Declining Tradeoff Between Resistance and Resilience of Ecosystems to Drought

Abstract

Resistance and resilience are widely used to characterize ecosystem drought stability. Tradeoff between resistance and resilience have been reported, but its long-term trends remain uncertain at global scale. Based on remotely sensed vegetation indices, we assessed the spatiotemporal dynamics of drought resistance and resilience. Result revealed that there was a significant decline in the tradeoff between resistance and resilience, corresponding to a substantial increase in the proportion of areas with high resistance-high resilience or low resistance-low resilience. In the South Sahel, South Africa and Central China, the increased precipitation and vegetation coverage contribute to enhanced drought stability constructed by resistance and resilience; while rising temperature, decreased water availability and deforestation lead to declined stability in northeastern North America, South America and the Congo region. Increases in the areas with low resistance-low resilience resulting from declining tradeoffs warn of increased regional ecosystem vulnerability.