Article ID Journal Published Year Pages File Type
10179836 Acta Ecologica Sinica 2014 5 Pages PDF
Abstract
Drought is projected to become more prevalent in the future due to climate change, and its impact on the fate of terrestrial ecosystems has aroused great concern in the scientific community over the past decade. Mounting evidence suggests that drought may be the most important physical stress of terrestrial ecosystems: drought limits vegetation growth, increases wildfires, and induces tree mortality, among other impacts. Drought not only weakens the carbon sink function of terrestrial ecosystems but also may interfere directly or indirectly with biosphere-atmosphere interactions, further exacerbating climate change. This paper reviews the current evidence of the impacts of drought on terrestrial ecosystems, with particular emphasis on the ways in which drought alters the biological, biogeophysical and biogeochemical processes underlying the interaction between the biosphere and the atmosphere.
Related Topics
Life Sciences Agricultural and Biological Sciences Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics
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