Disturbance amplifies sensitivity of dryland productivity to precipitation variability

DOI10.5281/zenodo.12514792Zenodo12514792MaRDI QIDQ6686588FDOQ6686588

Dataset published at Zenodo repository.

Osvaldo Sala, Samuel Jordan, Brooke Osborne, Peter B. Adler, Tyson Terry, Sasha Reed, Steven Lee, Scott Ferrenberg

Publication date: 24 June 2024

Description

Variability of the terrestrial global carbon sink is largely determined by the response of dryland productivity to annual precipitation. Despite extensive disturbance in drylands, how disturbance alters productivity-precipitation relationships remains poorly understood. Using remote-sensing to pair over 5600 km of natural gas pipeline corridors with neighboring undisturbed areas in North American drylands, we found that disturbance reduced average annual production 6-29% and caused up to a five-fold increase in the sensitivity of net primary productivity (NPP) to interannual variation in precipitation. Disturbance impacts were larger and longer-lasting at locations with higher precipitation (450 mm mean annual precipitation). Disturbance effects on NPP dynamics were mostly explained by shifts from woody to herbaceous vegetation. Severe disturbance will amplify effects of increasing precipitation variability on NPP in drylands.

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