Climate can affect the structure and functioning of terrestrial ecosystems. But terrestrial ecosystems – especially through their vegetation cover and soils – exert a strong influence over the exchange of energy, water, carbon dioxide and momentum between the atmosphere and the underlying land surface. As a result, changes in terrestrial ecosystems may influence the climate system through both biophysical processes (by changing the water, energy or momentum balance of the atmosphere) and biogeochemical processes (by changing the composition of important trace gases in the atmosphere, including carbon dioxide and methane).

Increasingly, the scientific community has recognized that the physical climate system and the terrestrial biosphere are linked through two-way biophysical and biogeochemical processes.

Here we review recent developments in addressing the interactions between terrestrial ecosystems and the climate system. In particular, we focus on how changes in structure and functioning of terrestrial ecosystems – either through human land use practices, or through the impacts of global climate change – can affect the future evolution of the climate system.