Greening of the Earth and its drivers (original) (raw)

References

  1. Peters, G. P. et al. The challenge to keep global warming below 2°. Nature Clim. Change 3, 4–6 (2013).
    Article Google Scholar
  2. Ciais, P. et al. in Climate Change 2013: The Physical Science Basis (eds Stocker, T. F. et al.) Ch. 6 (IPCC, Cambridge Univ. Press, 2013).
    Google Scholar
  3. Myneni, R. B., Keeling, C. D., Tucker, C. J., Asrar, G. & Nemani, R. R. Increased plant growth in the northern high latitudes from 1981 to 1991. Nature 386, 698–702 (1997).
    Article CAS Google Scholar
  4. Pan, Y. et al. A large and persistent carbon sink in the world’s forests. Science 333, 988–993 (2011).
    Article CAS Google Scholar
  5. Xu, L. et al. Temperature and vegetation seasonality diminishment over northern lands. Nature Clim. Change 3, 581–586 (2013).
    Article Google Scholar
  6. Los, S. O. Analysis of trends in fused AVHRR and MODIS NDVI data for 1982–2006: indication for a CO2 fertilization effect in global vegetation. Glob. Biogeochem. Cycles 27, 318–330 (2013).
    Article CAS Google Scholar
  7. Mao, J. F. et al. Global latitudinal-asymmetric vegetation growth trends and their driving mechanisms: 1982–2009. Remote Sens. 5, 1484–1497 (2013).
    Article Google Scholar
  8. Piao, S. et al. Detection and attribution of vegetation greening trend in China over the last 30 years. Glob. Change Biol. 21, 1601–1609 (2015).
    Article Google Scholar
  9. Wang, X. H. et al. A two-fold increase of carbon cycle sensitivity to tropical temperature variations. Nature 506, 212–215 (2014).
    Article CAS Google Scholar
  10. Malhi, Y. et al. Climate change, deforestation, and the fate of the Amazon. Science 319, 169–172 (2008).
    Article CAS Google Scholar
  11. Ukkola, A. M. et al. Reduced streamflow in water-stressed climates consistent with CO2 effects on vegetation. Nature Clim. Change 6, 75–78 (2015).
    Article Google Scholar
  12. Piao, S. L. et al. Evaluation of terrestrial carbon cycle models for their response to climate variability and to CO2 trends. Glob. Change Biol. 19, 2117–2132 (2013).
    Article Google Scholar
  13. Allen, M. R. & Tett, S. F. B. Checking for model consistency in optimal fingerprinting. Clim. Dynam. 15, 419–434 (1999).
    Article Google Scholar
  14. Norby, R. J. et al. Forest response to elevated CO2 is conserved across a broad range of productivity. Proc. Natl Acad. Sci. USA 102, 18052–18056 (2005).
    Article CAS Google Scholar
  15. Schimel, D., Stephens, B. B. & Fisher, J. B. Effect of increasing CO2 on the terrestrial carbon cycle. Proc. Natl Acad. Sci. USA 112, 436–441 (2015).
    Article CAS Google Scholar
  16. Galloway, J. N. et al. Nitrogen cycles: past, present, and future. Biogeochemistry 70, 153–226 (2004).
    Article CAS Google Scholar
  17. Donohue, R. J., Roderick, M. L., McVicar, T. R. & Farquhar, G. D. Impact of CO2 fertilization on maximum foliage cover across the globe’s warm, arid environments. Geophys. Res. Lett. 40, 3031–3035 (2013).
    Article CAS Google Scholar
  18. Wong, S. C., Cowan, I. R. & Farquhar, G. D. Stomatal conductance correlates with photosynthetic capacity. Nature 282, 424–426 (1979).
    Article Google Scholar
  19. Achard, F. et al. Determination of deforestation rates of the world’s humid tropical forests. Science 297, 999–1002 (2002).
    Article CAS Google Scholar
  20. Gibson, L. et al. Primary forests are irreplaceable for sustaining tropical biodiversity. Nature 478, 378–381 (2011).
    Article CAS Google Scholar
  21. LeBauer, D. S. & Treseder, K. K. Nitrogen limitation of net primary productivity in terrestrial ecosystems is globally distributed. Ecology 89, 371–379 (2008).
    Article Google Scholar
  22. Magnani, F. et al. The human footprint in the carbon cycle of temperate and boreal forests. Nature 447, 848–850 (2007).
    Article Google Scholar
  23. Canadell, J. G. & Schulze, E. D. Global potential of biospheric carbon management for climate mitigation. Nature Commun. 5, 5282 (2014).
    Article Google Scholar
  24. Goulding, K. W. T. et al. Nitrogen deposition and its contribution to nitrogen cycling and associated soil processes. New Phytol. 139, 49–58 (1998).
    Article CAS Google Scholar
  25. Holland, E. A., Braswell, B. H., Sulzman, J. & Lamarque, J. F. Nitrogen deposition onto the United States and western Europe: synthesis of observations and models. Ecol. Appl. 15, 38–57 (2005).
    Article Google Scholar
  26. Hansen, M. C. et al. High-resolution global maps of 21st-century forest cover change. Science 342, 850–853 (2013).
    Article CAS Google Scholar
  27. Mueller, T. et al. Human land-use practices lead to global long-term increases in photosynthetic capacity. Remote Sens. 6, 5717–5731 (2014).
    Article Google Scholar
  28. Lehner, B. & Döll, P. Development and validation of a global database of lakes, reservoirs and wetlands. J. Hydrol. 296, 1–22 (2004).
    Article Google Scholar
  29. van der Werf, G. R. et al. Global fire emissions and the contribution of deforestation, savanna, forest, agricultural, and peat fires (1997–2009). Atmos. Chem. Phys. 10, 11707–11735 (2010).
    Article CAS Google Scholar
  30. Zhu, Z. C. et al. Global data sets of vegetation leaf area index (LAI)3g and fraction of photosynthetically active radiation (FPAR)3g derived from global inventory modeling and mapping studies (GIMMS) normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI3g) for the period 1981 to 2011. Remote Sens. 5, 927–948 (2013).
    Article Google Scholar
  31. Kim, Y., Kimball, J. S., McDonald, K. C. & Glassy, J. Developing a global data record of daily landscape freeze/thaw status using satellite passive microwave remote sensing. IEEE Trans. Geosci. Remote Sensing 49, 949–960 (2011).
    Article Google Scholar

