Reduction of Global Plant Production due to Droughts from 2001 to 2010: An Analysis with a Process-Based Global Terrestrial Ecosystem Model

Droughts dramatically affect plant production of global terrestrial ecosystems. To date, quantification of this impact remains a challenge because of the complex plant physiological and biochemical processes associated with drought. Here, this study incorporates a drought index into an existing process-based terrestrial ecosystem model to estimate the drought impact on global plant production for the period 2001–10. Global Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) gross primary production (GPP) data products are used to constrain model parameters and verify the *Corresponding author address: Qianlai Zhuang, Department of Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences, Purdue University, 550 Stadium Mall Drive, West Lafayette, IN 47907-2051. E-mail address: [email protected] Earth Interactions d Volume 19 (2015) d Paper No. 16 d Page 1 DOI: 10.1175/EI-D-14-0030.1 Copyright 2015, Paper 19-016; 41347 words, 10 Figures, 0 Animations, 6 Tables. http://EarthInteractions.org model algorithms. The verified model is then applied to evaluate the drought impact. The study indicates that droughts will reduce GPP by 9.8 gCmmonth during the study period. On average, drought reduces GPP by 10% globally. As a result, the global GPP decreased from 106.4 to 95.9 PgC yr while the global net primary production (NPP) decreased from 54.9 to 49.9 PgC yr. This study revises the estimation of the global NPP and suggests that the future quantification of the global carbon budget of terrestrial ecosystems should take the drought impact into account.