Drylands contribute disproportionately to observed global productivity increases. Academic Article uri icon

abstract

  • Drylands cover about 40% of the terrestrial surface and are sensitive to climate change, but their relative contributions to global vegetation greening and productivity increase in recent decades are still poorly known. Here, by integrating satellite data and biosphere modeling, we showed that drylands contributed more to global gross primary productivity (GPP) increase (65%16%) than to Earth greening (33%15%) observed during 1982-2015. The enhanced productivity per unit leaf area, i.e., light-use efficiency (LUE), was the mechanism behind this pattern. We also found that LUE was more sensitive to soil moisture than to atmospheric vapor pressure deficit (VPD) in drylands, while the opposite was observed (i.e., LUE was more sensitive to VPD) in humid areas. Our findings suggest the importance of using different moisture stress metrics in projecting the vegetation productivity changes of dry versus humid regions and highlight the prominent role of drylands as key controllers of the global carbon cycle.

published proceedings

  • Sci Bull (Beijing)

altmetric score

  • 8.4

author list (cited authors)

  • Wang, S., Fu, B., Wei, F., Piao, S., Maestre, F. T., Wang, L., ... Zhao, W.

citation count

  • 13

complete list of authors

  • Wang, Shuai||Fu, Bojie||Wei, Fangli||Piao, Shilong||Maestre, Fernando T||Wang, Lixin||Jiao, Wenzhe||Liu, Yanxu||Li, Yan||Li, Changjia||Zhao, Wenwu

publication date

  • January 2023