Professor Yu Qiang of Beijing Forestry University's College of Grassland Science and Technology co-led a groundbreaking research in Nature Ecology & Evolution, uncovering how aridity regulates grassland productivity under combined drought and nutrient stress. The international collaboration—spanning 42 institutions across 10 countries, including the University of Buenos Aires (Argentina) and Utrecht University (Netherlands)—analyzed data from 26 grassland sites worldwide to uncover these critical ecological mechanisms.

Plant biomass tends to increase under nutrient addition and decrease under drought. Biotic and abiotic factors influence responses to both, making the combined impact of nutrient addition and drought difficult to predict. Using a globally distributed network of manipulative field experiments, we assessed grassland aboveground biomass response to both drought and increased nutrient availability at 26 sites across nine countries. Overall, drought reduced biomass by 19% and nutrient addition increased it by 24%, resulting in no net impact under combined drought and nutrient addition. Among the plant functional groups, only graminoids responded positively to nutrients during drought. However, these general responses depended on local conditions, especially aridity. Nutrient effects were stronger in arid grasslands and weaker in humid regions and nitrogen-rich soils, although nutrient addition alleviated drought effects the most in subhumid sites. Biomass responses were weaker with higher precipitation variability. Biomass increased more with increased nutrient availability and declined more with drought at high-diversity sites than at low-diversity sites. Our findings highlight the importance of local abiotic and biotic conditions in predicting grassland responses to anthropogenic nutrient and climate changes.

The study received funding from the National Key R&D Program of China (Grants 2022YFE0128000, 2022YFF1300603) and the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grants 32171592, 32061123005), among other research programs.

Paper link: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41559-025-02705-8

Written by Yu Qiang
Translated by Song He
Reviewed by Yu Yangyang