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CLIMATE CHANGE IMPACTS OF NET PRIMARY PRODUCTION IN CHINA
Citation:
Bachelte, D. CLIMATE CHANGE IMPACTS OF NET PRIMARY PRODUCTION IN CHINA. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Washington, D.C., EPA/600/A-93/195.
Description:
Several studies have estimated the potential effects of greenhouse gas-induced climate change on various systems using outputs of general circulation models (GCMs). he purpose of this study was to generate comparable estimates of potential impacts on net primary production using the GCM climate scenarios in a very simple net primary production model and to identify the most likely limiting factor that would follow a change in global climate. he study emphasizes that climatic thresholds that limit production across China will be modified following a doubling of atmospheric CO2 concentration. n general, a global warming should increase net primary production, but concurrent increases in evaporation losses and potential decreases in precipitation can greatly affect the outcome. etailed studies are underway to determine the direct impacts of such changes on the water budgets of both natural and agricultural ecosystems in western China. etailed observations of vegetation response to past drought and flood years would be of great interest in order to better predict what might happen in the future, given the physiological changes that have been documented to occur when plants are grown at elevated carbon dioxide concentrations.