Global study by the University of Bayreuth shows influences of climate change on terrestrial ecosystems

In a study published in Nature Geoscience, plant ecologists at the University of Bayreuth (Prof. Dr. Steven Higgins, Dr. Timo Conradi & Edward Muhoko) have shown how global climate change is impacting the Earth's terrestrial ecosystems. Changes in vegetation activity could in most cases be explained by temperature and soil moisture changes, while changes in solar radiation and atmospheric CO₂ levels seldom played a dominant role. In some of the ecosystems studied, years of increased vegetation activity have been followed by decreases. Such trend reversals raise the question of whether terrestrial ecosystems will continue to make large contributions to the sequestration of atmospheric carbon.