Extreme droughts are becoming more frequent and strongly affect ecosystem productivity, yet their impact on belowground productivity—key to the carbon cycle—remain underexplored. Using a coordinated drought experiment across six Eurasian grassland sites spanning a precipitation gradient, we found that extreme drought had little effect on belowground net primary productivity (BNPP) or root biomass across the 0-20 cm soil profile because drought-induced shifts in root allocation compensated across soil depths. Specifically, drought induced site- and depth-specific shifts: in xeric grasslands, BNPP and root biomass increased in the 0-10 cm layer but declined in the 10-20 cm layer, whereas mesic grasslands exhibited the opposite pattern. These contrasting responses were consistent with shifts in depth-specific soil moisture. Consequently, the apparent resistance of belowground productivity to drought masks a redistribution of root growth along the vertical soil profile. Accounting for such depth-dependent root dynamics is essential for understanding ecosystem functioning, including carbon cycling, plant persistence, and ecosystem responses to intensifying climate extremes.
Plant hydraulic traits are fundamental to ecosystem drought responses, yet their integrated roles in mediating community-level functions remain unclear, especially for widespread herbaceous plants in drylands. Through a systematic investigation of herbaceous communities at 306 sites along a precipitation gradient of...
Xin-Lei Guo, Xu Wang, C. Jia et al.· Communications Earth & E...· 0 citations
Climate change is intensifying drought globally, but whether severe drought weakens or strengthens ecosystem carbon use efficiency (CUE) remains unresolved. Because drought suppresses both carbon assimilation and respiratory carbon loss, CUE depends on the relative sensitivities of these two processes. Recent evidence...
Rong-Lei Zhou, Jin-Song Wang, Chen Chen et al.· Journal of Ecology· 0 citations
Leaf trait relationships can aid our understanding of plant adaptations and ecosystem functioning. With climate change driving an increase in the frequency and intensity of extreme environmental conditions, these relationships may be altered. However, the sensitivity of these relationships to extreme drought stress rem...
Hong-Qiang Wang, Yu Ke, Hong-Hui Wu et al.· Journal of Ecology· 0 citations
Precipitation will increase in some regions and decrease in others. These changes can alter plant nutrient status, and consequently, impact the terrestrial carbon cycle. However, the ecological and physiological mechanisms underlying plant nutrient responses to changes in precipitation remain poorly understood. Here, w...
Zhi-Min Li, Zhao-Feng Chang, Cong-Hui Guo et al.· Plant, Cell and Environment· 0 citations
Forests worldwide are increasingly exposed to soil drought under climate change, with their fates depending on the ability to maintain essential functions like water transport (hydraulics) and photosynthesis. Acclimation is expected to mitigate drought impacts, but the extent to which trees acclimate remains largely un...
Xingyun Liang, Nate G. McDowell, De-Fu Wang et al.· Proceedings of the National...· 0 citations
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