Download references

Acknowledgements

This study was supported by the Strategic Priority Research Program (B) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (Grant XDB03030404), National Basic Research Program of China (Grant 2013CB956303), National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant 41530528), the 111 Project (Grant B14001), and the European Research Council Synergy grant ERC-SyG-610028 IMBALANCE-P. We thank all people and institutions who provided data used in this study, in particular, the TRENDY modelling group. R.B.M. is funded by NASA Earth Science. J.G.C. is grateful for support from the Australian Climate Change Science Program. A.A. and T.A.M.P. acknowledge support through EC FP7 grants LUC4C (Grant 603542) and EMBRACE (Grant 282672) and the Helmholtz Association ATMO programme, Y.W. acknowledges CSIRO strategic funding for CABLE science, E.K. was funded by ERTDF (S10) from the Ministry of Environment, Japan. J.M. is supported by the US Department of Energy (DOE), Office of Science, Biological and Environmental Research. Oak Ridge National Laboratory is managed by UT-BATTELLE for DOE under contract DE-AC05-00OR22725. B.D.S. is supported by the Swiss National Science Foundation and FP7 funding through project EMBRACE (282672).

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Key Laboratory of Alpine Ecology and Biodiversity, Institute of Tibetan Plateau Research, CAS Center for Excellence in Tibetan Plateau Earth Science, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100085, China
    Zaichun Zhu & Shilong Piao
  2. Sino-French Institute for Earth System Science, College of Urban and Environmental Sciences, Peking University, Beijing 100871, China
    Zaichun Zhu, Shilong Piao, Mengtian Huang, Zhenzhong Zeng, Philippe Ciais, Yue Li, Xu Lian, Yongwen Liu, Shushi Peng, Xuhui Wang & Hui Yang
  3. Department of Earth and Environment, Boston University, Boston, Massachusetts 02215, USA
    Ranga B. Myneni
  4. Global Carbon Project, CSIRO Oceans and Atmosphere, GPO Box 3023, Canberra, Australian Capital Territory 2601, Australia
    Josep G. Canadell
  5. Laboratoire des Sciences du Climat et de l’Environnement (LSCE), CEA CNRS UVSQ, 91191 Gif Sur Yvette, France
    Philippe Ciais & Nicolas Viovy
  6. College of Life and Environmental Sciences, University of Exeter, Exeter EX4 4QF, UK
    Stephen Sitch
  7. College of Engineering, Mathematics and Physical Sciences, University of Exeter, Exeter EX4 4QF, UK
    Pierre Friedlingstein
  8. Institute of Meteorology and Climate Research, Atmospheric Environmental Research, Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, 82467 Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany
    Almut Arneth & Thomas A. M. Pugh
  9. State Key Laboratory of Remote Sensing Science, Institute of Remote Sensing and Digital Earth, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101, China
    Chunxiang Cao
  10. CSIRO Land and Water, Black Mountain, Canberra, Australian Capital Territory 2601, Australia
    Lei Cheng
  11. Institute of Applied Energy (IAE), Minato-ku, Tokyo 105-0003, Japan
    Etsushi Kato
  12. Earth Sciences Division, Lawrence Berkeley National Lab, 1 Cyclotron Road, Berkeley, California 94720, USA
