The Brazilian Cerrado is becoming hotter and drier

Autor(es):Mostrar menos -

Hofmann, Gabriel S. ^[1] ; Cardoso, Manoel F. ^[2] ; Alves, Ruy J. V. ^[3] ; Weber, Eliseu J. ^[4] ; Barbosa, Alexandre A. ^[2] ; de Toledo, Peter M. ^[2] ; Pontual, Francisco B. ^[5] ; Salles, Leandro de O. ^[5] ; Hasenack, Heinrich ^[6] ; Cordeiro, Jose L. P. ^[7] ; Aquino, Francisco E. ^[1] ; de Oliveira, Luiz F. B. ^[5]

Afiliação do(s) autor(es)

^[1] Univ Fed Rio Grande do Sul, Programa Posgrad Geog, Porto Alegre, RS - Brazil

^[2] Ctr Ciencia Sistema Terrestre, Inst Nacl Pesquisas Espaciais, Sao Jose Dos Campos, SP - Brazil

^[3] Univ Fed Rio de Janeiro, Dept Bot, Museu Nacl, Rio De Janeiro, RJ - Brazil

^[4] Univ Fed Rio Grande do Sul, Dept Interdisciplinar, Tramandai, RS - Brazil

^[5] Univ Fed Rio de Janeiro, Dept Vertebrados, Setor Mastozool, Museu Nacl, Rio De Janeiro, RJ - Brazil

^[6] Univ Fed Rio Grande do Sul, Ctr Ecol, Porto Alegre, RS - Brazil

^[7] Fiocruz Ceara, Fundacao Osvaldo Cruz, Fortaleza, CE - Brazil

• Tipo de documento: Artigo Científico
• Fonte: GLOBAL CHANGE BIOLOGY; v. 27, n. 17, p. 4060-4073, SEP 2021.
• Citações Web of Science: 1

Resumo

The Brazilian Cerrado is a global biodiversity hotspot with notoriously high rates of native vegetation suppression and wildfires over the past three decades. As a result, climate change can already be detected at both local and regional scales. In this study, we used three different approaches based on independent datasets to investigate possible changes in the daytime and nighttime temperature and air humidity between the peak of the dry season and the beginning of the rainy season in the Brazilian Cerrado. Additionally, we evaluated the tendency of dew point depression, considering it as a proxy to assess impacts on biodiversity. Monthly increases of 2.2-4.0. in the maximum temperatures and 2.4-2.8. in the minimum temperatures between 1961 and 2019 were recorded, supported by all analyzed datasets which included direct observations, remote sensing, and modeling data. The warming raised the vapor pressure deficit, and although we recorded an upward trend in absolute humidity, relative humidity has reduced by similar to 15%. If these tendencies are maintained, gradual air warming will make nightly cooling insufficient to reach the dew point in the early hours of the night. Therefore, it will progressively reduce both the amount and duration of nocturnal dewfall, which is the main source of water for numerous plants and animal species of the Brazilian Cerrado during the dry season. Through several examples, we hypothesize that these climate changes can have a high impact on biodiversity and potentially cause ecosystems to collapse. We emphasize that the effects of temperature and humidity on Cerrado ecosystems cannot be neglected and should be further explored from a land use perspective. (AU)

• Processo FAPESP: 17/22269-2 - Transição para sustentabilidade e o nexo água-agricultura-energia: explorando uma abordagem integradora com casos de estudo nos biomas Cerrado e Caatinga
• Beneficiário: Jean Pierre Henry Balbaud Ometto
• Modalidade de apoio: Auxílio à Pesquisa - Programa de Pesquisa sobre Mudanças Climáticas Globais - Temático