How plants water our planet: advances and imperatives.
Most life on land depends on water from rain, but much of the rain on land may also depend on life. Recent studies indicate that vegetation, especially tree cover, influences rain and rainfall patterns to a greater extent than is generally assumed. Here, I briefly highlight some of these findings to show that vegetation sciences will have an increasing role in understanding climate and its vulnerability to changes in land cover.
Department of Ecology and Natural Resource Management, Norwegian University of Life Sciences, 1432 Ås, Norway; School of Environment Science and Engineering, Southern Cross University, Lismore, NSW 2480, Australia; Center for International Forestry Research, Bogor 16000, Indonesia. Electronic address: D.Sheil@cgiar.org.
Douglas
D
Sheil
D002980:Climate; D017753:Ecosystem; D010944:Plants / Q000378:metabolism*; D011891:Rain; D014867:Water
D014867:Water