Modeling the Vegetation Dynamics of Northern Shrubs and Mosses in the ORCHIDEE Land Surface Model

• Published in: Journal of advances in modeling earth systems Vol. 11; no. 7; pp. 2020 - 2035
• Main Authors: Druel, Arsène, Ciais, Philippe, Krinner, Gerhard, Peylin, Philippe
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Washington John Wiley & Sons, Inc 01.07.2019; American Geophysical Union; American Geophysical Union (AGU)
• Subjects: Aquatic plants; Arctic greening; Biological competition; boreal; Bryophyta; Carbon; Climate change; Cold winters; Competition; Continental interfaces, environment; Distribution; dynamical vegetation; Dynamics; Ecosystems; Environmental Sciences; Global Changes; Grasses; land surface; Land surface models; modeling; Mortality; Mosses; Nutrients; Permafrost; Polar environments; Primary production; Productivity; Sciences of the Universe; Shrubs; Soil; Survival; Vegetation; Vegetation distribution; Winter; Arctic region
• ISSN: 1942-2466; 1942-2466
• DOI: 10.1029/2018MS001531

Parameterizations of plant competition processes involving shrubs, mosses, grasses, and trees were introduced with the recently implemented shrubs and mosses plant functional types in the ORCHIDEE dynamic global vegetation model in order to improve the representation of high latitude vegetation dynamics. Competition is based on light capture for growth, net primary productivity, and survival to cold‐induced mortality during winter. Trees are assumed to outcompete shrubs and grasses for light, and shrubs outcompete grasses. Shrubs are modeled to have a higher survival than trees to extremely cold winters because of thermic protection by snow. The fractional coverage of each plant type is based on their respective net primary productivity and winter mortality of trees and shrubs. Gridded simulations were carried out for the historical period and the 21st century following the RCP4.5 and 8.5 scenarios. We evaluate the simulated present‐day vegetation with an observation‐based distribution map and literature data of boreal shrubs. The simulation produces a realistic present‐day boreal vegetation distribution, with shrubs, mosses north of trees and grasses. Nevertheless, the model underestimated local shrub expansion compared to observations from selected sites in the Arctic during the last 30 years suggesting missing processes (nutrients and microscale effects). The RCP4.5 and RCP8.5 projections show a substantial decrease of bare soil, an increase in tree and moss cover and an increase of shrub net primary productivity. Finally, the impact of new vegetation types and associated processes is discussed in the context of climate feedbacks. Plain Language Summary Changes in the northern vegetation exert feedbacks on climate through surface energy and greenhouse gas fluxes. For example, increased vegetation cover can lead to warming due to stronger absorption of shortwave radiation (through decreased albedo). In this study we developed a new version of the ORCHIDEE dynamic vegetation model, allowing us to simulate the dynamical cover of mosses and shrubs, two important types of northern vegetation, alongside with grasses and trees. The prevalence of the different forms of vegetation is ruled by light capture during the growing season, mortality during the cold conditions, and competition for space. The new model is tested for present‐day land cover and used for future climate projections. We simulated a realistic vegetation map for historical simulations and a substantial decrease of bare soil with shifts of vegetation in future simulations. However, the model underestimated local shrub expansion compared to observations. Key Points A dynamical global vegetation model including competition between northern shrubs and mosses, grass, and trees is described A reasonable distribution of current northern vegetation and of Artic greening (leaf area index increase) is simulated Simulated shrub cover increase at Arctic sites is underestimated compared to local observations