C4 vegetation covers 17.5% of global land surface. C4 natural grass cover decreased from 2001-2019 (due to elevated CO2) and C4 crop cover increased (because of maize expansion).
C4 photosynthesis accounts for ~19% of global photosynthesis (~3% from C4 crops and ~16% from C4 natural grasses).
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-024-45606-3
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Planting trees in the name of #reforestation is BAD for #TropicalGrassyBiomes.
#BiomeAwarenessDisparity
Mapping the global distribution of C4 vegetation using observations and optimality theory - Nature Communications
Due to fundamental anatomical and biochemical differences, C3 and C4 plant species tend to differ in their biogeography and response to climate change. Here, the authors use global observations and optimality theory to map patterns and temporal trends in C4 species distribution and the contribution of C4 plants to global photosynthesis.
Forest & Non-forest can't be defined by tree cover alone.
The WRI's Trees Outside Forests Indicator of forest extent is based on defining land that has trees outside forests as "all human-managed urban and agricultural land with tree cover and all other land with greater than zero percent and less than 10 percent tree cover".
https://research.wri.org/gfr/forest-extent-indicators/trees-outside-forests?utm_campaign=janrecap2024&utm_medium=bitly&utm_source=MonthlyRecap.
The definition misclassifies #TropicalGrassyBiomes that have >10% tree cover as 'forest'.
#BiomeAwarenessDisparity
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@ecology
Trees Outside Forests | Global Forest Review
The Trees Outside Forests (TOF) Indicator aims to monitor trees that are growing outside forests on farms, in orchards and tree plantations, in cities, along roads and in parks and across other non-forest landscapes. While this indicator discusses the distribution and importance of TOF generally, calculations in this indicator quantify land that contains trees outside forests, which we define as all human-managed urban and agricultural land with tree cover and all other land with greater than zero percent and less than 10 percent tree cover. Tall herbaceous vegetation such as sugarcane, bananas and cacti, as well as short woody crops such as tea and coffee are excluded. This indicator currently considers only tropical land that contains TOF in the year 2020.
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