Liu et al. (2026) Compound droughts dominated the reduction of vegetation productivity in China from 1982 to 2018

⚠️ Warning: This summary was generated from the abstract only, as the full text was not available.

Identification

• Journal: Journal of Plant Ecology
• Year: 2026
• Date: 2026-02-04
• Authors: Jia Liu, Zelin Liu, Xiaolu Zhou, Peng Li, Tong Li, Cong Liu, Ziying Zou, Jiayi Tang, Cicheng Zhang, Changhui Peng
• DOI: 10.1093/jpe/rtag021

Research Groups

Not available from the provided abstract.

Short Summary

This study investigated the trends of atmospheric, soil, and compound droughts in China from 1982 to 2018 and quantified their impacts on gross primary productivity (GPP). It found that all drought types significantly increased over time, with compound droughts identified as a major contributor to GPP reduction across China.

Objective

• To define and investigate the trends of atmospheric, soil, and compound droughts in China from 1982 to 2018.
• To quantify the impacts of these drought types on gross primary productivity (GPP) and identify the dominant factor in GPP reduction.

Study Configuration

• Spatial Scale: China
• Temporal Scale: 1982 to 2018

Methodology and Data

• Models used: Piecewise linear regression for trend analysis.
• Data sources:
  • Vapor pressure deficit and soil moisture for drought definition.
  • Gross Primary Productivity (GPP) products: Global Land Surface Satellite (GLASSGPP) and Near-Infrared Reflectance of Vegetation (NIRvGPP).

Main Results

• All three drought types (atmospheric, soil, and compound) showed significant increasing trends with turning points in 1998 and 2009.
• All drought types were negatively correlated with GPP.
• From 1998 to 2009, drought frequency increased most, coinciding with the sharpest decline in GPP:
  • GLASSGPP declined by –2.02 g C m⁻² year⁻¹.
  • NIRvGPP declined by –0.90 g C m⁻² year⁻¹.
• The most significant GPP declines occurred mainly in North China, Southwest China, and Central China.
• Although the negative impacts of all drought types intensified over time, compound droughts were identified as a major contributor to GPP reduction in China.

Contributions

• Provides new evidence highlighting the prominent role of compound droughts in driving declines in vegetation productivity.
• Offers valuable insights for assessing the impact of compound droughts on future terrestrial carbon uptake.

Funding

Not available from the provided abstract.

Citation

@article{Liu2026Compound,
  author = {Liu, Jia and Liu, Zelin and Zhou, Xiaolu and Li, Peng and Li, Tong and Liu, Cong and Zou, Ziying and Tang, Jiayi and Zhang, Cicheng and Peng, Changhui},
  title = {Compound droughts dominated the reduction of vegetation productivity in China from 1982 to 2018},
  journal = {Journal of Plant Ecology},
  year = {2026},
  doi = {10.1093/jpe/rtag021},
  url = {https://doi.org/10.1093/jpe/rtag021}
}