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Drought shrinks terrestrial upland resilience to climate change.
- Source :
-
Global Ecology & Biogeography . Oct2020, Vol. 29 Issue 10, p1840-1851. 12p. - Publication Year :
- 2020
-
Abstract
- Aim: Drought has been shown to alter terrestrial ecosystem carbon (C) and nitrogen (N) dynamics, and thus feedback to future climate. However, drought‐induced changes in terrestrial upland C and N pools and the drought response of soil carbon dioxide (CO2) and nitrous oxide (N2O) fluxes are yet to be quantified. Location: Global upland ecosystems. Time period: 2000–2018. Major taxa studied: Terrestrial C and N fluxes. Methods: A meta‐analysis was conducted that compiled 1,344 measurements from 128 manipulative studies worldwide to obtain a general picture of terrestrial C and N cycling responses to soil drought stress and identify the primary driving factors. Results: We showed that drought significantly decreased plant C pools, with stronger negative responses of aboveground than belowground C components. Drought significantly decreased soil respiration (RS) and N2O fluxes by 19% and 29%, respectively. There were non‐significant changes in soil organic C and N pools in response to drought; in contrast to a considerable decrease in soil dissolved organic C (−22%), there was a robust increase in soil nitrate‐N (26%) following short‐term drought impact. By relating net ecosystem productivity (NEP) to the difference between net primary production (NPP) and soil heterotrophic respiration (RH), drought was found to drive a decrease up to −37% in NEP, being equivalent to a reduction in terrestrial net C uptake of 2.91 t C/ha. Main conclusions: Our study provides insights into soil release of CO2 and N2O with a linkage to the changes in terrestrial C and N pools in response to drought across upland biomes. Our findings highlight that, despite the lowered soil C release rate, the capacity of upland biomes as a C sink to slow climate change would still be weakened due to a robust decline of plant‐derived C input to soil in a future drier climate. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
Details
- Language :
- English
- ISSN :
- 1466822X
- Volume :
- 29
- Issue :
- 10
- Database :
- Academic Search Index
- Journal :
- Global Ecology & Biogeography
- Publication Type :
- Academic Journal
- Accession number :
- 146119707
- Full Text :
- https://doi.org/10.1111/geb.13160