Effect of consecutive drought on the resilience and resistance of the grasslands on the Mongolian Plateau

doi:10.17521/cjpe.2024.0100

Abstract

Abstract:

Aims The grasslands of Mongolian Plateau are the core of the Eurasian grassland ecosystem and serve as an important ecological barrier in northern China. Climate change has significantly increased the intensity, frequency, and duration of drought events across the Mongolian Plateau. Therefore, assessing the resistance and resilience of the Mongolian Plateau grasslands quantitatively helps deepen our understanding of their responses to climatic anomalies. However, few studies have explored how different grassland types on the Mongolian Plateau withstand consecutive droughts.
Methods In this study, we used long-term series data from 2000 to 2020 on the standardized precipitation evapotranspiration index (SPEI) and net primary productivity (NPP) to quantify the resistance and resilience of the Mongolian Plateau grassland ecosystem to consecutive droughts (1-4 a) and analyze its spatiotemporal variations. Furthermore, we compared the responses of three main types of grasslands (meadow steppe, typical steppe, and desert steppe) to extreme and moderate droughts.
Important findings Our results show that: (1) Grasslands generally exhibit higher resistance under moderate drought compared to extreme drought, except during two consecutive drought years. However, they are more resilient to extreme drought. (2) As the number of consecutive drought years increases, the resistance declines for both extreme and moderate droughts, while resilience initially increases under extreme drought but decreases under moderate drought. (3) Along the spatial gradient of decreasing precipitation, meadow steppe exhibits the highest resistance, followed by typical steppe, while desert steppe shows the lowest resistance. In contrast, desert steppe demonstrates the highest resilience, whereas meadow steppe has the lowest resilience. (4) Over time, the resistance of grasslands was higher from 2011-2020 compared to 2001-2010, while resilience was lower in the later period. As consecutive drought years increase, the resistance for all types of grasslands declines in both periods (2000-2010 and 2011-2020), while resilience initially increases (2000-2010) and then decreases (2011-2020). These insights are crucial for maintaining the Mongolian Plateau’s ecological barrier, ensuring its ecological services, and supporting both regional and global ecological security and sustainable development.

Key words: Mongolian Plateau, grassland ecosystem, drought, resistance, resilience

WANG Yao, WANG Yao-Bin, CHEN Zi-Yan, YI Ru-Han, BAI Yong-Fei, ZHAO Yu-Jin, JIN Jing-Wei. Effect of consecutive drought on the resilience and resistance of the grasslands on the Mongolian Plateau[J]. Chin J Plant Ecol, 2025, 49(7): 1070-1081.

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URL: https://www.plant-ecology.com/EN/10.17521/cjpe.2024.0100

https://www.plant-ecology.com/EN/Y2025/V49/I7/1070

Figures/Tables 6

Fig. 1 Distribution map of Mongolian Plateau Grasslands net primary production (NPP) (A), mean annual precipitation (MAP) (B), drought severity levels (C), grassland types (D), and change of NPP and standardized precipitation evapotranspiration index (SPEI) over the years (E). The red horizontal lines in E indicate drought severity levels: SPEI ≤ -1.28 represents extreme drought, while -1.28 ≤ SPEI ≤ -0.67 represents moderate drought.

Table 1 Dry severity level classified by standardized precipitation evapotranspiration index (SPEI) value

SPEI	严重程度 Severity level
-1.28 > SPEI	极端干旱 Extreme drought
-0.67 ≥ SPEI ≥ -1.28	中度干旱 Moderate drought
0.67 > SPEI > -0.67	正常 Normal

Fig. 2 Spatial distribution patterns of resistance (A) and resilience (B) in Mongolian Plateau Grasslands, variation of resistance (C) and resilience (D) along the mean annual precipitation (MAP) gradient, resistance and resilience of different grassland types (E). The solid lines are the best fitted lines (p < 0.05), and the shaded area represents the 95% confidence space. *, p < 0.05; ***, p < 0.001.

Fig. 3 Change of the resistance and resilience to different drought intensities across the entire region of the Mongolian Plateau, as well as meadow steppe, typical steppe and desert steppe under continuous drought (mean ± SE). * indicates a significant difference (p < 0.05), ** indicates a very significant difference (p < 0.01), *** indicates a highly significant difference (p < 0.001), and ns indicates no significant difference (p ≥ 0.05).

Fig. 4 Resistance and resilience, as well as their changes (E, F), of the grasslands in the Mongolian Plateau during 2000-2010 (A, B) and 2011-2020 (C, D). A, C, E indicate resistance; B, D, F indicate resilience.

Fig. 5 Change of the resistance and resilience to different time periods across the entire region of the Mongolian Plateau, as well as meadow steppe, typical steppe, and desert steppe under continuous drought (mean ± SE). * indicates a significant difference (p < 0.05), ** indicates a very significant difference (p < 0.01), *** indicates a highly significant difference (p < 0.001), and ns indicates no significant difference (p ≥ 0.05).

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