Tree restoration is a popular approach to mitigating climate change, but its hydrological impacts are often overlooked. Tree restoration increases evaporation, as well as increasing downwind precipitation due to enhanced moisture recycling. Our study shows that these combined effects can affect regions’ wetness or dryness, streamflow and water availability.
This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution
Access options
Access Nature and 54 other Nature Portfolio journals
Get Nature+, our best-value online-access subscription
$29.99 /Â 30Â days
cancel any time
Subscribe to this journal
Receive 12 print issues and online access
$259.00 per year
only $21.58 per issue
Buy this article
- Purchase on Springer Link
- Instant access to full article PDF
Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout
Change history
10 June 2022
The phrasing in the Fig. 1a caption has been updated to clarify the patterns of decreased water availability shown in Fig. 1a.
References
Bosch, J. M. & Hewlett, J. D. A review of catchment experiments to determine the effect of vegetation changes on water yield and evapotranspiration. J. Hydrol. 55, 3–23 (1982). This paper presents the effects of forest cover change on evaporation.
Ellison, D., Futter, M. N. & Bishop, K. On the forest cover-water yield debate: From demand- to supply-side thinking. Glob. Change Biol. 18, 806–820 (2012). This paper demonstrates how tree cover change increases precipitation through evaporation recycling.
Bastin, J.-F. et al. The global tree restoration potential. Science 365, 76–79 (2019). This paper presents the tree restoration potential.
Zhang, L., Dawes, W. R. & Walker, G. R. Response of mean annual evapotranspiration to vegetation changes at catchment scale. Water Resour. Res. 37, 701–708 (2001). This paper presents a calibrated Budyko-like model for forest and grassland evaporation.
Tuinenburg, O. A., Theeuwen, J. J. E. & Staal, A. Global evaporation to precipitation flows obtained with Lagrangian atmospheric moisture tracking. PANGAEA (2020). A dataset of global moisture recycling.
Additional information
Publisher’s note Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.
This is a summary of: Hoek van Dijke, A. J. et al. Shifts in regional water availability due to global tree restoration. Nat. Geosci. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41561-022-00935-0 (2022).
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Wetter and drier regions as large-scale tree restoration shifts water fluxes. Nat. Geosci. 15, 344–345 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41561-022-00941-2
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41561-022-00941-2