The dry subtropics are subject to a rapid expansion of crops and pastures over vast areas of natural woodlands and savannas. In this paper, we explored the effect of this transformation on vegetation productivity (magnitude, and seasonal and long-term variability) along aridity gradients which span from semiarid to subhumid conditions, considering exclusively those areas with summer rains (>66%...

Abstract Changing pathways of soil moisture loss, either directly from (evaporation) or indirectly through vegetation (transpiration), are an indicator ecosystem and land hydrological cycle responses to the changing climate. Based on ratio transpiration evaporation, this paper investigates loss pathway changes across China using five reanalysis-type datasets for past Coupled Model Intercomparis...

Climate variability has profound effects on vegetation. Spatial distributions of vegetation vulnerability that comprehensively consider sensitivity and resilience are not well understood in China. Furthermore, the combination cumulative climate a one-month-lagged autoregressive model represents an advance technical approach for calculating sensitivity. In this study, spatiotemporal characterist...

Smallholder farms in the semiarid and subhumid tropics are particularly vulnerable to increased climate variability. Indigenous agrisystems that have co-evolved with variability may developed resilience strategies. In Southwest Ethiopian Highlands, dominated by multipurpose perennial staple enset (Ensete ventricosum), characterised flexible harvest timing, high yield, long storage, putative dro...

Abstract The effects of a thinning treatment on soil respiration (Rs) were analysed in two dryland forest types with Mediterranean climate east Spain: dry subhumid holm oak ( Quercus ilex subsp. ballota ) La Hunde; semiarid postfire regenerated Aleppo pine Pinus halepensis Sierra Calderona. Two twin plots established at each site: one was thinned and the other control. Rs, humidity temperature ...

We evaluated the response of the Earth land biomes to drought by correlating a drought index with three global indicators of vegetation activity and growth: vegetation indices from satellite imagery, tree-ring growth series, and Aboveground Net Primary Production (ANPP) records. Arid and humid biomes are both affected by drought, and we suggest that the persistence of the water deficit (i.e., t...

It has been proposed that aridity and grazing are convergent selective forces: each one selects for traits conferring resistance to both. However, this conceptual model has not yet been experimentally validated. The aim of this work was to experimentally evaluate the effect of aridity and grazing, as selective forces, on drought and grazing resistance of populations of Trichloris crinita, a nat...

Plants having experienced previous exposure to a stress are expected to be more resistant to further stress than those not having been exposed. While the assessment of stress in plants is a difficult task, particularly for stress-adapted plants, developmental instability has proven a useful tool for assessing stress in organisms. We examined the effect of water availability on developmental ins...