Seminar: Qi Chen

There is accumulating evidence for an increase in severe global drought events. In particular, Europe experienced several severe droughts in 2003, 2015, and 2018. Such droughts have caused serious and far-reaching impacts on terrestrial ecosystems. As droughts are predicted to become more prolonged and intense across wide regions in the coming decades, the risks to the human system as a result of the disturbed ecosystems worldwide will increase. To mitigate these risks, it is critical to prioritize the most vulnerable ecosystems and intervene on time. Thus, the understanding of ecosystem responses and their vulnerability to intensive drought needs to be developed. This work reveals European-wide ecosystem vulnerability based on ecosystem responses. With more frequent and severe droughts in the future, a wide range of ecosystems will become more vulnerable and may even collapse due to high mortality. This study also provides timely early warning and intervention possibilities for vulnerable ecosystems.