IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/nat/natcli/v8y2018i6d10.1038_s41558-018-0177-y.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Forest-rainfall cascades buffer against drought across the Amazon

Author

Listed:
  • Arie Staal

    (Wageningen University)

  • Obbe A. Tuinenburg

    (Utrecht University)

  • Joyce H. C. Bosmans

    (Utrecht University)

  • Milena Holmgren

    (Wageningen University)

  • Egbert H. van Nes

    (Wageningen University)

  • Marten Scheffer

    (Wageningen University)

  • Delphine Clara Zemp

    (University of Goettingen
    Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research)

  • Stefan C. Dekker

    (Utrecht University
    Open University)

Abstract

Tree transpiration in the Amazon may enhance rainfall for downwind forests. Until now it has been unclear how this cascading effect plays out across the basin. Here, we calculate local forest transpiration and the subsequent trajectories of transpired water through the atmosphere in high spatial and temporal detail. We estimate that one-third of Amazon rainfall originates within its own basin, of which two-thirds has been transpired. Forests in the southern half of the basin contribute most to the stability of other forests in this way, whereas forests in the south-western Amazon are particularly dependent on transpired-water subsidies. These forest-rainfall cascades buffer the effects of drought and reveal a mechanism by which deforestation can compromise the resilience of the Amazon forest system in the face of future climatic extremes.

Suggested Citation

  • Arie Staal & Obbe A. Tuinenburg & Joyce H. C. Bosmans & Milena Holmgren & Egbert H. van Nes & Marten Scheffer & Delphine Clara Zemp & Stefan C. Dekker, 2018. "Forest-rainfall cascades buffer against drought across the Amazon," Nature Climate Change, Nature, vol. 8(6), pages 539-543, June.
    • Handle: RePEc:nat:natcli:v:8:y:2018:i:6:d:10.1038_s41558-018-0177-y
    DOI: 10.1038/s41558-018-0177-y
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41558-018-0177-y
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1038/s41558-018-0177-y?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Onil Banerjee & Martin Cicowiez & Marcia Macedo & Žiga Malek & Peter Verburg & Sean Goodwin & Renato Vargas & Ludmila Rattis & Paulo M. Brando & Michael T. Coe & Christopher Neill & Octavio Damiani, 2020. "An Amazon Tipping Point: The Economic and Environmental Fallout," CEDLAS, Working Papers 0292, CEDLAS, Universidad Nacional de La Plata.
    2. Mingjie Shi & John R. Worden & Adriana Bailey & David Noone & Camille Risi & Rong Fu & Sarah Worden & Robert Herman & Vivienne Payne & Thomas Pagano & Kevin Bowman & A. Anthony Bloom & Sassan Saatchi , 2022. "Amazonian terrestrial water balance inferred from satellite-observed water vapor isotopes," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 13(1), pages 1-10, December.
    3. Nico Wunderling & Frederik Wolf & Obbe A. Tuinenburg & Arie Staal, 2022. "Network motifs shape distinct functioning of Earth’s moisture recycling hubs," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 13(1), pages 1-8, December.
    4. Timothy M. Lenton & Jesse F. Abrams & Annett Bartsch & Sebastian Bathiany & Chris A. Boulton & Joshua E. Buxton & Alessandra Conversi & Andrew M. Cunliffe & Sophie Hebden & Thomas Lavergne & Benjamin , 2024. "Remotely sensing potential climate change tipping points across scales," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 15(1), pages 1-15, December.
    5. Vinícius B. P. Chagas & Pedro L. B. Chaffe & Günter Blöschl, 2022. "Climate and land management accelerate the Brazilian water cycle," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 13(1), pages 1-10, December.
    6. Yanfeng Wang & Ping Huang, 2022. "Potential fire risks in South America under anthropogenic forcing hidden by the Atlantic Multidecadal Oscillation," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 13(1), pages 1-9, December.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:nat:natcli:v:8:y:2018:i:6:d:10.1038_s41558-018-0177-y. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.nature.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.