[lemongrassandlime]

I'm currently doing an undergraduate degree in Geography and am (not) looking forward to my Biogeography exam next week. I have a total mind block on this term: maximum vegetation effect, I understand it links into Climate but then I have a massive blank. Anyone have any ideas at all as to how it links to other topics?

[springbreeze]

Kleidon (2000):

Abstract. We quantify the maximum possible influence of vegetation on the global climate by
conducting two extreme climate model simulations: in a first simulation (‘desert world’), values
representative of a desert are used for the land surface parameters for all non glaciated land regions.
At the other extreme, a second simulation is performed (‘green planet’) in which values are used
which are most beneficial for the biosphere’s productivity. Land surface evapotranspiration more
than triples in the presence of the ‘green planet’, land precipitation doubles (as a second order
effect) and near surface temperatures are lower by as much as 8 K in the seasonal mean resulting
from the increase in latent heat flux. The differences can be understood in terms of more absorbed
radiation at the surface and increased recycling of water. Most of the increase in net surface radiation
originates from less thermal radiative loss and not from increases in solar radiation which would
be expected from the albedo change. To illustrate the differences in climatic character and what it
would imply for the vegetation type, we use the Köppen climate classification. Both cases lead to
similar classifications in the extra tropics and South America indicating that the character of the
climate is not substantially altered in these regions. Fundamental changes occur over Africa, South
Asia and Australia, where large regions are classified as arid (grassland/desert) climate in the ‘desert
world’ simulation while classified as a forest climate in the ‘green planet’ simulation as a result of the
strong influence of maximum vegetation on the climate. This implies that these regions are especially
sensitive to biosphere-atmosphere interaction.

[lemongrassandlime]

Thank you Springbreeze