., Progress in Photosynthesis Research, vol. IV, IV.5.221., 1987. Beer, C., Reichstein, M., Ciais, P., Farquhar, G. D., and Papale, D.: Mean annual GPP of Europe derived from its water balance, Geophys. Res. Lett., 34, L05401, http://dx.doi.org/10.1029/2006GL029006doi:10.1029/2006GL029006, 2007. Beier, C., Emmett, B., Gundersen, P., Tietema, A., Penuelas, J., Estiarte, M., Gordon, C., Gorissen, A., Llorens, L., Roda, F., and Williams, D.: Novel Approaches to Study Climate Change Effects on Terrestrial Ecosystems in the Field: Drought and Passive Nighttime Warming, Ecosystems, 7, 583–597, 2004. Botta, A., Viovy, N., Ciais, P., and Friedlingstein, P.: A global prognostic scheme of leaf onset using satellite data, Global Change Biol., 6, 709–726, 2000. Briffa, K. R., van der Schrier, G., and Jones, P. D.: Wet and dry summers in Europe since 1750: evidence of increasing drought, Int. J. Climatol., 29, 1894–1905, 2009. Caldwell, M. M., Dawson, T. E., and Richards, J. H.: Hydraulic lift: consequences of water efflux from the roots of plants, Oecologia, 113, 151–161, 1998. Charles, H. and Dukes, J. S.: Effects of warming and altered precipitation on plant and nutrient dynamics of a New England salt marsh, Ecol. Appl., 19, 1758–1773, 2009. Chaves, M. M., Maroco, J. P., and Pereira, J. S.: Understanding plant responses to drought – from genes to the whole plant, Funct. Plant Biol., 30, 239–264, 2003. Ciais, P., Reichstein, M., Viovy, N., Granier, A., Ogee, J., Allard, V., Aubinet, M., Buchmann, N., Bernhofer, C., Carrara, A., Chevallier, F., De Noblet, N., Friend, A. D., Friedlingstein, P., Grunwald, T., Heinesch, B., Keronen, P., Knohl, A., Krinner, G., Loustau, D., Manca, G., Matteucci, G., Miglietta, F., Ourcival, J. M., Papale, D., Pilegaard, K., Rambal, S., Seufert, G., Soussana, J. F., Sanz, M. J., Schulze, E. D., Vesala, T., and Valentini, R.: Europe-wide reduction in primary productivity caused by the heat and drought in 2003, Nature, 437, 529–533, 2005. Conil, S., Douville, H., and Tyteca, S.: Contribution of realistic soil moisture initial conditions to boreal summer climate predictability, Clim. Dynam., 32, 75–93, 2009. Da Costa, A. C. L., Galbraith, D., Almeida, S., Portela, B. T. T., Da Costa, M., De Athaydes Silva Junior, J., Braga, A. P., De Gonçalves, P. H. L., De Oliveira, A. A., Fisher, R., Phillips, O. L., Metcalfe, D. B., Levy, P., and Meir, P.: Effect of 7 yr of experimental drought on vegetation dynamics and biomass storage of an eastern Amazonian rainforest, New Phytol., 187, 579–591, 2010. De Boeck, H. J., Dreesen, F. E., Janssens, I. A., and Nijs, I.: Climatic characteristics of heat waves and their simulation in plant experiments, Global Change Biol., 16, 1992–2000, 2010. De Boeck, H. J., Dreesen, F. E., Janssens, I. A., and Nijs, I.: Whole-system responses of experimental plant communities to climate extremes imposed in different seasons, New Phytol., 189, 806–817, 2011. Deckmyn, G., Martens, C., and Impens, I.: The importance of the ratio UV-B/PAR during leaf development as determining factor of plant sensitivity to increased UV-B irradiance: effects on growth, gas-exchange and pigmentation of bean plants (\textitPhaseolus vulgaris L). Plant Cell Environ., 17, 295–301, 1994. Delpierre, N., Soudani, K., Francois, C., Kostner, B., Pontailler, J. Y., Nikinmaa, E., Misson, L., Aubinet, M., Bernhofer, C., Granier, A., Grunwald, T., Heinesch, B., Longdoz, B., Ourcival, J.