Extreme drought impacts have been underestimated in grasslands and shrublands globally

Climate change is increasing the frequency and severity of short-term (~1 y) drought events—the most common duration of drought—globally. Yet the impact of this intensification of drought on ecosystem functioning remains poorly resolved. This is due in part to the widely disparate approaches ecologi...

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Autores principales: Smith, Melinda D., Wilkins, Kate D., Holdrege, Martin C., Wilfahrt, Peter A., Collins, Scott L., Knapp, Alan K., Sala, Osvaldo E., Dukes, Jeffrey S., Phillips, Richard P., Yahdjian, Laura, Peri, Pablo Luis, Zuo, Xiaoan
Formato: info:ar-repo/semantics/artículo
Lenguaje:Inglés
Publicado: National Academy of Sciences (Estados Unidos) 2024
Materias:
Acceso en línea:http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.12123/16497
https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.2309881120
https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2309881120
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author Smith, Melinda D.
Wilkins, Kate D.
Holdrege, Martin C.
Wilfahrt, Peter A.
Collins, Scott L.
Knapp, Alan K.
Sala, Osvaldo E.
Dukes, Jeffrey S.
Phillips, Richard P.
Yahdjian, Laura
Peri, Pablo Luis
Zuo, Xiaoan
author_browse Collins, Scott L.
Dukes, Jeffrey S.
Holdrege, Martin C.
Knapp, Alan K.
Peri, Pablo Luis
Phillips, Richard P.
Sala, Osvaldo E.
Smith, Melinda D.
Wilfahrt, Peter A.
Wilkins, Kate D.
Yahdjian, Laura
Zuo, Xiaoan
author_facet Smith, Melinda D.
Wilkins, Kate D.
Holdrege, Martin C.
Wilfahrt, Peter A.
Collins, Scott L.
Knapp, Alan K.
Sala, Osvaldo E.
Dukes, Jeffrey S.
Phillips, Richard P.
Yahdjian, Laura
Peri, Pablo Luis
Zuo, Xiaoan
author_sort Smith, Melinda D.
collection INTA Digital
description Climate change is increasing the frequency and severity of short-term (~1 y) drought events—the most common duration of drought—globally. Yet the impact of this intensification of drought on ecosystem functioning remains poorly resolved. This is due in part to the widely disparate approaches ecologists have employed to study drought, variation in the severity and duration of drought studied, and differences among ecosystems in vegetation, edaphic and climatic attributes that can mediate drought impacts. To overcome these problems and better identify the factors that modulate drought responses, we used a coordinated distributed experiment to quantify the impact of short-term drought on grassland and shrubland ecosystems. With a standardized approach, we imposed a single year of drought at 100 sites on six continents. Here we show that loss of a foundational ecosystem function—aboveground net primary production (ANPP)—was 60% greater at sites that experienced statistically extreme drought (1-in-100-y event) vs. those sites where drought was nominal (historically more common) in magnitude (35% vs. 21%, respectively). This reduction in a key carbon cycle process with a single year of extreme drought greatly exceeds previously reported losses for grasslands and shrublands. Our global experiment also revealed high variability in drought response but that relative reductions in ANPP were greater in drier ecosystems and those with fewer plant species. Overall, our results demonstrate with unprecedented rigor that the global impacts of projected increases in drought severity have been significantly underestimated and that drier and less diverse sites are likely to be most vulnerable to extreme drought.
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spelling INTA164972024-01-10T10:18:50Z Extreme drought impacts have been underestimated in grasslands and shrublands globally Smith, Melinda D. Wilkins, Kate D. Holdrege, Martin C. Wilfahrt, Peter A. Collins, Scott L. Knapp, Alan K. Sala, Osvaldo E. Dukes, Jeffrey S. Phillips, Richard P. Yahdjian, Laura Peri, Pablo Luis Zuo, Xiaoan Grasslands Productivity Climate Change Scrublands Net Primary Productivity Carbon Cycle Praderas Productividad Cambio Climático Tierras de Matorral Productividad Primaria Neta Ciclo del Carbono Extreme Climate International Drought Experiment Global Impacts Drought Severity Clima Extremo Experimento internacional de Sequía Impacto Global Severidad de la Sequía Climate change is increasing the frequency and severity of short-term (~1 y) drought events—the most common duration of drought—globally. Yet the impact of this intensification of drought on ecosystem functioning remains poorly resolved. This is due in part to the widely disparate approaches ecologists have employed to study drought, variation in the severity and duration of drought studied, and differences among ecosystems in vegetation, edaphic and climatic attributes that can mediate drought impacts. To overcome these problems and better identify the factors that modulate drought responses, we used a coordinated distributed experiment to quantify the impact of short-term drought on grassland and shrubland ecosystems. With a standardized approach, we imposed a single year of drought at 100 sites on six continents. Here we show that loss of a foundational ecosystem function—aboveground net primary production (ANPP)—was 60% greater at sites that experienced statistically extreme drought (1-in-100-y