@Article{Kooperman_NatureClimChange_20180501,
 author		= {Gabriel J. Kooperman and Yang Chen and Forrest M. Hoffman and Charles D. Koven and Keith Lindsay and Michael S. Pritchard and Abigail L. S. Swann and James T. Randerson},
 title		= {Forest Response to Rising {CO$_2$} Drives Zonally Asymmetric Rainfall Change over Tropical Land},
 journal	= NatureClimChange,
 volume		= 8,
 number		= 5,
 pages		= {434--440},
 doi		= {10.1038/s41558-018-0144-7},
 day		= 1,
 month		= may,
 year		= 2018,
 abstract	= {Understanding how anthropogenic CO$_2$ emissions will influence future precipitation is critical for sustainably managing ecosystems, particularly for drought-sensitive tropical forests. Although tropical precipitation change remains uncertain, nearly all models from the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project Phase 5 predict a strengthening zonal precipitation asymmetry by 2100, with relative increases over Asian and African tropical forests and decreases over South American forests. Here we show that the plant physiological response to increasing CO$_2$ is a primary mechanism responsible for this pattern. Applying a simulation design in the Community Earth System Model in which CO$_2$ increases are isolated over individual continents, we demonstrate that different circulation, moisture and stability changes arise over each continent due to declines in stomatal conductance and transpiration. The sum of local atmospheric responses over individual continents explains the pan-tropical precipitation asymmetry. Our analysis suggests that South American forests may be more vulnerable to rising CO$_2$ than Asian or African forests.}
}