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Early agriculture can be detected in palaeovegetation records, but quantification of the relative importance of climate and land use in influencing regional vegetation composition since the onset of agriculture is a topic that is rarely addressed. We present a novel approach that combines pollen-based REVEALS estimates of plant cover with climate, anthropogenic land-cover and dynamic vegetation mo
Monitoring of forest carbon fluxes for the purpose of national greenhouse-gas inventorying and reporting are commonly based on repeated large-scale field measurements. Alternate approaches based on modelling of forest growth offers potential benefits such as cost savings and detailed assessments of involved carbon fluxes. We calculated the net primary productivity (NPP) of Swedish forests using tw
Operationalizing a Global Carbon Observing and Analysis System (www.geocarbon.net) would provide a sound basis for monitoring actual carbon fluxes and thus getting quantities right when pricing carbon - be it in a cap-and-trade scheme or under a tax regime. However, such monitoring systems are expensive and-especially in times of economic weakness-budgets for science and environmental policy are u
The Amazon rainforest is disproportionately important for global carbon storage and biodiversity. The system couples the atmosphere and land, with moist forest that depends on convection to sustain gross primary productivity and growth. Earth system models that estimate future climate and vegetation show little agreement in Amazon simulations. Here we show that biases in internally generated clima
Reducing greenhouse gas emissions to limit damage to the global economy climate-change-induced and secure the livelihoods of future generations requires ambitious mitigation strategies. The introduction of a global carbon tax on fossil fuels is tested here as a mitigation strategy to reduce atmospheric CO2 concentrations and radiative forcing. Taxation of fossil fuels potentially leads to changed
Most northern peatlands developed during the Holocene, sequestering large amounts of carbon in terrestrial ecosystems. However, recent syntheses have highlighted the gaps in our understanding of peatland carbon accumulation. Assessments of the long-Term carbon accumulation rate and possible warming-driven changes in these accumulation rates can therefore benefit from process-based modelling studie
Soil organic matter (SOM) supports the Earth's ability to sustain terrestrial ecosystems, provide food and fiber, and retains the largest pool of actively cycling carbon. Over 75% of the soil organic carbon (SOC) in the top meter of soil is directly affected by human land use. Large land areas have lost SOC as a result of land use practices, yet there are compensatory opportunities to enhance prod
An improvement in our process-based understanding of carbon (C) exchange in the Arctic and its climate sensitivity is critically needed for understanding the response of tundra ecosystems to a changing climate. In this context, we analysed the net ecosystem exchange (NEE) of CO2 in West Greenland tundra (64°N) across eight snow-free periods in 8 consecutive years, and characterized the key process
Both the East Asian winter monsoon (EAWM) and El Niño (EN) activities are vital climate modes that regulate the Pacific hydrologic cycle. However, the Holocene interactions among the EAWM, EN activities, and tropical Pacific precipitation remain unclear due to the lack of appropriate EAWM proxies. Here, we present high-resolution grain size records from the East China Sea shelf along with a transi
Vegetation phenology obtained from time series of remote sensing data is relevant for a range of ecological applications. The freely available Sentinel-2 imagery at a 10 m spatial resolution with a ~ 5-day repeat cycle provides an opportunity to map vegetation phenology at an unprecedented fine spatial scale. To facilitate the production of a Europe-wide Copernicus Land Monitoring Sentinel-2 based
Climate warming leads to vast changes in the land cover types and plant biomass in the northern high-latitude regions. The overall trend is of shrubland and tree lines moving northwards, while changes in different land cover types and vegetation growth in response to climate change are largely unknown. Here, we selected land areas with latitudes higher than 50°N as the study area. We compared the
Plant transpiration links physiological responses of vegetation to water supply and demand with hydrological, energy, and carbon budgets at the land-atmosphere interface. However, despite being the main land evaporative flux at the global scale, transpiration and its response to environmental drivers are currently not well constrained by observations. Here we introduce the first global compilation
The regional variability in tundra and boreal carbon dioxide (CO2) fluxes can be high, complicating efforts to quantify sink-source patterns across the entire region. Statistical models are increasingly used to predict (i.e., upscale) CO2 fluxes across large spatial domains, but the reliability of different modeling techniques, each with different specifications and assumptions, has not been asses
The East Asian summer monsoon (EASM) northern boundary is a critical indicator of EASM variations. Movement of the boundary is modulated by both the EASM and the mid-latitude westerlies. Here, we use the Earth system model EC-Earth to quantify the contribution of orbital forcing and vegetation feedbacks in modulating the movement of EASM northern boundary. The results show that the simulated EASM
Forest composition characteristic of the Mid-Holocene has survived on Hallands Väderö, an island nature reserve off the south west coast of Sweden. Current veteran Tilia and Quercus trees contribute to a remarkably rich biodiversity of fungi, bryophytes, lichens and insects. Understanding which potential factors influence Holocene vegetation dynamics can support efforts to protect biodiversity, bu
The dynamics of blue and green water partitioning under vegetation and climate change, as well as their different interactions during wet and dry periods, are poorly understood in the literature. We analyzed the impact of vegetation changes on blue water generation in a central Spanish Pyrenees basin undergoing intense afforestation. We found that vegetation change is a key driver of large decreas
Understanding N budgets of tundra ecosystems is crucial for projecting future changes in plant community composition, greenhouse gas balances and soil N stocks. Winter warming can lead to higher tundra winter nitrogen (N) mineralization rates, while summer warming may increase both growing season N mineralization and plant N demand. The undulating tundra landscape is inter-connected through water
A rich understanding of the productivity, carbon and nutrient cycling of terrestrial ecosystems is essential in the context of understanding, modelling and managing the future response of the biosphere to global change. This need is particularly acute in tropical ecosystems, home to over 60% of global terrestrial productivity, over half of planetary biodiversity, and hotspots of anthropogenic pres
Grasslands are key repositories of biodiversity and carbon storage and are heavily impacted by effects of global warming and changes in precipitation regimes. Patterns of grassland dynamics associated with variability in future climate conditions across spatiotemporal scales are yet to be adequately quantified. Here, we performed a global meta-analysis of year and growing season sensitivities of v
