Publication Details

Category Text Publication
Reference Category Journals
DOI 10.1111/j.1466-8238.2009.00455.x
Title (Primary) An ecosystem model-based estimate of changes in water availability differs from water proxies that are commonly used in species distribution models
Author Hickler, T.; Fronzek, S.; Araujo, M.B.; Schweiger, O.; Thuiller, W.; Sykes, M.T.
Source Titel Global Ecology and Biogeography
Year 2009
Department BZF
Volume 18
Issue 3
Page From 304
Page To 313
Language englisch
Keywords Bioclimatic envelope models; biodiversity projections; climate change; CO2 fertilization effects; drought effects; hydrology; LPJ-GUESS ecosystem model; species distribution modelling; vegetation response; water availability
Abstract Aim To assess whether the water availability measures commonly used in species distribution models might be misleading because they do not account for the hydrological effects of changes in vegetation structure and functioning.Location Europe.Methods We compared different methods for estimating water availability in species distribution models with the soil water content predicted by a process-based ecosystem model. The latter also accounted for the hydrological effects of dynamic changes in vegetation structure and functioning, including potential physiological effects of increasing CO2.Results All proxies showed similar patterns of water availability across Europe for current climate, but when projected into the future, the changes in the simpler water availability measures showed no correlation with those projected by the more complex ecosystem model, even if CO2 effects were switched off.Main conclusions Results from species distribution modelling studies concerning future changes in species ranges and biodiversity should be interpreted with caution, and more process-based representations of the water balance of terrestrial ecosystems should be considered within these models.
Persistent UFZ Identifier https://www.ufz.de/index.php?en=20939&ufzPublicationIdentifier=264
Hickler, T., Fronzek, S., Araujo, M.B., Schweiger, O., Thuiller, W., Sykes, M.T. (2009):
An ecosystem model-based estimate of changes in water availability differs from water proxies that are commonly used in species distribution models
Glob. Ecol. Biogeogr. 18 (3), 304 - 313 10.1111/j.1466-8238.2009.00455.x