Widening global variability in grassland biomass since the 1980s

MacDougall, AS and Esch, E and Chen, Q and Carroll, O and Bonner, C and Ohlert, T and Siewert, M and Sulik, J and Schweiger, A and Borer, ET and Naidu, D and Bagchi, S and Hautier, Y and Wilfahrt, P and Larson, K and Olofsson, J and Cleland, E and Muthukrishnan, R and O�Halloran, L and Alberti, J and Anderson, TM and Arnillas, CA and Bakker, JD and Barrio, IC and Biederman, L and Boughton, EH and Brudvig, LA and Bruschetti, M and Buckley, Y and Bugalho, MN and Cadotte, MW and Caldeira, MC and Catford, JA and D�Antonio, C and Davies, K and Daleo, P and Dickman, CR and Donohue, I and DuPre, ME and Elgersma, K and Eisenhauer, N and Eskelinen, A and Estrada, C and Fay, PA and Feng, Y and Gruner, DS and Hagenah, N and Haider, S and Harpole, WS and Hersch-Green, E and Jentsch, A and Kirkman, K and Knops, JMH and Laanisto, L and Lannes, LS and Laungani, R and Lkhagva, A and Macek, P and Martina, JP and McCulley, RL and Melbourne, B and Mitchell, R and Moore, JL and Morgan, JW and Muraina, TO and Niu, Y and Pärtel, M and Peri, PL and Power, SA and Price, JN and Prober, SM and Ren, Z and Risch, AC and Smith, NG and Sonnier, G and Standish, RJ and Stevens, CJ and Tedder, M and Tognetti, P and Veen, GF and Virtanen, R and Wardle, GM and Waring, E and Wolf, AA and Yahdjian, L and Seabloom, EW (2024) Widening global variability in grassland biomass since the 1980s. In: Nature Ecology and Evolution .

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Abstract

Global change is associated with variable shifts in the annual production of aboveground plant biomass, suggesting localized sensitivities with unclear causal origins. Combining remotely sensed normalized difference vegetation index data since the 1980s with contemporary field data from 84 grasslands on 6 continents, we show a widening divergence in site-level biomass ranging from +51 to �34 globally. Biomass generally increased in warmer, wetter and species-rich sites with longer growing seasons and declined in species-poor arid areas. Phenological changes were widespread, revealing substantive transitions in grassland seasonal cycling. Grazing, nitrogen deposition and plant invasion were prevalent in some regions but did not predict overall trends. Grasslands are undergoing sizable changes in production, with implications for food security, biodiversity and carbon storage especially in arid regions where declines are accelerating. © The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature Limited 2024.

Item Type:	Journal Article
Publication:	Nature Ecology and Evolution
Publisher:	Nature Research
Additional Information:	The copyright for this article belongs to Nature Research.
Department/Centre:	Division of Biological Sciences > Centre for Ecological Sciences
Date Deposited:	06 Sep 2024 11:34
Last Modified:	20 Sep 2024 05:06
URI:	http://eprints.iisc.ac.in/id/eprint/86036

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