The terrestrial vegetation is unambiguously an important factor in the climate system, modulating the exchange of energy, momentum, water vapor, and other trace gases between land and atmosphere. Here, we review the evolution of the terrestrial flora from the Proterozoic through to the Neogene at three distinct scales—the overall evolution of floral composition, the evolution of plant physiology, and the evolution of landscape occupation both spatially and seasonally—all in the context of how the vegetation may have influenced climate through time and which deep-time evolutionary transitions may have had the greatest effect. Our focus is upon the direct impacts of the vegetation on temperature and precipitation, but we also consider the indirect impacts of plants on climate via atmospheric composition. We argue that the times of greatest change in plant climate feedbacks are likely to have been the Carboniferous and the early Paleogene.

Accurate estimation of terrestrial photosynthesis has broad scientific and societal impacts. Measurements of photosynthesis can be used to assess plant health, quantify crop yield, and determine the largest CO₂ flux in the carbon cycle. Long-term and continuous monitoring of vegetation optical properties can provide valuable information about plant physiology. Recent developments of the remote sensing of solar-induced chlorophyll fluorescence (SIF) and vegetation spectroscopy have shown promising results in using this information to quantify plant photosynthetic activities and stresses at the ecosystem scale. However, there are few automated systems that allow for unattended observations over months to years. Here we present FluoSpec 2, an automated system for collecting irradiance and canopy radiance that has been deployed in various ecosystems in the past years. The instrument design, calibration, and tests are recorded in detail. We discuss the future directions of this field spectroscopy system. A network of SIF sensors, FluoNet, is established to measure the diurnal and seasonal variations of SIF in several ecosystems. Automated systems such as FluoSpec 2 can provide unique information on ecosystem functioning and provide important support to the satellite remote sensing of canopy photosynthesis.

Traditional methods of carbon monitoring in mountainous regions are challenged by complex terrain. Recently, solar‐induced fluorescence (SIF) has been found to be an indicator of gross primary production (GPP), and the increased availability of remotely sensed SIF provides an opportunity to estimate GPP across the Western United States. Although the empirical linkage between SIF and GPP is strong, the current mechanistic understanding of this linkage is incomplete and depends upon changes in leaf biochemical processes in which absorbed sunlight leads to photochemistry, heat (via nonphotochemical quenching [NPQ]), fluorescence, or tissue damage. An improved mechanistic understanding is necessary to leverage SIF observations to improve representation of ecosystem processes within land surface models. Here we included an improved fluorescence model within the Community Land Model, Version 4.5 (CLM 4.5), to simulate seasonal changes in SIF at a subalpine forest in Colorado. We found that when the model accounted for sustained NPQ, this provided a larger seasonal change in fluorescence yield leading to simulated SIF that more closely resembled the observed seasonal pattern (Global Ozone Monitoring Experiment‐2 [GOME‐2] satellite platform and a tower‐mounted spectrometer system). We found that an acclimation model based on mean air temperature was a useful predictor for sustained NPQ. Although light intensity was not an important factor for this analysis, it should be considered before applying the sustained NPQ and SIF to other cold climate evergreen biomes. More leaf‐level fluorescence measurements are necessary to better understand the seasonal relationship between sustained and reversible components of NPQ and to what extent that influences SIF.

General circulation models (GCMs) predict that the global hydrological cycle will change in response to anthropogenic warming. However, these predictions remain uncertain, in particular, for precipitation (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, 2013, https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9781107415324.004). Held and Soden (2006, https://doi.org/10.1175/JCLI3990.1) suggest that as lower tropospheric water vapor concentration increases in a warming climate, the atmospheric circulation and convective mass fluxes will weaken. Unfortunately, this process is difficult to constrain, as convective mass fluxes are poorly observed and incompletely simulated in GCMs. Here we demonstrate that stable hydrogen isotope ratios in tropical atmospheric water vapor can trace changes in temperature, atmospheric circulation, and convective mass flux in a warming world. We evaluate changes in temperature, the distribution of water vapor, vertical velocity (ω), advection, and water isotopes in vapor (δD_V). Using water isotope‐enabled GCM experiments for modern versus high‐CO₂ atmospheres, we identify spatial patterns of circulation change over the tropical Pacific. We find that slowing circulation in the tropical Pacific moistens the lower troposphere and weakens convective mass flux, both of which impact the δD of water vapor in the midtroposphere. Our findings constitute a critical demonstration of how water isotope ratios in the tropical Pacific respond to changes in radiative forcing and atmospheric warming. Moreover, as changes in δD_V can be observed by satellites, our results develop new metrics for the detection of global warming impacts to the hydrological cycle and, specifically, the strength of the Walker circulation.

The 2012–2016 California Drought severely impacted natural vegetation across a wide range of environmental gradient. Although several studies have reported an increase in plant water stress and mortality, the spatiotemporal variations of ecosystem productivity responses and the associated environmental and biological drivers remain unclear. Here, using Enhanced Vegetation Index from the Moderate resolution imaging spectrometer, we found that 45% of the natural ecosystems showed an abrupt change (breakpoint [BP]) in productivity during 2012–2016. There were three major contrasting temporal patterns of productivity responses: (i) a steady increase under higher temperature followed by a decline due to accumulated moisture depletion (high elevation forest) or temperature decrease (high elevation nonforest), (ii) gradual decline during the drought followed by a rapid recovery within 1 year after drought stress was partially relieved, and (iii) both a gradual decline and an abrupt decline. The magnitude of abrupt changes was negatively correlated (r = −0.80, p < 0.001) with initial gradual changes. Overall, changes during BP offset, on average, 57% of the preceding gradual responses. The spatial variability in ecosystem response patterns is driven by both environmental and biological factors. Particularly, for forests, positive BP was driven by increasing rainfall and decreasing temperature, while negative BP was mainly driven by the precipitation anomaly. By 2019, 33% of the natural vegetation have recovered to the level of EVI in 2010. Ecosystem responses to multiyear droughts can influence ecosystem dynamics in a complex pattern. Multiple ecohydrological factors should be considered to understand and predict the long‐term drought impacts on ecosystems.