Disentangling the effects of vapor pressure deficit on northern terrestrial vegetation productivity
Journal article, 2023

The impact of atmospheric vapor pressure deficit (VPD) on plant photosynthesis has long been acknowledged, but large interactions with air temperature (T) and soil moisture (SM) still hinder a complete understanding of the influence of VPD on vegetation production across various climate zones. Here, we found a diverging response of productivity to VPD in the Northern Hemisphere by excluding interactive effects of VPD with T and SM. The interactions between VPD and T/SM not only offset the potential positive impact of warming on vegetation productivity but also amplifies the negative effect of soil drying. Notably, for high-latitude ecosystems, there occurs a pronounced shift in vegetation productivity's response to VPD during the growing season when VPD surpasses a threshold of 3.5 to 4.0 hectopascals. These results yield previously unknown insights into the role of VPD in terrestrial ecosystems and enhance our comprehension of the terrestrial carbon cycle's response to global warming.

Author

Ziqian Zhong

Beijing Normal University

Bin He

Beijing Normal University

Ying Ping Wang

Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO)

Hans Chen

Chalmers, Space, Earth and Environment, Geoscience and Remote Sensing

Deliang Chen

University of Gothenburg

Yongshuo H. Fu

Beijing Normal University

Yaning Chen

Chinese Academy of Sciences

Lanlan Guo

Beijing Normal University

Ying Deng

Chinese Academy of Sciences

Ling Huang

Beijing University of Technology

Wenping Yuan

Sun Yat-Sen University

Xingmin Hao

Chinese Academy of Sciences

Rui Tang

Beijing Normal University

Huiming Liu

Ministry of Ecology and Environment Center for Satellite Application on Ecology and Environment

Liying Sun

Chinese Academy of Sciences

Xiaoming Xie

Beijing Normal University

Yafeng Zhang

Beijing Normal University

Science advances

2375-2548 (eISSN)

Vol. 9 32 eadf3166-

Subject Categories

Meteorology and Atmospheric Sciences

Ecology

Forest Science

Climate Research

DOI

10.1126/sciadv.adf3166

PubMed

37556542

More information

Latest update

10/10/2023