Vegetation resilience does not increase consistently with greening in China’s Loess Plateau

Abstract

Recent concurrent processes of vegetation greening and reduced resilience (the capacity to recover from disturbances) worldwide have brought many uncertainties into sustainable ecosystems in the future. However, little is known about the conditions and extent to which greening affects resilience changes. Here we assess both vegetation dynamics and resilience in China’s Loess Plateau from 2000 to 2020 using satellite-based vegetation data and an early warning indicator. Our results reveal an overall greening trend in vegetated areas, while resilience shifted from gains to losses at a breakpoint in 2010. Vegetation greening generally contributed to resilience gains, whereas increased temperature and precipitation variability contributed to the resilience loss observed in 2011–2020. These findings provide empirical evidence that vegetation greening does not necessarily correspond to an increase in resilience. We therefore recommend integrating resilience indicators into ecological restoration and conservation efforts to gain a more comprehensive understanding of vegetation states and support effective ecosystem stewardship.