    Charles Koven
  13. LREIS, Institute of Geographic Sciences and Natural Resources Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101, China
    Ronggao Liu
  14. Climate Change Science Institute and Environmental Sciences Division, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge, Tennessee 37831, USA
    Jiafu Mao
  15. College of Resources Science & Technology, State Key Laboratory of Earth Processes and Resource Ecology, Beijing Normal University, Beijing 100875, China
    Yaozhong Pan
  16. CSIC, Global Ecology Unit CREAF-CEAB-UAB, Cerdanyola del Vallès, 08193 Catalonia, Spain
    Josep Peñuelas
  17. CREAF, Cerdanyola del Vallès, 08193 Catalonia, Spain
    Josep Peñuelas
  18. Institute on Ecosystems and the Department of Ecology, Montana State University, Bozeman, Montana 59717, USA
    Benjamin Poulter
  19. School of Geography, Earth and Environmental Science, University of Birmingham, Birmingham B15 2TT, UK
    Thomas A. M. Pugh
  20. Department of Life Sciences, Imperial College London, Silwood Park, Ascot SL5 7PY, UK
    Benjamin D. Stocker
  21. Climate and Environmental Physics, and Oeschger Centre for Climate Change Research, University of Bern, 3012 Bern, Switzerland
    Benjamin D. Stocker
  22. CSIRO Oceans and Atmosphere, PMB #1, Aspendale, Victoria 3195, Australia
    Yingping Wang
  23. State Key Laboratory of Remote Sensing Science, School of Geography, Beijing Normal University, Beijing 100875, China
    Zhiqiang Xiao
  24. Max-Planck-Institut für Biogeochemie, PO Box 600164, Hans-Knöll-Str. 10, 07745 Jena, Germany
    Sönke Zaehle
  25. Department of Atmospheric and Oceanic Science, University of Maryland, College Park, Maryland 20742, USA
    Ning Zeng

Authors

  1. Zaichun Zhu
  2. Shilong Piao
  3. Ranga B. Myneni
  4. Mengtian Huang
  5. Zhenzhong Zeng
  6. Josep G. Canadell
  7. Philippe Ciais
  8. Stephen Sitch
  9. Pierre Friedlingstein
  10. Almut Arneth
  11. Chunxiang Cao
  12. Lei Cheng
  13. Etsushi Kato
  14. Charles Koven
  15. Yue Li
  16. Xu Lian
  17. Yongwen Liu
  18. Ronggao Liu
  19. Jiafu Mao
  20. Yaozhong Pan
  21. Shushi Peng
  22. Josep Peñuelas
  23. Benjamin Poulter
  24. Thomas A. M. Pugh
  25. Benjamin D. Stocker
  26. Nicolas Viovy
  27. Xuhui Wang
  28. Yingping Wang
  29. Zhiqiang Xiao
  30. Hui Yang
  31. Sönke Zaehle
  32. Ning Zeng

Contributions

S.Piao, R.B.M. and Z.Zhu designed the study. Z.Zhu performed the analysis. Z.Zhu, S.Piao, J.G.C., P.C. and R.B.M. drafted the paper. Z.Zhu, M.H., Z.Zeng, C.C., Y.Liu, H.Y., X.W., X.L., Y.P., Y.Li, R.L. and Z.X. collected data and prepared figures. S.S., P.F., A.A., B.D.S., B.P., C.K., E.K., J.M., J.P., L.C., N.V., N.Z., S.Peng, S.Z., T.A.M.P., and Y.W. ran the model simulations. All authors contributed to the interpretation of the results and to the text.

Corresponding author

Correspondence toShilong Piao.

Ethics declarations

Competing interests

The authors declare no competing financial interests.

Supplementary information

Rights and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Zhu, Z., Piao, S., Myneni, R. et al. Greening of the Earth and its drivers.Nature Clim Change 6, 791–795 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1038/nclimate3004

Download citation