-M., Rambal, S., Vesala, T., and Dufrene, E.: Exceptional carbon uptake in European forests during the warm spring of 2007: a data–model analysis, Global Change Biol., 15, 1455–1474, 2009. Ducoudré, N. I.: SECHIBA, a new set of parameterizations of the hydraulic exchanges at the land-atmosphere interface within the LMD atmospheric general circulation model, J. Clim., 6, 248–273, 1993. Farquhar, G. D., von Caemmerer, S., and Berry J. A.: A biochemical model of photosynthetic CO2 assimilation in leaves of C3 species, Planta, 149, 78–90, 1980. Fischer, E. M., Seneviratne, S. I., Vidale, P. L., Lüthi, D., and Schär, C. Soil moisture-atmosphere interactions during the 2003 European summer heatwave, J. Clim., 20, 5081–5099, 2007. Fischer, E. M., Seneviratne, S. I., Lüthi, D., and Schär, C.: Contribution of land-atmosphere coupling to recent European summer heat waves, Geophys. Res. Lett., 34, L06707, http://dx.doi.org/10.1029/2006GL029068doi:10.1029/2006GL029068, 2007b. Fischer, E. M. and and Schär, C.: Future changes in daily summer temperature variability: driving processes and role for temperature extremes, Clim. Dynam., 33, 917–935, 2009. Friedlingstein, P., Joel, G., Field, C. B., and Fung I. Y.: Toward an allocation scheme for global terrestrial carbon models, Global Change Biol., 5, 755–770, 1999. Gerten, D., Luo, Y., Le Maire, G., Parton, W. J., Keough, C., Weng, E., Beier, C., Ciais, P., Cramer, W., Dukes, J. S., Hanson, P. J., Knapp, A. A. K., Linder, S., Nepstad, D. A. N., Rustad, L., and Sowerby, A.: Modelled effects of precipitation on ecosystem carbon and water dynamics in different climatic zones, Global Change Biol., 14, 2365–2379, 2008. Gielen, B., Verbeeck, H., Neirynck, J., Sampson, D. A., Vermeiren, F., and Janssens, I. A.: Decadal water balance of a temperate Scots pine forest (Pinus sylvestris L.) based on measurements and modelling, Biogeosciences, 7, 1247–1261, http://dx.doi.org/10.5194/bg-7-1247-2010doi:10.5194/bg-7-1247-2010, 2010. Gilgen, A. K., Signarbieux, C., Feller, U., and Buchmann, N.: Competitive advantage of \textitRumex obtusifolius L might increase in intensively managed temperate grasslands under drier climate, Agr. Ecosyst. Environ., 135, 15–23, 2010. Granier, A., Reichstein, M., Bréda, N., Janssens, I. A., Falge, E., Ciais, P., Grünwald, T., Aubinet, M., Berbigier, P., Bernhofer, C., Buchmann, N., Facini, O., Grassi, G., Heinesch, B., Ilvesniemi, H., Keronen, P., Knohl, A., Köstner, B., Lagergren, F., Lindroth, A., Longdoz, B., Loustau, D., Mateus, J., Montagnani, L., Nys, C., Moors, E. J., Papale, D., Peiffer, M., Pilegaard, K., Pita, G., Pumpanen, J., Rambal, S., Rebmann, C., Rodrigues, A., Seufert, G., Tenhunen, J., Vesala, T., and Wang, Q.: Evidence for soil water control on carbon and water dynamics in European forests during the extremely dry year: 2003, Agr. Forest Meteorol., 143, 123–145, 2007. Hirschi, M., Seneviratne, S. I., Alexandrov, V., Boberg, F., Boroneant, C., Christensen, O. B., Formayer, H., Orlowsky, B., and Stepanek, P.: Observational evidence for soil-moisture impact on hot extremes in southeastern Europe, Nat. Geosci., 4, 17–21, 2011. IPCC: Climate Change 2007: The Physical Science Basis. Contribution of Working Group I to the Fourth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, edited by: Solomon, S., Qin, D., Manning, M., Chen, Z., Marquis, M., Averyt, K. B., Tignor, M., and Miller, H. L., Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, United Kingdom and New York, NY, USA, 2007. Jaeger, E. B. and Seneviratne, S. I.: The role of land-atmosphere coupling for European temperature and precipitation extremes and trends, Clim. Dynam. http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s00382-010-0780-8doi:10.1007/s00382-010-0780-8, 2010. Jentsch, A., Kreyling, J., and Beierkuhnlein, C.: A new generation of climate change experiments: events, not trends, Front. Ecol. Environ., 5, 315–324, 2007. Jones, H. G.: Plants and Microclimate: A Quantitative Approach to Environmental