Nature Communications (Jul 2017)

Recent increases in terrestrial carbon uptake at little cost to the water cycle

  • Lei Cheng,
  • Lu Zhang,
  • Ying-Ping Wang,
  • Josep G. Canadell,
  • Francis H. S. Chiew,
  • Jason Beringer,
  • Longhui Li,
  • Diego G. Miralles,
  • Shilong Piao,
  • Yongqiang Zhang

DOI
https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-017-00114-5
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 8, no. 1
pp. 1 – 10

Abstract

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The response of the coupled carbon and water cycles to anthropogenic climate change is unclear. Here, the authors show that terrestrial carbon uptake increased significantly from 1982 to 2011 and that this increase is largely driven by increased water-use efficiency, rather than an increase in water use.