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Simulated climate–vegetation interaction in semi-arid regions affected by plant diversity

Nature Geoscience volume 6, pages 954–958 (2013)Cite this article

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Abstract

The end of the African Humid Period between 6,000 and 4,000 years ago was associated with large changes in precipitation and vegetation cover. Sediment records from Lake Yoa, Chad, show a gradual decline in precipitation and fluctuation in vegetation over this interval, and have been suggested to demonstrate a weak interaction between climate and vegetation1,2,3. However, interpretation of these data has neglected the potential effects of plant diversity on the stability of the climate–vegetation system. Here we use a conceptual model that represents plant diversity in terms of moisture requirement. Some of the plant types simulated are sensitive to changes in precipitation, which alone would lead to an unstable system with the possibility of abrupt changes. Other plants are more resilient, resulting in a stable system that changes gradually. We demonstrate that plant diversity tends to attenuate the instability of the interaction between climate and sensitive plant types, whereas it reduces the stability of the interaction between climate and less-sensitive plant types. Hence, despite large sensitivities of individual plant types to precipitation, a gradual decline in precipitation and shift in mean vegetation cover can occur. However, we suggest that the system could become unstable if some plant types were removed or introduced, leading to an abrupt regime shift.

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Figure 1: Evolution of the terrestrial ecosystem components in the Ounianga region from 6 to 3.5 ka.
Figure 2: Transient dynamics of a mixture of sensitive and insensitive plant types interacting with climate.
Figure 3: Transient dynamics of a mixture of sensitive plant types interacting with climate.

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Acknowledgements

The authors thank J. Pongratz, C. Reick and T. Raddatz, Max Planck Institute for Meteorology, for discussions.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Max Planck Institute for Meteorology, Hamburg D-20146, Germany

    M. Claussen, S. Bathiany, V. Brovkin & T. Kleinen

  2. Meteorological Institute, University of Hamburg, D-20146, Germany

    M. Claussen

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  1. M. Claussen
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  2. S. Bathiany
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  3. V. Brovkin
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  4. T. Kleinen
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M.C. designed the research and carried out the simulations. All authors discussed the results and contributed to the manuscript.

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Correspondence to M. Claussen.

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The authors declare no competing financial interests.

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Claussen, M., Bathiany, S., Brovkin, V. et al. Simulated climate–vegetation interaction in semi-arid regions affected by plant diversity. Nature Geosci 6, 954–958 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1038/ngeo1962

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