Climate-Driven Increases in Global Terrestrial Net Primary Production from 1982 to 1999

• Published in: Science (American Association for the Advancement of Science) Vol. 300; no. 5625; pp. 1560 - 1563
• Main Authors: Nemani, Ramakrishna R., Keeling, Charles D., Hashimoto, Hirofumi, Jolly, William M., Piper, Stephen C., Tucker, Compton J., Myneni, Ranga B., Running, Steven W.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Washington, DC American Association for the Advancement of Science 06-06-2003; The American Association for the Advancement of Science
• Subjects: Agricultural production; Animal, plant and microbial ecology; Applied ecology; Area Studies; Atmosphere; Bioclimatology; Biological and medical sciences; Carbon - analysis; Carbon Dioxide; Climate; Climate change; Climate models; Climatic changes; Data Processing; Ecosystem; Ecotoxicology, biological effects of pollution; Environmental aspects; Environmental impact; Field Studies; Forest genetics; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; Geography; Global climate models; Observations; Plant Development; Plant growth; Radiation; Rain; Seasons; Soil; Species; Sunlight; Temperature; Terrestrial ecosystems; Terrestrial environment, soil, air; Time Factors; Tropical Climate; Tropical climates; Vegetation; Vegetation boundaries; Volcanic Eruptions; Water; World; United States; South America, Amazon R; Primary productivity; Geographic distribution; Growth rate; Global change; Vegetation; Satellite observation; Air pollution; Solar radiation; Climate modification; Interannual variation
• ISSN: 0036-8075; 1095-9203
• DOI: 10.1126/science.1082750

Recent climatic changes have enhanced plant growth in northern mid-latitudes and high latitudes. However, a comprehensive analysis of the impact of global climatic changes on vegetation productivity has not before been expressed in the context of variable limiting factors to plant growth. We present a global investigation of vegetation responses to climatic changes by analyzing 18 years (1982 to 1999) of both climatic data and satellite observations of vegetation activity. Our results indicate that global changes in climate have eased several critical climatic constraints to plant growth, such that net primary production increased 6% (3.4 petagrams of carbon over 18 years) globally. The largest increase was in tropical ecosystems. Amazon rain forests accounted for 42% of the global increase in net primary production, owing mainly to decreased cloud cover and the resulting increase in solar radiation.