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Drought intensity and duration interact to magnify losses in primary productivity

Title data

Ohlert, Timothy ; Smith, Melinda D. ; Collins, Scott L. ; Knapp, Alan K. ; Dukes, Jeffrey S. ; Sala, Osvaldo ; Wilkins, Kate D. ; Munson, Seth M. ; Anderson, Maggie I. ; Avolio, Meghan L. ; Chen, Anping ; Hayden, Meghan T. ; Holdrege, Martin C. ; Slette, Ingrid J. ; Wilfahrt, Peter ; Beier, Claus ; Fraser, Lauchlan H. ; Jentsch, Anke ; Loik, Michael E. ; Luo, Yiqi ; Maestre, Fernando T. ; Phillips, Richard P. ; Power, Sally A. ; Yahdjian, Laura ; Yu, Qiang ; Chen, Angel ; Felton, Andrew J. ; Gherardi, Laureano A. ; Lyon, Nicholas J. ; Abdoli, Hamed ; Abedi, Mehdi ; Alberti, Juan ; Arroyo, Antonio I. ; Asbjornsen, Heidi ; Auge, Harald ; Bachle, Seton ; Bahn, Michael ; Bartholomew, David C. ; Batbaatar, Amgaa ; Bauerle, Taryn L. ; Beard, Karen H. ; Behn, Kai ; Beil, Ilka ; Biancari, Lucio ; Blindow, Irmgard ; Bondaruk, Viviana ; Borer, Elizabeth T. ; Bork, Edward W. ; Bruschetti, Carlos Martin ; Byrne, Kerry M. ; Cahill Jr., James F. ; Calvo, Dianela A. ; Carbognani, Michele ; Carlyle, Cameron N. ; Castillioni, Karen ; Castillo-Garcia, Miguel ; Chandregowda, Manjunatha H. ; Chang, Scott X. ; Chieppa, Jeff ; Churchill, Amber C. ; Cianciaruso, Marcus Vinicius ; Cordeiro, Amanda L. ; Cousins, Sara A. O. ; Cusack, Daniela F. ; Dahlke, Sven ; Daleo, Pedro ; Dietterich, Lee H. ; Dubbert, Maren ; Eisenhauer, Nico ; Forte, T’ai G. W. ; Funk, Flavia A. ; Galiano, Darcy ; Greenville, Aaron C. ; Han, Liebao ; Haugum, Siri Vatsø ; Hautier, Yann ; Hector, Andy ; Henry, Hugh A. L. ; Hoss, Daniela ; Isbell, Forest ; Jordan, Samuel E. ; Ke, Yuguang ; Kelly, Eugene F. ; Koerner, Sally E. ; Kreyling, Jürgen ; Kröel-Dulay, György ; Kröpfl, Alicia I. ; Kübert, Angelika ; Kulmatiski, Andrew ; Lamb, Eric G. ; Steenberg Larsen, Klaus ; Lee, Steven ; Limbu, Smriti Pehim ; Linstädter, Anja ; Liu, Shirong ; Longo, Grisel ; Loydi, Alejandro ; Luan, Junwei ; Lubbe, F. Curtis ; Malyshev, Andrey V. ; McIntire, Cameron D. ; Metcalfe, Daniel B. ; Mokoka, Malesela Vincent ; Mori, Akira S. ; Mudongo, Edwin ; Newman, Gregory S. ; Nielsen, Uffe N. ; Ochoa-Hueso, Raúl ; O’Connor, Rory C. ; Ogaya, Romà ; Oñatibia, Gastón R. ; Orbán, Ildikó ; Osborne, Brooke B. ; Otfinowski, Rafael ; Pärtel, Meelis ; Pascual, Jesús ; Peñuelas, Josep ; Peri, Pablo L. ; Pescador, David S. ; Peter, Guadalupe ; Petraglia, Alessandro ; Picon-Cochard, Catherine ; Pillar, Valério D. ; Piñeiro-Guerra, Juan M. ; Ploughe, Laura Weber ; Plowes, Robert M. ; Portales-Reyes, Cristy ; Prober, Suzanne M. ; Pueyo, Yolanda ; Rahmati, Golsa ; Reed, Sasha C. ; Rodríguez, Dana Aylén ; Rogers, William E. ; Roscher, Christiane ; Rowley, David W. ; Sánchez, Ana M. ; Santos, Bráulio A. ; Schellenberg, Michael P. ; Scherer-Lorenzen, Michael ; Seabloom, Eric W. ; Shen, Ruonan ; Shi, Baoku ; Souza, Lara ; Stampfli, Andreas ; Standish, Rachel J. ; Sternberg, Marcelo ; Sun, Wei ; Sünnemann, Marie ; Tedder, Michelle ; Terry, Tyson ; Thorvaldsen, Pål ; Tielbörger, Katja ; Tissink, Maud ; Vadeboncoeur, Matthew A. ; Valdecantos, Alejandro ; van den Brink, Liesbeth ; Vandvik, Vigdis ; Velle, Liv Guri ; Wanke, Svenja ; Wardle, Glenda M. ; Wei, Cunzheng ; Werner, Christiane ; Wiehl, Georg ; Williams, Jennifer L. ; Wolf, Amelia A. ; Wu, Honghui ; Xu, Chong ; Yang, Xuechen ; Yang, Yadong ; Yost, Jenifer L. ; Young, Alyssa L. ; Yue, Ping ; Zeberio, Juan M. ; Zeiter, Michaela ; Zhang, Haiyang ; Zhu, Juntao ; Zuo, Xiaoan:
Drought intensity and duration interact to magnify losses in primary productivity.
In: Science. Vol. 390 (2025) Issue 6770 . - pp. 284-289.
ISSN 1095-9203
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1126/science.ads8144

