Articles | Volume 11, issue 12
https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-11-1701-2015
https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-11-1701-2015
Research article
 | 
16 Dec 2015
Research article |  | 16 Dec 2015

Climate-vegetation modelling and fossil plant data suggest low atmospheric CO2 in the late Miocene

M. Forrest, J. T. Eronen, T. Utescher, G. Knorr, C. Stepanek, G. Lohmann, and T. Hickler

Related authors

Scenario setup and forcing data for impact model evaluation and impact attribution within the third round of the Inter-Sectoral Impact Model Intercomparison Project (ISIMIP3a)
Katja Frieler, Jan Volkholz, Stefan Lange, Jacob Schewe, Matthias Mengel, María del Rocío Rivas López, Christian Otto, Christopher P. O. Reyer, Dirk Nikolaus Karger, Johanna T. Malle, Simon Treu, Christoph Menz, Julia L. Blanchard, Cheryl S. Harrison, Colleen M. Petrik, Tyler D. Eddy, Kelly Ortega-Cisneros, Camilla Novaglio, Yannick Rousseau, Reg A. Watson, Charles Stock, Xiao Liu, Ryan Heneghan, Derek Tittensor, Olivier Maury, Matthias Büchner, Thomas Vogt, Tingting Wang, Fubao Sun, Inga J. Sauer, Johannes Koch, Inne Vanderkelen, Jonas Jägermeyr, Christoph Müller, Sam Rabin, Jochen Klar, Iliusi D. Vega del Valle, Gitta Lasslop, Sarah Chadburn, Eleanor Burke, Angela Gallego-Sala, Noah Smith, Jinfeng Chang, Stijn Hantson, Chantelle Burton, Anne Gädeke, Fang Li, Simon N. Gosling, Hannes Müller Schmied, Fred Hattermann, Jida Wang, Fangfang Yao, Thomas Hickler, Rafael Marcé, Don Pierson, Wim Thiery, Daniel Mercado-Bettín, Robert Ladwig, Ana Isabel Ayala-Zamora, Matthew Forrest, and Michel Bechtold
Geosci. Model Dev., 17, 1–51, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-17-1-2024,https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-17-1-2024, 2024
Short summary
Inclusion of bedrock vadose zone in dynamic global vegetation models is key for simulating vegetation structure and functioning
Dana A. Lapides, W. Jesse Hahm, Matthew Forrest, Daniella M. Rempe, Thomas Hickler, and David N. Dralle
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2023-2572,https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2023-2572, 2023
Short summary
Changes in biogenic volatile organic compound emissions in response to the El Niño–Southern Oscillation
Ryan Vella, Andrea Pozzer, Matthew Forrest, Jos Lelieveld, Thomas Hickler, and Holger Tost
Biogeosciences, 20, 4391–4412, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-20-4391-2023,https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-20-4391-2023, 2023
Short summary
Isoprene and monoterpene simulations using the chemistry–climate model EMAC (v2.55) with interactive vegetation from LPJ-GUESS (v4.0)
Ryan Vella, Matthew Forrest, Jos Lelieveld, and Holger Tost
Geosci. Model Dev., 16, 885–906, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-16-885-2023,https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-16-885-2023, 2023
Short summary
Quantitative assessment of fire and vegetation properties in simulations with fire-enabled vegetation models from the Fire Model Intercomparison Project
Stijn Hantson, Douglas I. Kelley, Almut Arneth, Sandy P. Harrison, Sally Archibald, Dominique Bachelet, Matthew Forrest, Thomas Hickler, Gitta Lasslop, Fang Li, Stephane Mangeon, Joe R. Melton, Lars Nieradzik, Sam S. Rabin, I. Colin Prentice, Tim Sheehan, Stephen Sitch, Lina Teckentrup, Apostolos Voulgarakis, and Chao Yue
Geosci. Model Dev., 13, 3299–3318, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-13-3299-2020,https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-13-3299-2020, 2020
Short summary

Related subject area

Subject: Vegetation Dynamics | Archive: Terrestrial Archives | Timescale: Cenozoic
Early Eocene carbon isotope excursions in a lignite-bearing succession at the southern edge of the proto-North Sea (Schöningen, Germany)
Olaf Klaus Lenz, Mara Montag, Volker Wilde, Katharina Methner, Walter Riegel, and Andreas Mulch
Clim. Past, 18, 2231–2254, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-18-2231-2022,https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-18-2231-2022, 2022
Short summary
Aridification signatures from fossil pollen indicate a drying climate in east-central Tibet during the late Eocene
Qin Yuan, Natasha Barbolini, Catarina Rydin, Dong-Lin Gao, Hai-Cheng Wei, Qi-Shun Fan, Zhan-Jie Qin, Yong-Sheng Du, Jun-Jie Shan, Fa-Shou Shan, and Vivi Vajda
Clim. Past, 16, 2255–2273, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-16-2255-2020,https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-16-2255-2020, 2020
Short summary
Palynological evidence for late Miocene stepwise aridification on the northeastern Tibetan Plateau
Jia Liu, Ji Jun Li, Chun Hui Song, Hao Yu, Ting Jiang Peng, Zheng Chuang Hui, and Xi Yan Ye
Clim. Past, 12, 1473–1484, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-12-1473-2016,https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-12-1473-2016, 2016
Short summary
Late Pliocene and Early Pleistocene vegetation history of northeastern Russian Arctic inferred from the Lake El'gygytgyn pollen record
A. A. Andreev, P. E. Tarasov, V. Wennrich, E. Raschke, U. Herzschuh, N. R. Nowaczyk, J. Brigham-Grette, and M. Melles
Clim. Past, 10, 1017–1039, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-10-1017-2014,https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-10-1017-2014, 2014
A pollen-based biome reconstruction over the last 3.562 million years in the Far East Russian Arctic – new insights into climate–vegetation relationships at the regional scale
P. E. Tarasov, A. A. Andreev, P. M. Anderson, A. V. Lozhkin, C. Leipe, E. Haltia, N. R. Nowaczyk, V. Wennrich, J. Brigham-Grette, and M. Melles
Clim. Past, 9, 2759–2775, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-9-2759-2013,https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-9-2759-2013, 2013

Cited articles

Agusti, J., Sanz de Siria, A., and Garcés, M.: Explaining the end of the hominoid experiment in Europe, J. Human Evol., 45, 145–153, 2003.
Ahlström, A., Schurgers, G., Arneth, A., and Smith, B.: Robustness and uncertainty in terrestrial ecosystem carbon response to CMIP5 climate change projections, Environ. Res. Lett., 7, 1748–9326, 2012.
Arneth, A., Miller, P. A., Scholze, M., Hickler, T., Schurgers, G., Smith, B., and Prentice, I. C.: CO2 inhibition of global terrestrial isoprene emissions: Potential implications for atmospheric chemistry, Geophys. Res. Lett., 34, L18813, https://doi.org/10.1029/2007GL030615, 2007.
Beerling D. J. and Royer D. L.: Convergent Cenozoic CO2 history, Nat. Geosci., 4, 418–20, 2011.
Download
Short summary
We simulated Late Miocene (11-7 Million years ago) vegetation using two plausible CO2 concentrations: 280ppm CO2 and 450ppm CO2. We compared the simulated vegetation to existing plant fossil data for the whole Northern Hemisphere. Our results suggest that during the Late Miocene the CO2 levels have been relatively low, or that other factors that are not included in the models maintained the seasonal temperate forests and open vegetation.