Rising atmospheric CO2 concentrations affect climate directly through radiative effects and indirectly
by changing plant water-use efficiency. Under global warming scenarios these widely reported changes will have a
substantial impact on future bush encroachment, crop yields, river flow and climate feedbacks. Tree-ring intrinsic
water-use efficiency (iWUE) records for Africa show a 24.6% increase over the 20th century. As high iWUE can
partly counterbalance projected decreases in regional precipitation, this research has important implications for
those involved in water resource management and highlights the need for climate models to take physiological
forcing into account.National Geographic Society - Science and Exploration
Europe (grant GEFNE80-13), the Royal Geographical Society, the
Quaternary Research Association, the Palaeo-Anthropological Scientific Trust, the National Research Foundation, SysTem for Analysis, Research and Training (START) and the Climate Change Consortium of Wales.http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/journal/10.1002/(ISSN)1099-14172017-05-31hb2016Mammal Research Institut
