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Author(s): Alistair M. Hetherington (corresponding author) [1]; F. Ian Woodward [2] Stomata (Fig. 1) are small pores on the surfaces of leaves and stems, bounded by a pair of guard [...]

Author(s): Julie E. Gray [1]; Geoff H. Holroyd [2]; Frederique M. van der Lee [3]; Ahmad R. Bahrami [1]; Peter C. Sijmons [4]; F. Ian Woodward [5]; Wolfgang Schuch [6]; [...]

The world's climate systems and terrestrial ecosystems are interrelated, particularly the exchange of carbon between the atmosphere, vegetation and soils. A new model, focused on the terrestrial carbon sink, shows that the terrestrial ecosystem carbon fluxes strongly influence and respond to climate change and atmospheric CO2 increase.

The impact on a doubled-carbon dioxide climate of structural vegetation and physiological feedbacks is calculated using an equilibrium vegetation model coupled to a general circulation model. Physiological vegetation-climate feedbacks are partly offset by vegetation structure changes in the long term, although important regional-scale effects are yielded from vegetation feedbacks. Climatic change induced by a CO2-enriched atmosphere could change vegetation cover density to ultimately produce a further climate feedback.