Our paper documents that land-use change impacts regional and global climate through the surface-energy budget, as well as through the carbon cycle. The surface-energy budget effects may be more important than the carbon-cycle effects. However, land-use impacts on climate cannot be adequately quantified with the usual metric of 'global warming potential'. A new metric is needed to quantify the human disturbance of the Earth's surface-energy budget. This 'regional climate change potential' could offer a new metric for developing a more inclusive climate protocol. This concept would also implicitly provide a mechanism to monitor potential local-scale environmental changes that could influence biodiversity.
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| http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rsta.2002.1027 | DOI Listing |
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Article Synopsis
- Trees can change the size of their leaves based on how much water is available to help them deal with stress from not having enough water.
- Researchers used a special model to compare two ways trees can use their leaf area: one way boosts carbon gain, and the other way helps reduce stress from lack of water.
- They found that while aiming for carbon gain can be good, it might cause more stress on the tree, and focusing on reducing stress can lead to fewer benefits for the tree's growth in the future.
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