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Reply to comment by V. Arora on “Optimized stomatal conductance of vegetated land surfaces and its effects on simulated productivity and climate”
Author(s) -
Kleidon Axel
Publication year - 2005
Publication title -
geophysical research letters
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.007
H-Index - 273
eISSN - 1944-8007
pISSN - 0094-8276
DOI - 10.1029/2005gl022355
Subject(s) - cloud cover , stomatal conductance , photosynthesis , deciduous , atmospheric sciences , environmental science , radiative transfer , productivity , vegetation (pathology) , radiation , mathematics , horticulture , botany , biology , physics , cloud computing , optics , computer science , macroeconomics , economics , medicine , pathology , operating system
[1] The stomatal conductance of terrestrial vegetation affects the exchange fluxes of water and carbon at the land surface. Here, a dynamic vegetation model coupled to a climate model of intermediate complexity is used to demonstrate that an optimum stomatal conductance exists at which the rate of photosynthesis, and therefore vegetation productivity, is at a maximum. This maximum originates from two competing drivers that affect the rate of photosynthesis: (i) increased supply of atmospheric carbon dioxide with increased stomatal conductance and (ii) increased cloud cover, which reduces the supply of sunlight. The simulated climate with optimized stomatal conductance is close to the model’s control simulation, but vegetation productivity is substantially enhanced. The existence of this optimum has potentially important implications for the adaptation of terrestrial productivity to different climates. If vegetation maintains this optimum not only in the present-day, but also adapts to it during past (and future) climates, not considering this optimum and how it changes leads to a general underestimation of terrestrial productivity under different climates.