Official URL: Volltext

Abstract in another language

As droughts become longer and more intense, impacts on terrestrial primary productivity are expected to increase progressively. Yet, some ecosystems appear to acclimate to multiyear drought, with constant or diminishing reductions in productivity as drought duration increases. We quantified the combined effects of drought duration and intensity on aboveground productivity in 74 grasslands and shrublands distributed globally. Ecosystem acclimation with multiyear drought was observed overall, except when droughts were extreme (i.e., ≤1-in-100-year likelihood of occurrence). Productivity losses after four consecutive years of extreme drought increased by ~2.5-fold compared with those of the first year. These results portend a foundational shift in ecosystem behavior if drought duration and intensity increase, from maintenance of reduced functioning over time to progressive and profound losses of productivity when droughts are extreme. Climate change is bringing more severe and longer-lasting droughts to many locations around the world. Some ecosystems have shown resilience to increasing drought, but this could change as droughts become more severe. Ohlert et al. assessed drought effects with a rainfall-exclusion experiment distributed across 74 grasslands and shrublands on six continents. On average, primary productivity declined by 29% in moderate-drought years, but effects did not compound over multiyear droughts. Extreme droughts (those falling outside the historic range of rainfall variability) caused much higher productivity declines and lower recovery, especially in drier locations and those with lower plant diversity. This study adds to growing evidence that future climate extremes will likely affect ecosystems in new and concerning ways. ?Bianca LopezAs droughts become longer and more intense, impacts on terrestrial primary productivity are expected to increase progressively. Yet, some ecosystems appear to acclimate to multiyear drought, with constant or diminishing reductions in productivity as drought duration increases. We quantified the combined effects of drought duration and intensity on aboveground productivity in 74 grasslands and shrublands distributed globally. Ecosystem acclimation with multiyear drought was observed overall, except when droughts were extreme (i.e., ≤1-in-100-year likelihood of occurrence). Productivity losses after four consecutive years of extreme drought increased by ~2.5-fold compared with those of the first year. These results portend a foundational shift in ecosystem behavior if drought duration and intensity increase, from maintenance of reduced functioning over time to progressive and profound losses of productivity when droughts are extreme. Climate change is bringing more severe and longer-lasting droughts to many locations around the world. Some ecosystems have shown resilience to increasing drought, but this could change as droughts become more severe. Ohlert et al. assessed drought effects with a rainfall-exclusion experiment distributed across 74 grasslands and shrublands on six continents. On average, primary productivity declined by 29% in moderate-drought years, but effects did not compound over multiyear droughts. Extreme droughts (those falling outside the historic range of rainfall variability) caused much higher productivity declines and lower recovery, especially in drier locations and those with lower plant diversity. This study adds to growing evidence that future climate extremes will likely affect ecosystems in new and concerning ways. - Bianca Lopez

Further data

Item Type: Article in a journal
Refereed: Yes
Institutions of the University: Faculties > Faculty of Biology, Chemistry and Earth Sciences
Faculties > Faculty of Biology, Chemistry and Earth Sciences > Department of Earth Sciences
Faculties > Faculty of Biology, Chemistry and Earth Sciences > Department of Earth Sciences > Chair Biogeography
Faculties > Faculty of Biology, Chemistry and Earth Sciences > Department of Earth Sciences > Chair Biogeography > Chair Biogeography - Univ.-Prof. Dr. Carl Beierkuhnlein
Faculties > Faculty of Biology, Chemistry and Earth Sciences > Department of Earth Sciences > Professor Disturbance Ecology
Faculties > Faculty of Biology, Chemistry and Earth Sciences > Department of Earth Sciences > Professor Disturbance Ecology > Professor Disturbance Ecology - Univ.-Prof. Dr. Anke Jentsch
Research Institutions > Central research institutes > Bayreuth Center of Ecology and Environmental Research- BayCEER
Graduate Schools > Elite Network Bavaria
Graduate Schools > Elite Network Bavaria > Global Change Ecology
Result of work at the UBT: Yes
DDC Subjects: 500 Science > 550 Earth sciences, geology
500 Science > 570 Life sciences, biology
500 Science > 580 Plants (Botany)
Date Deposited: 19 Jan 2026 09:25
Last Modified: 19 Jan 2026 09:25
URI: https://eref.uni-bayreuth.de/id/eprint/95770