Sensitivity analysis of modelled responses of vegetation dynamics on the Tibetan Plateau to doubled CO2 and associated climate change

Increases in the atmospheric CO2 concentration affect both the global climate and plant metabolism, particularly for high-altitude ecosystems. Because of the limitations of field experiments, it is difficult to evaluate the responses of vegetation to CO2 increases and separate the effects of CO2 and associated climate change using direct observations at a regional scale. Here, we used the Community Earth System Model (CESM, version 1.0.4) to examine these effects. Initiated from bare ground, we simulated the vegetation composition and productivity under two CO2 concentrations (367 and 734 ppm) and associated climate conditions to separate the comparative contributions of doubled CO2 and CO2-induced climate change to the vegetation dynamics on the Tibetan Plateau (TP). The results revealed whether the individual effect of doubled CO2 and its induced climate change or their combined effects caused a decrease in the foliage projective cover (FPC) of C3 arctic grass on the TP. Both doubled CO2 and climate change had a positive effect on the FPC of the temperate and tropical tree plant functional types (PFTs) on the TP, but doubled CO2 led to FPC decreases of C4 grass and broadleaf deciduous shrubs, whereas the climate change resulted in FPC decrease in C3 non-arctic grass and boreal needleleaf evergreen trees. Although the combination of the doubled CO2 and associated climate change increased the area-averaged leaf area index (LAI), the effect of doubled CO2 on the LAI increase (95 %) was larger than the effect of CO2-induced climate change (5 %). Similarly, the simulated gross primary productivity (GPP) and net primary productivity (NPP) were primarily sensitive to the doubled CO2, compared with the CO2-induced climate change, which alone increased the regional GPP and NPP by 251.22 and 87.79 g C m(-2) year(-1), respectively. Regionally, the vegetation response was most noticeable in the south-eastern TP. Although both doubled CO2 and associated climate change had a generally positive effect on LAI, GPP and NPP, it should be noted that the climate change had a somewhat negative effect on the vegetation structure and productivity of the TP.