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Differential regional responses in drought length, intensity and timing to recent climate changes in a Mediterranean forested ecosystem

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Abstract

The Mediterranean area is one of the regions of the world where GCMs agree the most on precipitation changes due to climate change. In this study we aim to assess the impact of recent climate change on drought features of Mediterranean ecosystems in Southern France. Regional climatic trends for the 1971–2006 period are compared to drought trends based on a water balance model accounting for soil properties, vegetation structure and functioning. Drought, defined here as periods when soil water potentials drop below − 0.5 MPa, is described in terms of intensity, duration and timing, which are integrative of both climate variability and site conditions. Temporal trends in precipitation, temperature and solar radiation lead altogether to drier and warmer conditions over the region but with a high spatial heterogeneity; for similar climatic trends, a significant increase in drought intensity was detected in the wettest areas of the region, whereas drought intensity in the driest areas did not change. Indeed, in the wettest areas, we observed an earlier onset of drought by about 1 month, but a constant end of drought. In the driest areas of the region, we observed the same earlier onset of drought but combined with an earlier end of drought, thus leading to a shift of the dry season without increasing its duration. The definition of drought features both in terms of intensity but also of seasonal timing appears relevant to capture historical or forecasted changes in ecosystem functioning. Studies concerning climate change impacts on forested ecosystems should be interpreted with caution when using climate proxies alone.

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Acknowledgements

This work is a contribution to the UE 7th FP Env.1.3.1.1 FUME “Forest fires under climate,social and economic changes in Europe, the Mediterranean and other fire-affected areas of the world”, Grant agreement no. 243888 and to the French ANR VMC 2007 project “MESOEROS”. A doctoral research Grant was provided by the Languedoc-Roussillon (LR) region and the Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS) . The authors wish to acknowledge the Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique (INRA) for providing the DONESOL soil database. We thank Cyril Bernard for help in GIS programming as well as Emmanuel Gritti and Maud Bernard-Verdier for help in improving this manuscript. We also thank three anonymous reviewers for their useful comments and suggestions.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. DREAM, CEFE-CNRS, 1919 Route de Mende, 34293, Montpellier Cedex 5, France

    Julien Ruffault, Nicolas K. Martin-StPaul & Serge Rambal

  2. UMR CEFE, eq DREAM, IRD, 1919 Route de Mende, 34293, Montpellier Cedex 5, France

    Florent Mouillot

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  1. Julien Ruffault
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  2. Nicolas K. Martin-StPaul
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  3. Serge Rambal
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  4. Florent Mouillot
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Correspondence to Julien Ruffault.

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Ruffault, J., Martin-StPaul, N.K., Rambal, S. et al. Differential regional responses in drought length, intensity and timing to recent climate changes in a Mediterranean forested ecosystem. Climatic Change 117, 103–117 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10584-012-0559-5

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