Publications

Showing 148 results for Author: Jiafu Mao

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  • Jul, 2026

    Journal

    Implementing belowground controls on nutrient uptake in ELMv2-SPRUCE improves representation of a boreal peatland ecosystem

    Boreal peatlands store 13 %–32 % of the global soil carbon (C) stock, a service dependent on plant-mycorrhizal fungi associations. In these nutrient poor systems, ectomycorrhizal and ericoid mycorrhizal fungi supply up to >80 % of the nutrient requirements of their plant hosts, partly with mined nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P) from soil organic matter that are otherwise in…

  • Jul, 2026

    Journal

    A Physically Interpretable Precursor Framework for Sub-seasonal Prediction of Northern Hemisphere Flash Flourishing

    Flash flourishing describes rapid vegetation increases that can quickly reshape land–atmosphere exchanges and impacts on ecosystem, yet its large-scale precursors, circulation context, and sub-seasonal predictability remain poorly understood. Here, we identified onset-stage circulation regimes across northern extratropical latitudes (NEL; >30°N) using 200 and 1000 hPa geop…

  • Jul, 2026

    Journal

    Ozone mitigates extended growing season and enhanced vegetation greenness driven by environmental change

    Rising temperature and elevated CO2 concentrations lead to extended growing seasons and enhanced vegetation greenness in terrestrial ecosystems, especially across the Northern Hemisphere. However, whether and to what extent surface ozone, an anthropogenic environmental factor, affects vegetation phenology and greenness remains unexplored at a large scale. Integrating groun…

  • Jun, 2026

    Journal

    Benchmarking soil moisture and its relationship to ecohydrologic variables in Earth System Models

    Soil moisture (SM) plays a crucial role in regulating ecosystem biogeophysics by influencing processes such as plant water relations, evapotranspiration (ET), and surface water/energy cycles, among others. This study evaluates the representation of SM in Earth System Models (ESMs) using the International Land Model Benchmarking (ILAMB) framework, focusing on both surface (…

  • May, 2026

    Journal

    Wind stilling shapes grassland water use efficiency by enhancing soil moisture retention

    Covering more than 40% of Earth’s vegetated surface, grasslands critically regulate terrestrial carbon and water cycles. Their ecosystem water use efficiency (WUEeco), the ratio of carbon uptake to water loss, governs drought resilience in these water-limited ecosystems. While global terrestrial wind speed declined substantially from the 1960s to 2000s followed by a recove…

  • Apr, 2026

    Journal

    Will cities keep getting hotter? The interplay of urban expansion and greening reshapes future urban heat trajectories

    Urban heat islands (UHIs) pose growing risks to public health, infrastructure, and resilience. While often assumed to intensify with urban growth, dynamic changes in urban expansion and vegetation greenness complicate UHI trajectories, which remain poorly understood. This study investigated the interplay of urban expansion and greenness change on UHI spatial profile across…

  • Apr, 2026

    Journal

    CMIP7 data request: land and land ice priorities and opportunities

    The Land and Land Ice Theme in the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project Phase 7 (CMIP7) represents the current understanding of physical processes in land surface ecosystems, hydrology, cryosphere, and their physical interactions with other Earth system components. Simulations from Earth system models (ESMs) could provide crucial information for assessing planetary safety…

  • Apr, 2026

    Journal

    Flash flourishing of Northern Hemisphere vegetation and its drivers

    Rapid surges in vegetation growth—defined by thresholds in growth rate and duration—are critical yet understudied indicators of ecosystem responses to environmental change. Here, we investigate spatiotemporal patterns of such abrupt, short-lived flash flourishing events across the northern extratropical latitudes (NEL) from 2003 to 2022. We find more frequent occurrence of…

  • Mar, 2026

    Journal

    The critical role of soil moisture in compound hazards

    Soil moisture regulates the exchange of energy, water, and carbon across land–vegetation–atmosphere interfaces. Extremes in soil moisture can amplify natural hazards through interactions with diverse Earth system processes. Despite its mechanistic importance, soil moisture remains underrepresented in hazard research and predictive frameworks. Here we review our current und…

  • Feb, 2026

    Journal

    Evaluating ecosystem water use efficiency and recovery dynamics during flash droughts: insights from observations and model simulations

    Flash droughts (FD), rapidly emerging in a warming future, disrupt ecosystems, agriculture, and water security. Ecosystem water use efficiency (WUE), the ratio of gross primary production (GPP) to actual evapotranspiration (AET), balances carbon assimilation and water loss. FD rapidly disrupts this balance, making WUE critical for assessing plant stress and recovery. This…

  • Dec, 2025

    Journal

    CMIP7 Data Request: Impacts and Adaptation Priorities and Opportunities

    The Coupled Model Intercomparison Project Phase 7 (CMIP7) undertook an extensive process to gather community input and refine data requests related to impacts and adaptation applications of Earth System Model (ESM) outputs. The Impacts and Adaptation (I&A) Data Request Team worked with CMIP7 leadership to distribute an open solicitation across many communities that use cli…

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