西班牙阿利坎特大学Miguel Berdugo等研究人员报道了干旱对全球生态系统的影响，并呼吁及时阻止干旱化发生。该项研究成果发表在2020年2月14日出版的《科学》上。

Title: Global ecosystem thresholds driven by aridity

Author: Miguel Berdugo, Manuel Delgado-Baquerizo, Santiago Soliveres, Rocío Hernández-Clemente, Yanchuang Zhao, Juan J. Gaitán, Nicolas Gross, Hugo Saiz, Vincent Maire, Anika Lehman, Matthias C. Rillig, Ricard V. Solé, Fernando T. Maestre

Issue&Volume: 2020/02/14

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.

DOI: 10.1126/science.aay5958

Source: https://science.sciencemag.org/content/367/6479/787