Their analysis reveals that the conversion of broadleaved forests to coniferous forests caused significant
changes in evapotranspiration, the evaporation of water through leaves, and albedo, the amount of solar energy reflected from the Earth back into space.
water - use efficiency carbon gain in photosynthesis per unit water
lost in evapotranspiration; can be expressed on a short - term basis as the ratio of photosynthetic carbon gain per unit transpirational water loss, or on a seasonal basis as the ratio of net primary production or agricultural yield to the amount of available water
The apparent
rise in evapotranspiration — the process by which water is transferred from the land to the atmosphere by evaporation from plants and soil — is increasing potential drought risk with rising temperature trends, especially during periodic drought cycles that have been linked with strong El Nino events.
The CO2 physiological response has a dominant
role in evapotranspiration and has a major effect on long - term runoff and soil moisture compared to radiative or precipitation changes due to increased atmospheric CO2.
«Changes in energy, which result in
changes in evapotranspiration, outweighed the changes in the form of precipitation,» said Reed Maxwell of Colorado School of Mines.