Climate

Climatic variability and vegetation vulnerability in Amazônia

  1. L. R. Hutyra1,2,
  2. J. W. Munger1,2,
  3. C. A. Nobre3,
  4. S. R. Saleska4,
  5. S. A. Vieira5,
  6. S. C. Wofsy1,2

Article first published online: 24 DEC 2005

DOI: 10.1029/2005GL024981

Issue

Geophysical Research Letters

Geophysical Research Letters

Additional Information

How to Cite

Hutyra, L. R., J. W. Munger, C. A. Nobre, S. R. Saleska, S. A. Vieira, and S. C. Wofsky (2005), Climatic variability and vegetation vulnerability in Amazônia, Geophys. Res. Lett., 32, L24712, doi:10.1029/2005GL024981.

Author Information

  1. 1

    Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA

  2. 2

    Division of Engineering and Applied Sciences, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA

  3. 3

    Centro de Previsão de Tempo e Estudos Climáticos, Instituto Nacional de Pesquisas Espaciais, Cachoeira Paulista, Brazil

  4. 4

    Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Arizona, Tucson, Arizona, USA

  5. 5

    Laboratório de Ecologia Isotópica, CENA/USP, Piracicaba, Brazil

Publication History

  1. Issue published online: 24 DEC 2005
  2. Article first published online: 24 DEC 2005
  3. Manuscript Accepted: 16 NOV 2005
  4. Manuscript Received: 18 OCT 2005

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[1] Models of climate change predict close coupling between increases in aridity and conversion of Amazonian forests to savanna. Here we assess the vulnerability and resilience of Amazonian vegetation to climate change by analyzing observed climate-vegetation relationships using climate data, observed vegetation distributions, and evapotranspiration rates inferred from eddy flux data. We found that drought frequency is an excellent predictor of the forest-savanna boundary, indicating the key role of extreme climatic events for inducing vegetation change, and highlighting particularly vulnerable regions of Amazônia.

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