Global ecosystem thresholds driven by aridity

Miguel Berdugo; Manuel Delgado-Baquerizo; Santiago Soliveres; Rocio Hernandez-Clemente; Yanchuang Zhao; Juan J. Gaitan; Nicolas Gross; Hugo Saiz; Vincent Maire; Anika Lehman; Matthias C. Rillig; Ricard V. Sole; Fernando T. Maestre

doi:10.1126/science.aay5958

Global ecosystem thresholds driven by aridity

Miguel Berdugo, Manuel Delgado-Baquerizo, Santiago Soliveres, Rocio Hernandez-Clemente, Yanchuang Zhao, Juan J. Gaitan, Nicolas Gross, Hugo Saiz, Vincent Maire, Anika Lehman, Matthias C. Rillig, Ricard V. Sole, Fernando T. Maestre

Western Sydney University

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

711 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Aridity, which is increasing worldwide because of climate change, affects the structure and functioning of dryland ecosystems. Whether aridification leads to gradual (versus abrupt) and systemic (versus specific) ecosystem changes is largely unknown. We investigated how 20 structural and functional ecosystem attributes respond to aridity in global drylands. Aridification led to systemic and abrupt changes in multiple ecosystem attributes. These changes occurred sequentially in three phases characterized by abrupt decays in plant productivity, soil fertility, and plant cover and richness at aridity values of 0.54, 0.7, and 0.8, respectively. More than 20% of the terrestrial surface will cross one or several of these thresholds by 2100, which calls for immediate actions to minimize the negative impacts of aridification on essential ecosystem services for the more than 2 billion people living in drylands.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	787-790
Number of pages	4
Journal	Science
Volume	367
Issue number	6479
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1126/science.aay5958
Publication status	Published - 2020

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title = "Global ecosystem thresholds driven by aridity",

abstract = "Aridity, which is increasing worldwide because of climate change, affects the structure and functioning of dryland ecosystems. Whether aridification leads to gradual (versus abrupt) and systemic (versus specific) ecosystem changes is largely unknown. We investigated how 20 structural and functional ecosystem attributes respond to aridity in global drylands. Aridification led to systemic and abrupt changes in multiple ecosystem attributes. These changes occurred sequentially in three phases characterized by abrupt decays in plant productivity, soil fertility, and plant cover and richness at aridity values of 0.54, 0.7, and 0.8, respectively. More than 20% of the terrestrial surface will cross one or several of these thresholds by 2100, which calls for immediate actions to minimize the negative impacts of aridification on essential ecosystem services for the more than 2 billion people living in drylands.",

author = "Miguel Berdugo and Manuel Delgado-Baquerizo and Santiago Soliveres and Rocio Hernandez-Clemente and Yanchuang Zhao and Gaitan, {Juan J.} and Nicolas Gross and Hugo Saiz and Vincent Maire and Anika Lehman and Rillig, {Matthias C.} and Sole, {Ricard V.} and Maestre, {Fernando T.}",

year = "2020",

doi = "10.1126/science.aay5958",

language = "English",

volume = "367",

pages = "787--790",

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TY - JOUR

T1 - Global ecosystem thresholds driven by aridity

AU - Berdugo, Miguel

AU - Delgado-Baquerizo, Manuel

AU - Soliveres, Santiago

AU - Hernandez-Clemente, Rocio

AU - Zhao, Yanchuang

AU - Gaitan, Juan J.

AU - Gross, Nicolas

AU - Saiz, Hugo

AU - Maire, Vincent

AU - Lehman, Anika

AU - Rillig, Matthias C.

AU - Sole, Ricard V.

AU - Maestre, Fernando T.

PY - 2020

Y1 - 2020

N2 - Aridity, which is increasing worldwide because of climate change, affects the structure and functioning of dryland ecosystems. Whether aridification leads to gradual (versus abrupt) and systemic (versus specific) ecosystem changes is largely unknown. We investigated how 20 structural and functional ecosystem attributes respond to aridity in global drylands. Aridification led to systemic and abrupt changes in multiple ecosystem attributes. These changes occurred sequentially in three phases characterized by abrupt decays in plant productivity, soil fertility, and plant cover and richness at aridity values of 0.54, 0.7, and 0.8, respectively. More than 20% of the terrestrial surface will cross one or several of these thresholds by 2100, which calls for immediate actions to minimize the negative impacts of aridification on essential ecosystem services for the more than 2 billion people living in drylands.

AB - Aridity, which is increasing worldwide because of climate change, affects the structure and functioning of dryland ecosystems. Whether aridification leads to gradual (versus abrupt) and systemic (versus specific) ecosystem changes is largely unknown. We investigated how 20 structural and functional ecosystem attributes respond to aridity in global drylands. Aridification led to systemic and abrupt changes in multiple ecosystem attributes. These changes occurred sequentially in three phases characterized by abrupt decays in plant productivity, soil fertility, and plant cover and richness at aridity values of 0.54, 0.7, and 0.8, respectively. More than 20% of the terrestrial surface will cross one or several of these thresholds by 2100, which calls for immediate actions to minimize the negative impacts of aridification on essential ecosystem services for the more than 2 billion people living in drylands.

UR - https://hdl.handle.net/1959.7/uws:63666

U2 - 10.1126/science.aay5958

DO - 10.1126/science.aay5958

M3 - Article

SN - 0036-8075

VL - 367

SP - 787

EP - 790

JO - Science

JF - Science

IS - 6479

ER -

Global ecosystem thresholds driven by aridity

Abstract

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