Publication Details

Category Text Publication
Reference Category Journals
DOI 10.1038/s43017-023-00410-3
Document Shareable Link
Title (Primary) A joint framework for studying compound ecoclimatic events
Author Bastos, A.; Sippel, S.; Frank, D.; Mahecha, M.D.; Zaehle, S.; Zscheischler, J. ORCID logo ; Reichstein, M.
Source Titel Nature Reviews Earth & Environment
Year 2023
Department CHS; RS
Volume 4
Issue 5
Page From 333
Page To 350
Language englisch
Topic T5 Future Landscapes
Supplements https://static-content.springer.com/esm/art%3A10.1038%2Fs43017-023-00410-3/MediaObjects/43017_2023_410_MOESM1_ESM.pdf
Abstract Extreme weather and climate events have direct impacts on ecosystems and can further trigger ecosystem disturbances, often having impacts that last longer than the event’s duration. The projected increased frequency or intensity of extreme events could thus amplify ecological impacts and reduce the biosphere’s CO2 mitigation potential, but multiple feedbacks between ecosystems and climate extremes are often not considered in risk assessments. In this Perspective, we propose a systemic framework to analyse the causal relationships between climate extremes, disturbance regimes and ecosystems, building on two broadly used perspectives: climate risk assessment and disturbance ecology. Each has strengths and limitations, as each perspective places a different — and partly disjointed — focus on the physical and ecological processes that drive high-impact ecological events. We unify these approaches into a framework (compound ecoclimatic events) that decomposes events into climatic drivers, stressors, environmental factors, impacts and their sources of variability, and further incorporates feedbacks between ecosystem processes and stressors. This framework can be used to develop ecoclimatic storylines to better understand the role of each factor in influencing high-impact events; to incorporate uncertainties associated with internal climate and ecological variability, with scenario definitions, and with epistemic uncertainties; and to quantify the human fingerprint on high-impact ecoclimatic events.
Persistent UFZ Identifier https://www.ufz.de/index.php?en=20939&ufzPublicationIdentifier=22528
Bastos, A., Sippel, S., Frank, D., Mahecha, M.D., Zaehle, S., Zscheischler, J., Reichstein, M. (2023):
A joint framework for studying compound ecoclimatic events
Nat. Rev. Earth Environ. 4 (5), 333 - 350 10.1038/s43017-023-00410-3