干旱区主导全球植被生产力增加趋势

Drylands contribute disproportionately to observed global productivity increases

旱区(drylands)是指年平均降雨量与潜在蒸散发之比小于0.65的区域,占全球陆地表面的42%,是最易受气候变化影响的地区之一.然而,目前关于旱区植被对气候变化的响应特征及其对全球变绿和陆地生态系统生产力变化的相对贡献仍不清楚.本研究通过集成模型和遥感数据分析发现,旱区对全球变绿的贡献较小,仅占33%±15%,但却主导了全球植被生产力(GPP)增加趋势,贡献达65%±16%旱区植被光合利用效率升高是解释变绿与生产力增加不一致的主要原因.旱区光能利用率主要受土壤水分的影响,大气水汽压差作用不显著,而非旱区主要受大气水汽压差的影响,土壤水的作用有限.因此,需要强调使用不同的水分胁迫指标来预测不同区域植被生产力变化的重要性,这也有助于理解较长时间尺度上植被绿度与生产力之间的解耦关系.

Drylands cover about 40% of the terrestrial surface and are sensitive to climate change, but their relative contributions to global vegetation greening and productivity increase in recent decades are still poorly known. Here, by integrating satellite data and biosphere modeling, we showed that drylands contributed more to global gross primary productivity(GPP) increase(65% ± 16%) than to Earth greening(33% ± 15%)observed during 1982–2015. The enhanced productivity per unit leaf area, i.e., light-use efficiency(LUE),was the mechanism behind this pattern. We also found that LUE was more sensitive to soil moisture than to atmospheric vapor pressure deficit(VPD) in drylands, while the opposite was observed(i.e., LUE was more sensitive to VPD) in humid areas. Our findings suggest the importance of using different moisture stress metrics in projecting the vegetation productivity changes of dry versus humid regions and highlight the prominent role of drylands as key controllers of the global carbon cycle.