Nature: Han Xingguo-Jiang Yong Team Publishes Paper on Drought Sensitivity of Grassland Ecosystems in China and the United States

On January 29, 2025, the journal Nature published online the research findings titled "Contrasting drought sensitivity of Eurasian and North American grasslands." This study, with Hebei University as the primary communication unit, marks the first breakthrough for Hebei University in publishing papers in Nature.

Professor Han Xingguo from the College of Life Sciences at Hebei University and Professor Melinda Smith from Colorado State University are co-corresponding authors of the paper. Professor Yu Qiang from the College of Grassland and Prairie Sciences at Beijing Forestry University is the first author, while co-authors include Professor Jiang Yong from the College of Life Sciences at Hebei University, Researcher Li Linghao from the Institute of Botany at the Chinese Academy of Sciences, and Academician Yu Guirui from the Institute of Geographic Sciences and Natural Resources Research.

The paper elucidates the differential response mechanisms of grassland ecosystems in China and the United States to drought sensitivity. This research holds significant scientific importance for predicting the ecological responses of grassland ecosystems to prolonged drought under future climate change scenarios and provides theoretical support for climate change mitigation and adaptive management of grassland ecosystems.

Extreme drought typically reduces the productivity of grassland ecosystems, thereby weakening the service functions of natural ecosystems. However, it remains unclear how significantly different types of grasslands experience these negative impacts over years of extreme drought and how these differences evolve over time. This study simulated a four-year drought during the growing season (with a reduction in rainfall of approximately 66%) through the China-U.S. Grassland Ecosystem Extreme Drought Network Experiment established in 2013 (Figure 1), comparing the drought sensitivity of six representative grassland ecosystems in Eurasia and North America. The findings reveal that in Eurasian grasslands, drought leads to a significant decline in aboveground plant productivity, with the extent of decline increasing with the duration of drought, exhibiting a cumulative effect. In contrast, North American grasslands show a smaller decrease in aboveground plant productivity, with no significant increase in decline over time, demonstrating an adaptive effect (Figure 2). The impact of drought on species richness shifts from an increase to a decrease in Eurasian grasslands, while in North American grasslands, it changes from a decrease to an increase, driven by variations in non-dominant species. The contrasting changes in species richness, particularly among non-dominant species, result in distinctly different drought sensitivities between Eurasian and North American grasslands. The study concludes that Eurasian grasslands are more sensitive to extreme drought than North American grasslands, with non-dominant species playing a crucial role in determining the impact of extreme drought on grassland productivity.

Figure 1: Distribution of Extreme Drought Network Experiment Sites and Schematic of Drought Treatment

Figure 2: Effects of Four Years of Extreme Drought on Plant Productivity and Diversity

Paper Information: Qiang Yu, Chong Xu, Honghui Wu, Yuguang Ke, Xiaoan Zuo, Wentao Luo, Haiyan Ren, Qian Gu, Hongqiang Wang, Wang Ma, Alan K. Knapp, Scott L. Collins, Jennifer A. Rudgers, Yiqi Luo, Yann Hautier, Chengjie Wang, Zhengwen Wang, Yong Jiang, Guodong Han, Yingzhi Gao, Nianpeng He, Juntao Zhu, Shikui Dong, Xiaoping Xin, Guirui Yu, Melinda D. Smith*, Linghao Li & Xingguo Han*. 2025. Contrasting drought sensitivity of Eurasian and North American grasslands. Nature, https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-024-08478-7