Legacies of precipitation fluctuations on primary production: theory and data synthesis

• Published in: Philosophical transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B. Biological sciences Vol. 367; no. 1606; pp. 3135 - 3144
• Main Authors: Sala, Osvaldo E, Gherardi, Laureano A, Reichmann, Lara, Jobbágy, Esteban, Peters, Debra
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: England The Royal Society 19.11.2012
• Subjects: atmospheric precipitation; Carbon Cycle; Climate Change; deserts; Drought; Droughts; Ecoregions; Ecosystem; Ecosystem models; Ecosystems; Geography; grasslands; Legacies; Models, Biological; Plant Leaves - chemistry; Plant Roots - chemistry; Plants; Poaceae - chemistry; Precipitation Effects; Primary Production; Primary productivity; Review; Spatial And Temporal Models; Spatial models; Statistics as Topic - methods; Terrestrial ecosystems; Time Factors; Water - chemistry

Variability of above-ground net primary production (ANPP) of arid to sub-humid ecosystems displays a closer association with precipitation when considered across space (based on multiyear averages for different locations) than through time (based on year-to-year change at single locations). Here, we...