Plant Physiology, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, UK, 2007. Jung, M., Le Maire, G., Zaehle, S., Luyssaert, S., Vetter, M., Churkina, G., Ciais, P., Viovy, N., and Reichstein, M.: Assessing the ability of three land ecosystem models to simulate gross carbon uptake of forests from boreal to Mediterranean climate in Europe, Biogeosciences, 4, 647–656, http://dx.doi.org/10.5194/bg-4-647-2007doi:10.5194/bg-4-647-2007, 2007. Kljun, N., Black, T. A., Griffis, T. J., Barr, A. G., Gaumont-Guay, D., Morgenstern, K., McCaughey, J. H., and Nesic, Z.: Response of net ecosystem productivity of three boreal forest stands to drought, Ecosystems, 9, 1128–1144, 2006. Kimball, B. A.: Theory and performance of an infrared heater for ecosystem warming.,Global Change Biol., 11, 2041–2056, 2005. Klok, E. J. and Klein Tank, A. M. G.: Updated and extended European dataset of daily climate observations, Int. J. Climatol., 29, 1182–1191, 2009. Krinner, G., Viovy, N., de Noblet, N., Ogée, J., Friedlingstein, P., Ciais, P., Sitch, S., Polcher, J., and Prentice, I. C.: A dynamic global vegetation model for studies of the coupled atmosphere-biosphere system, Global Biogeochem. Cy., 19, 1–33, 2005. Larcher, W.: Physiological plant ecology, 4th edition, Springer-Verlag, Berlin, 2003. Lucas, R. W., Forseth, I. N., and Casper, B. B.: Using rainout shelters to evaluate climate change effects on the demography of \textitCryptantha flava, J. Ecol., 96, 514–522, 2008. Luo, Y., Gerten, D., Maire, G. L., Parton, W. J., Weng, E., Zhou, X., Keough, C., Beier, C., Ciais, P., Cramer, W., Dukes, J. S., Emmett, B., Hanson, P. J., Knapp, A., Linder, S., Nepstad, D., and Rustad, L.: Modeled interactive effects of precipitation, temperature, and CO$_2 $ on ecosystem carbon and water dynamics in different climatic zones, Global Change Biol., 14, 1986–1999, 2008. Meehl, G. A. and Tebaldi, C.: More Intense, More Frequent, and Longer Lasting Heat Waves in the 21st Century, Science, 305, 994–997, 2004. Padilla, F. M. and Pugnaire, F. I.: Rooting depth and soil moisture control Mediterranean woody seedling survival during drought, Funct. Ecol., 21, 489–495, 2007. Pfisterer, A. B., and Schmid, B.: Diversity-dependent production can decrease the stability of ecosystem functioning, Nature, 416, 84–86, 2002. Piao, S., Ciais, P., Friedlingstein, P., Peylin, P., Reichstein, M., Luyssaert, S., Margolis, H., Fang, J., Barr, A., Chen, A., Grelle, A., Hollinger, D. Y., Laurila, T., Lindroth, A., Richardson, A. D., and Vesala, T.: Net carbon dioxide losses of northern ecosystems in response to autumn warming, Nature, 451, 49–53, 2008. Reichstein, M., Ciais, P., Papale, D., Valentini, R., Running, S., Viovy, N., Cramer, W., Granier, A., Ogée, J., Allard, V., Aubinet, M., Bernhofer, C., Buchmann, N., Carrara, A., Grünwald, T., Heimann, M., Heinesch, B., Knohl, A., Kutsch, W., Loustau, D., Manca, G., Matteucci, G., Miglietta, F., Ourcival, J. M., Pilegaard, K., Pumpanen, J., Rambal, S., Schaphoff, S., Seufert, G., Soussana, J. F., Sanz, M. J., Vesala, T., and Zhao, M.: Reduction of ecosystem productivity and respiration during the European summer 2003 climate anomaly: a joint flux tower, remote sensing and modelling analysis, Global Change Biol., 13, 634–651, 2007. Santaren, D., Peylin, P., Viovy, N., and Ciais, P.: Optimizing a process-based ecosystem model with eddy-covariance flux measurements: A pine forest in southern France, Global Biogeochem. Cy., 21, GB2013, http://dx.doi.org/10.1029/2006GB002834doi:10.1029/2006GB002834, 2007. Schär, C., and Jendritzky, G.: Hot news from summer 2003, Nature, 432, 559–560, 2004. Schär, C., Vidale, P. L., Lüthi, D., Frei, C., Häberli, C., Liniger, M., and Appenzeller, C.: