Widespread spring phenology effects on drought recovery of Northern Hemisphere ecosystems

Abstract The time required for an ecosystem to recover from severe drought is a key component of ecological resilience. The phenology effects on drought recovery are, however, poorly understood. These effects centre on how phenology variations impact biophysical feedbacks, vegetation growth and, ultimately, recovery itself. Using multiple remotely sensed datasets, we found that more than half of ecosystems in mid- and high-latitudinal Northern Hemisphere failed to recover from extreme droughts within a single growing season. Earlier spring phenology in the drought year slowed drought recovery when extreme droughts occurred in mid-growing season. Delayed spring phenology in the subsequent year slowed drought…

• UD
  U.S. Department of Energy

  Award: DE-SC0022052
• NA
  National Aeronautics and Space Administration
• NN
  National Natural Science Foundation of China

  Awards: 42171050, 41922001, 2019QZKK0306
• NS
  Nuclear Safety and Security Commission
• MD
  Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación

  Award: RyC2020-030647-I
• NK
  National Key Research and Development Program of China

  Award: 2022YFF0801800