Currently, there is very little understanding regarding the response of vegetation to inter-annual atmospheric variability. Physiological experiments in both laboratory and field studies have demonstrated that plants have both direct and indirect responses to directional changes in factors such as precipitation, temperature, and atmospheric CO2 concentration. Unfortunately, the long-term structural responses of vegetation in natural communities have not been investigated. The consideration of community structure is extremely important within the larger context of climatic change. Plant leaf area, root distribution, and height directly impact important atmospheric variables such as transpiration, soil moisture storage, roughness length, and albedo. The feedback between vegetation and atmospheric dynamics depends on a complete understanding of not only the physiological response of photosynthesis and respiration, but also the structural community changes associated with short-term climatic variance. In order to investigate the reciprocal relationships between vegetation and the atmosphere, we are developing a regional model that combines a model of plant physiological growth with a model of vegetation competition and structural dynamics. This approach will allow for a more realistic treatment of feedback between vegetation and the atmosphere, and provide a more robust estimate of vegetation response to environmental variation.