The role of increasing temperature variability in European summer heatwaves, Nature, 427, 332–336, 2004. Schwalm, C. R., Williams, C. A., Schaefer, K., Anderson, R., Arain, M. A., Baker, I., Barr, A., Black, T. A., Chen, G., Chen, J. M., Ciais, P., Davis, K. J., Desai, A., Dietze, M., Dragoni, D., Fischer, M. L., Flanagan, L. B., Grant, R., Gu, L., Hollinger, D., Izaurralde, R. C., Kucharik, C., Lafleur, P., Law, B. E., Li, L., Li, Z., Liu, S., Lokupitiya, E., Luo, Y., Ma, S., Margolis, H., Matamala, R., McCaughey, H., Monson, R. K., Oechel, W. C., Peng, C., Poulter, B., Price, D. T., Riciutto, D. M., Riley, W., Sahoo; A. K., Sprintsin, M., Sun, J., Tian, H., Tonitto, C., Verbeeck, H., and Verma, S. B.: A model-data intercomparison of CO₂ exchange across North America: Results from the North American Carbon Program site synthesis, J. Geophys. Res., 115, G00H05, http://dx.doi.org/10.1029/2009JG001229doi:10.1029/2009JG001229, 2010. Serinaldi, F., Bonaccorso, B., Cancelliere, A., and Grimaldi, S.: Probabilistic characterization of drought properties through copulas, Phys. Chem. Earth, 34, 596–605, 2009. Svejcar, T., Angell, R., and Miller, R.: Fixed location rain shelters for studying precipitation effects on rangelands, J. Arid Environ., 42, 187–193, 1999. Teuling, A. J., Seneviratne, S. I., Stöckli, R., Reichstein, M., Moors, E., Ciais, P., Luyssaert, S., van den Hurk, B., Ammann, C., Bernhofer, C., Dellwik, E., Gianelle, D., Gielen, B., Grünwald, T., Klumpp, K., Montagnani, L., Moureaux, C., Sottocornola, M., and Wohlfahrt, G.: Contrasting response of European forest and grassland energy exchange to heatwaves, Nat. Geosci., 3, 722–727, 2010. Trenberth, K. E. and Shea, D. J.: Relationships between precipitation and surface temperature, Geophys. Res. Lett., 32, L14703, http://dx.doi.org/10.1029/2005GL022760doi:10.1029/2005GL022760, 2005. Vandentorren, S., Suzan, F., Medina, S., Pascal, M., Maulpoix, A., Cohen, J. C., Ledrans, M.: Mortality in 13 French cities during the August 2003 heat wave, Am. J. Public Health, 94, 1518–1520, 2004. Vautard, R., Yiou, P., D'Andrea, F., de Noblet, N., Viovy, N., Cassou, C., Polcher, J., Ciais, P., Kageyama, M., and Fan, Y.: Summertime European heat and drought waves induced by wintertime Mediterranean rainfall deficit, Geophys. Res. Lett., 34, L07711, http://dx.doi.org/10.1029/2006GL028001doi:10.1029/2006GL028001, 2007. Verbeeck, H., Steppe, K., Nadezhdina, N., Op De Beeck, M., Deckmyn, G., Meiresonne, L., Lemeur, R., Čermák, J., Ceulemans, R., and Janssens, I. A.: Model analysis of the effects of atmospheric drivers on storage water use in Scots pine, Biogeosciences, 4, 657–671, http://dx.doi.org/10.5194/bg-4-657-2007doi:10.5194/bg-4-657-2007, 2007. Verbeeck, H., Peylin, P., Bacour, C., Bonal, D., Steppe, K., and Ciais P.: Seasonal patterns of CO₂ fluxes in Amazon forests: fusion of eddy covariance data and the ORCHIDEE model, J. Geophys. Res., http://dx.doi.org/10.1029/2010JG001544doi:10.1029/2010JG001544, 2011. Vetter, M., Churkina, G., Jung, M., Reichstein, M., Zaehle, S., Bondeau, A., Chen, Y., Ciais, P., Feser, F., Freibauer, A., Geyer, R., Jones, C., Papale, D., Tenhunen, J., Tomelleri, E., Trusilova, K., Viovy, N., and Heimann, M.: Analyzing the causes and spatial pattern of the European 2003 carbon flux anomaly using seven models, Biogeosciences, 5, 561–583, http://dx.doi.org/10.5194/bg-5-561-2008doi:10.5194/bg-5-561-2008, 2008. Yang, J., Zhang, J., Huang, Z., Zhu, Q., and Wang, L.: Remobilization of Carbon Reserves Is Improved by Controlled Soil-Drying during Grain Filling of Wheat, Crop Sci., 40, 1645–1655, 2000. Zeng, X.: Global vegetation root distribution for land modeling, J. Hydrometeorol., 2, 525–530, 2001.