event) vs. those sites where drought was nominal (historically more common) in magnitude (35% vs. 21%, respectively). This reduction in a key carbon cycle process with a single year of extreme drought greatly exceeds previously reported losses for grasslands and shrublands. Our global experiment also revealed high variability in drought response but that relative reductions in ANPP were greater in drier ecosystems and those with fewer plant species. Overall, our results demonstrate with unprecedented rigor that the global impacts of projected increases in drought severity have been significantly underestimated and that drier and less diverse sites are likely to be most vulnerable to extreme drought. EEA Santa Cruz Fil: Smith, Melinda D. Colorado State University. Department of Biology; Estados Unidos. Fil: Smith, Melinda D. Colorado State University. Graduate Degree Program in Ecology; Estados Unidos. Fil: Wilkins, Kate D. Denver Zoo; Estados Unidos. Fil: Holdrege, Martin C. Utah State University. Department of Wildland Resource and the Ecology Center; Estados Unidos. Fil: Wilfahrt, Peter A. University of Minnesota. Department of Ecology, Evolution,and Behavior; Estados Unidos. Fil: Collins, Scott L. University of New Mexico. Department of Biology; Estados Unidos. Fil: Knapp, Alan K. Colorado State University. Department of Biology; Estados Unidos. Fil: Knapp, Alan K. Colorado State University. Graduate Degree Program in Ecology; Estados Unidos. Fil: Sala, Osvaldo E. Arizona State University. School of Life Sciences, Global Drylands Center; Estados Unidos. Fil: Dukes, Jeffrey S. Carnegie Institution for Science. Department of Global Ecology; Estados Unidos. Fil: Phillips, Richard P. Indiana University. Department of Biology; Estados Unidos. Fil: Yahdjian, Laura. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Instituto de Investigaciones Fisiológicas y Ecológicas Vinculadas a la Agricultura (IFEVA); Argentina. Fil: Yahdjian, Laura. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Agronomía; Argentina. Fil: Peri, Pablo Luis. Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria (INTA). Estación Experimental Agropecuaria Santa Cruz; Argentina. Fil: Peri, Pablo Luis. Universidad Nacional de la Patagonia Austral; Argentina. Fil: Peri, Pablo Luis. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; Argentina. Fil: Zuo, Xiaoan. Chinese Academy of Science. Northwest Institute of Eco-Environment and Resources. Urat Desertgrassland Research Station; China. 2024-01-10T10:06:19Z 2024-01-10T10:06:19Z 2024-01-08 info:ar-repo/semantics/artículo info:eu-repo/semantics/article info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.12123/16497 https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.2309881120 Smith M.D.; Wilkins K.; Holdrege M.C.; Wilfahrt P.; Collins S.L.; Knapp A.; Sala O.E.; Dukes J.S.; Yahdjian L.; Gherardi L.A.; (…); Peri P.L.; (…); Zuo, X. (2024) Extreme drought impacts have been underestimated in grasslands and shrublands globally. PNAS 121(4): e2309881120. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2309881120. 1091-6490 (online) https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2309881120 eng info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/ Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0) application/pdf National Academy of Sciences (Estados Unidos) PNAS 121 (4) : e2309881120 (2024)
spellingShingle Grasslands
Productivity
Climate Change
Scrublands
Net Primary Productivity
Carbon Cycle
Praderas
Productividad
Cambio Climático
Tierras de Matorral
Productividad Primaria Neta
Ciclo del Carbono
Extreme Climate
International Drought Experiment
Global Impacts
Drought Severity
Clima Extremo
Experimento internacional de Sequía
Impacto Global
Severidad de la Sequía
Smith, Melinda D.
Wilkins, Kate D.
Holdrege, Martin C.
Wilfahrt, Peter A.
Collins, Scott L.
Knapp, Alan K.
Sala, Osvaldo E.
Dukes, Jeffrey S.
Phillips, Richard P.
Yahdjian, Laura
Peri, Pablo Luis
Zuo, Xiaoan
Extreme drought impacts have been underestimated in grasslands and shrublands globally
title Extreme drought impacts have been underestimated in grasslands and shrublands globally
title_full Extreme drought impacts have been underestimated in grasslands and shrublands globally
title_fullStr Extreme drought impacts have been underestimated in grasslands and shrublands globally
title_full_unstemmed Extreme drought impacts have been underestimated in grasslands and shrublands globally
title_short Extreme drought impacts have been underestimated in grasslands and shrublands globally
title_sort extreme drought impacts have been underestimated in grasslands and shrublands globally
topic Grasslands
Productivity
Climate Change
Scrublands
Net Primary Productivity
Carbon Cycle
Praderas
Productividad
Cambio Climático
Tierras de Matorral
Productividad Primaria Neta
Ciclo del Carbono
Extreme Climate
International Drought Experiment
Global Impacts
Drought Severity
Clima Extremo
Experimento internacional de Sequía
Impacto Global
Severidad de la Sequía
url http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.12123/16497
https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.2309881120
https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2309881120
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